The next regular meeting of the SSGS will be held Monday, September 21 in the Society Room of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic at 7:30 PM. The general meeting will follow the special speaker.

Glenda Neiforth, from the Dartmouth, Family History Centre Genealogical Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, will be presenting overheads on the resources accessible at their centre. This should be beneficial to most researchers.

September Hours, SSGS

Monday - Friday 1:00 - 5:00 PM

Wed & Thu. evenings 6:30-9:00 PM

Please help -

Require additional "Office Sitters".

The past few weeks have been most difficult for the families and friends who lost love ones in the tragic crash of Swissair jet off the coast of Peggy's Cove, NS on Wednesday, September 3, 1998. On behalf of the members of the SSGS, our heartfelt sympathy and empathy goes out to the families and friends of the victims. We will never forget them!

It has also been very stressful for the many men, women and children living in the coastal communities who have assisted in numerous ways.

The Lunen-Links (nicknamed 'Luni') held their first Reunion at the SSGS on August 11, 1998. The Lunen-Links is an Internet mailing list where people from all over the world have traced their roots back to Lunenburg.

The idea for the reunion was attributed to Gail Nelson, Aurora, Illinois. Dr. Chris Young, Guelph ON chaired the event and members were from Tilton, New Hampshire; Sook, BC; three from Ottawa, ON; Yarmouth, Herring Cove, St. Margarets Bay, Blue Rocks, West Northfield and Pleasantville, NS. Several other people met but were unable stay.

The group enjoyed dinner of many 'Lunenburg' dishes, with some brave enough to try the fresh Blueberry Grunt for dessert. During the meal most people discovered that we were related to, at least, one other person at the table. Everyone left vowing that the Reunion should be held again next summer.

In the July 1998 Newsletter, the SSGS urged our members to contact Ottawa regarding Stat. Canada refusal to release the 1911 Census to the National Archives.

Cherene Naugler, SSGS Publicity Officer, received responses from Gerald Keddy, MP, Hon. Sheila Copps, Minister of Can. Heritage and the office of Dr. Ivan Fellegi, Chief Statistician. Dr. Fellegi's office sent a copy of a briefing note "Access to 1911 and other Post-1901 Census Records" which outlines the authority for collecting censuses before and after 1901 and other information related to the release of historical census records:

Introduction. The release of individual census records is explicitly prohibited by law for all censuses following 1901. This has dismayed the many genealogists and researchers who had expected that the 1911 census records would be publicly available in 2003, (92 years after the taking of the census).

There are competing interests at issue here, both legitimate and both important. Not everyone is aware of the 'other side of the coin" - so to speak. There is a perception that Statistics Canada has taken an arbitrary position in this matter and is circumventing the 92 year rule by its decision not to transfer the records. This is not the case. In fact, the agency's hands are tied.

Census records collected in 1901 and prior years

The Privacy Act provides for the transfer of records to the National Archives. It permits such transfers only if there are no other acts with different or stronger protection. In other words, records can be transferred to the National Archives only if there are no provisions in another piece of Legislation that prevent that transfer.

The records of censuses taken in 1901 and in prior years have been transferred to the National Archives for public access. This was possible because the legislation that was used to collect these census records did not contain any provisions that prohibit their transfer. Up to 1901, Census-takers were instructed to protect the confidentiality of the information while collecting it, but these instructions did not have the force of law. Thus the information contained in these records is protected only by the Privacy Act which stipulates that the National Archives can make these records available to the public 92 years after the taking of the census.

The 1906 and subsequent censuses

Starting in 1906, however, and in subsequent censuses, the legislation that gave the authority to collect census information contained statutory confidentiality provisions. These provisions are such that only the person named in the record may have access to his/her information.

There is also no time limitation on the access. Even when the person is deceased, the provisions are still in effect. As a result, Statistics Canada, without breaching the Statistics Act, cannot transfer the census records taken under the authority of the 1906 and subsequent Statistics Acts to the National Archives. The fact that the US and Britain both release census records in an issue of different legislation and, perhaps, of culture when it comes to the taking of a census.

Information recorded on microfilm

Statistics Canada continues to hold all individual returns of census questionnaires collected between 1906 and 1986. These records have been transferred from questionnaires to microfilm and are available for access by individual respondents who need to confirm birth dates for pension purposes, passports, etc. The destruction of the 1911 and later census records held on microfilm was never a consideration by Statistics Canada although the paper questionnaires themselves have been destroyed in accordance with approvals given by the National Archives of Canada.

As a result, Statistics Canada does not have the option, as has been suggested by some genealogists and researchers, of being able to filter out the more sensitive information from early census records since microfilm technology, unlike newer technology such as optical imaging, does not lend itself to severance. The original paper questionnaires would be required for this.

The Statistics Act

Like any law, the Statistics Act can also be amended - e.g. to permit the release of individual records after 92 years. But, this is where an important principle of privacy protection comes into play: is it right to alter retroactively the conditions under which information was provided by Canadians? Should Parliament declare, in effect, as invalid the explicit guarantee of indefinite confidentiality that was promised to Canadians when the data were collected? Or should it perhaps consider the 92-year release rule for future censuses only?

The issue is very complex. While there is undeniable great value attached to nominative historical census records, there is also great value attached to the aggregate information that can be produced from current and future censuses. That information is and will be used for a multiplicity of purposes, many of which are requirements contained in various pieces of legislation to meet specific needs, for example, transfer payments to provinces and the determination of electors boundaries.

Canadian citizens have always demonstrated cooperation in providing personal information about themselves when asked to participate in a census or in other surveys conducted by Statistic Canada. The most important factor contributing to this cooperation is the unconditional guarantee given to respondents that the information they supply will be protected. Canada, for almost 100 years has been able to unconditionally guarantee the confidentiality of the information supplied in the census.

Changes to the commitments made to respondents, in the past, could have a negative impact on the level of cooperation given to future censuses and surveys. A substantial decrease in such cooperation could seriously jeopardize Statistic Canada's ability to carry out its national mandate of producing reliable, timely information on which many users depend. This information is also a fundamental pillar of our democratic system. This must not ever be taken lightly.

Thanks to Vivian Corkum for suggesting the following article.

In the summer of 1996, several skeletal remains were unearthed while digging to construct a home in the Mountain View Subdivision on Gabriel Road in Falmouth, NS. An archaeological assessment determined that the location is an unmarked - re-1755 Acadian cemetery.

The Windsor-Falmouth area (Pisiquid) was settled by the Acadians at the end of the 17th century. The parish of L'Assomption, on the eastern side of the Pisiguid (now Avon) River, was founded circa 1698 and a second parish of Sainte Famille was created on the western side of the river in 1722. Estimates indicate that approx. 300 to 400 people of the parish of Sainte Famille were buried in the cemetery adjacent to the church.

Pisiquid was one of the largest Acadian communities of at least 3,000 people who began to settle the Pisiquid (Avon) valley about 1685 and which terminated with the deportation of the whole colony in 1755. The only physical remains of this period are a few cellars that can still be found along the river and the dykes.

The location of the cemetery of Sainte Famille had been generally known from the Acadian period; however, it appears this information was not passed on to the appropriate regulatory

authorities. When the site was accidently disturbed, it was recognized and put under the protection of the Special Places Act administered by the Nova Scotia Museum.

Recognizing the significance of this archaeological site to the region, the Acadians and to Nova Scotia in general, a committee was formed under the auspices of the West Hants Historical Society.

The committee purchased the property that includes about two-thirds of the original cemetery. They would also like to erect a monument to the vibrant Acadian Community. Many Acadians throughout North America trace their roots to Pisiquid. For further information contact:

John D. Wilson, PO Box 2335, Windsor NS B0N 2T0

(902) 798-2823

These books will be of some interest to people in the South Shore area as the book is about the Etters, some of whom lived in Chester from the 1780's to the 1820's. Daughters of this family married men from the Webber, Pentz, Millett, Morgan, Corkum and Eisenhauer families.

Another feature of the books is that they show what sort of good information can be found by a determined researcher in Canada going after records in Switzerland and Germany.

Review:

-Joan Magee. In Search of a New Eden: Johannes Etter in America, 1735, 85 pp. 1996 $20.00 postpaid

-Lela Hultquist Booth and Joan Magee. Full Sail for Philadelphia: The Etter Family Reunited,

128 pp., 1997 $25.00 postpaid

-Joan Magee. A Swiss Family from Oberried: The Etter Family,

96 pp., 1998 $25.00 postpaid

(All books available from Electa Press, Box 396, Windsor, Stn A ON N9A 6L7)

These three books are family history, as opposed to name-and-date genealogy, a fact which renders them vastly more engaging to readers who are not part of the Etter Family. Written in an attractive style and well supplied with pictures and maps, the set will hold the interest of anyone seriously interested in the "Foreign Protestant" migrations of the eighteenth century.

The Etters have lived in Oberried (officially Ried bei Kurzers), in the canton of Freiburg, Switzerland from at least the 1420's and probably much longer than that.

- The first book recounts the background and story of Johannes Etter (1685-ca. 1749) who emigrated to North America in 1735 and was joined by his family in Pennsylvania two years later.

- The second volume relates the lives of Johannes's several children, including Peter Etter (1715-1794), a weaver who settled in Braintree, MA., and was brought to Halifax from Boston as a loyal refugee in 1776. Peter was the progenitor of the several Etter families found in various parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

- The third in a series adds to our knowledge of the Swiss context of the Etters and other families who left the Freiburg-Bern border area in the 1730's.

There is much to commend Joan Magee's approach to the history of her Etter ancestors. In particular I would mention her sustained presentation of the Etters' story as part of a broader sweep of events. While the experiences of the Etters were not severally unique, collectively they were specific to this family.

The tale of an ancestral family would adhere to much this pattern. Two families might start from the same European village and settle in the same colony in America, but wind up with one family as American Patriots, the other as United Empire Loyalists. Or both might be loyal, but one be Anglican and the other staunchly Reformed Church. Part of the value of studying family history in the wider scheme of things resides in the discovery of the similarities and differences between families and individuals when faced with changing conditions.

For anyone who prefers reading family history to a dry recitation of names and dates, the series offers a treat. Pages 111-116 in book two provide enough of the bare facts of who and when, leaving the remainder to be good informative reading. As such, it affords a model that bears emulation.

..... by T. M. Punch, CG(c)

Halifax Chronicle Herald, August 26, 1998

Some of Halifax's first settlers were laid to rest again Tuesday, August 25, 1998, at the Little Dutch Church, Halifax, about 200 years after they were first buried.

Their remains, now contained in small black tagged bags, were again placed under the floor of the tiny Brunswick Street church.

The interment ceremony signalled the end of a two-year church restoration project that required disturbing the remains.

"It's been a fascinating experience," said archeologist Paul Williams, who co-ordinated the dig along with St. Mary's University colleague Laird Niven.

"We are looking at real people, people who history has largely forgotten, and who seemed to have been buried in a rather hurried state in a mass grave, probably at a time of epidemic.

Before they started the project, archeologists knew at least three people were buried under the church in crypts - German missionary, Rev. Bernard M. Houseal, and Otto & Anna Schwartz, the successful spice merchants whose legacy is the Schwartz spice company.

Those brick-lined crypts were found, but archeologists came upon something else - a mass grave containing the remains of at least 30 people. "That's probably just the tip of the iceberg," Mr. Williams said.

He said a lot of repair work has been done on the property over the years and the grave has been disturbed, so it's difficult to say exactly how many people are buried there.

The mass grave is being linked to 1750, when the ship Ann arrived in Halifax from Rotterdam with a lot of sickly passengers.

An apparent epidemic, possibly typhus, ensued in Halifax.

Mi'kmaq spiritual representatives were at Tuesday's ceremony because at least one or two of those buried are believed to be aboriginal.

A fourth person known to have been buried there was Dr. Leonard Lochman, who accompanied settlers to Halifax about 1749.

Rev. Gary Thorne of St. George's Round Church, which has its roots in the tiny "Deutsch" or German church, said the Little Dutch Church was moved to the site in 1756 and purposely placed over the mass grave to mark it as sacred ground.

Four years later, a three-meter extension and a steeple were added to the building, which now contains a dozen small pews. Its simplicity and its primitive sort of vault ceiling mark it an extraordinary building.

Mr. Williams said the interment ceremony was a fitting closure. In terms of the European history of Canada, it's a very important site. It has all the elements of what is Canada. It shows the hardships and the ordeals that people went through in settling, not only Nova Scotia, but Canada in general.

......... By Stewart Leary

Thanks to Joan Parks for submitting the article, of which excerpts will appear in the next few Newsletters. (Although a few inaccuracies have been noted, this is how Mr. Leary remembered)

Brief Biography - Stewart Leary was born February 21, 1869 in Summerside (Dayspring, NS ). He was the son of Stephen F. and Mary Ann (Mulock) Leary, owners of Leary Shipyards, Dayspring. Stewart was educated locally and also at Pictou Academy. He worked in Bridgewater, later moving to Boston where he was employed with the city transit. He did not marry and passed away in Boston, Massachusetts.

The first time I saw Bridgewater I walked there with my eldest sister Ellen. I was then about eight years of age. The Summerside mill was then running and I still have a vivid memory of passing the enclosed furnace where the edgings were burned and of the two horse carts that were used to hall the sawdust to the big sawdust pile. Shago was the name of the men who did the trucking. He is buried in the St. Matthew's Church yard. Mr. Holland took Shago's place. It seems to me that I can still hear the gang saws as the logs were shoved through them and the sound of the saw, edging several boards at a time.

After a long walk which I thoughtwould never end, we sighted the town. In passing the Miller Estate there were men raking hay so the time must have been in July. What a wonderful bridge spanned the river with an arch in the middle

giving instructions to keep to the left, walk your horses. The Presbyterian Church which has since been razed was the most prominent building at that time. There was a building on Main Street that had its first story of brick which was destroyed by the fire that broke out on Sunday afternoon. Two children lost their lives. I have been told it was a Morse house.

Mr. Doyle was then doing a dry goods business but I do not remember where the store was, although I was into the store. Mr. Winters ran a soft drink and candy business in the store next to Wyman's livery-stable later occupied by Jack Cook and the Zwicker Bros. from Mahone Bay doing a meat business.

My sister and I had a drink of spruce beer at a cost of two cents each. We also went to the house where Mrs. Snyder did dressmaking for a dress she was making for mother but it was not ready. .......continued next issue

WE WELCOME OUR LOCAL MEMBERS TO BECOME MORE INVOLVED IN YOUR SOCIETY.

Settlers Museum & Cultural Centre Mahone Bay

Terry M. Punch, CG(c) will be resource speaker, sponsored by the Settlers Museum on October 3, 1998 at 1:30 PM at the Masonic Lodge, Clairmont Street, Mahone Bay. He will be speaking on the spelling of our German ancestors' family names, as well as some of the geographical designations.

1998 Fall Lectures

Lectures open to the public held in the Akins A/V Room, Nova Scotia Archives Site, 6061 University Avenue, Halifax, NS.

-"Abandoned Cemeteries in NS"

September 22 nd -7:30 - 9:30 PM

by Deborah Trask.

-"Preserving your Family Archives"

October 17, 1998 -

1:00 - 4:30 PM by Joseph Landry.

Need info for families Joshua Quereau Crosscup and Rebecca Ann Hicks. Same for Henry Alan Hulsman and Janette (unknown) and Lalia Ritchie. Would like to know cause of death of Hugh Jones husband of Sarah Neal. Hugh d. 1805, Halifax NS. Elizabeth Morgan, 2 Selkirk Rd. ARLINGTON MA 02476-5630

Looking for anyone working on Jeaune/Jonan genealogy. Howard Dixon, 177 Old Coach Rd., RIVERVIEW NB E1B 1P1

E-Mail hdixon@nbnet.nb.ca