Cemetery Tour -- September 30 -- Registration deadline September 20

Something different on my schedule is a tour of five cemeteries in South Grey County in Grey Highlands, in Grey County, Ontario on Saturday, September 30 hosted by the Gentle Shepherd Church in Eugenia. I will be the tour guide. 

Hear stories about the famous and every day folk who are remembered in these cemeteries. 

Tickets must be purchased in advance and cost $35.00. This includes the lunch.

Tickets may be purchased through the church or the public libraries in Markdale and Flesherton, as well as at other locations mentioned on the poster. This is one way to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation. Wear practical shoes as the ground is uneven.

We will visit the Feversham Methodist Cemetery, Black Pioneer Cemetery near Priceville, McNeil Cemetery, Priceville; Flesherton Cemetery and Markdale Cemetery. 

It will be a full day starting at the Church. The bus will load at 8:30 and the plan is to return back to the church around 3:30. 

© 2017 Janet Iles

Nine Things I Learned at the Bruce-Grey Branch Fall Event

Each year for many years as I can remember, the Bruce-Grey Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has held a day of presentations on a Saturday in the fall. Yesterday, the branch held this event at Grey Roots Museum and Archives  near Owen Sound.

Yesterday, we had two speakers: Mike Quakenbush and Steve Fulton. Both gave two fantastic, informative presentations. In each, I learned something new or got an idea of something I could do. I am sharing two things I learned from each presentation.

Social Media - making connections for genealogy - Mike [I didn't write down exact title. Mike pitched in for the first time slot as our original speaker on a different topic wasn't able to be there.]

1. Pages can be promoted on Facebook. You pay a fee but can target a particular demographic if you wish.  Groups can not be promoted but you can invite others to join.
2. Twitter can be a way of sharing information and sometimes making requests. Mike gave several examples of "gatherings" related to genealogy: #Acom, #GenChat and #Ancestryhour. [I am not on Twitter. I don't have a smart phone but Mike showed how having a folder on the taskbar of Chrome you can easily access different social platforms].

Getting Started with Digital Publishing From Book to Blog - Mike
3. You can password protect an individual blog post in WordPress but Google can still find them. You can add a request button to your menu where you can have a form where the person explains why they would like to see the page.
4. Having share buttons at the end of each post makes it easy to share your posts. [I have to figure out which plugin I would use. To share with pages on Facebook, it has to been one where I am an admin.]

Cemeteries that Sing - Steve
As a graveyard rabbit and also because I am giving a talk on Grey County cemeteries in November, I was interested in hearing this presentation.
5. When dowsing in a cemetery, Steve always does the width first then the length. This will help in finding where the monument is likely situated. In a Christian cemetery this should be on the west end of the plot. Steve demonstrated the technique using wire clothes hangers cut to make the tool.
6. With difficult to read monuments, take digital photos. Then with the windows paint program or equivalent use the red pencil tool and trace the lettering to help with making out the words.

Technology Overload: Let's Get Back to the Basics and Advance our Genealogy - Steve
7. Plan what will happen after your death with your research. This includes a "will" for your online existence. Make sure someone knows how to access it.
8. You can overlay the 1880 Ontario County maps over Google maps.

9. I would attend future workshops by both of these speakers as I enjoyed their presentation style as well as the information they provided.

© 2015 Janet Iles

A new blog is born

I have started another blog -- The Graveyard Rabbit of Grey County, Ontario. This blog will focus on the cemeteries of Grey County. I hope you will hop over there and read my articles. These articles will be written as part of my membership in the Association of Graveyard Rabbits. Why the name Graveyard Rabbits? Terry Thornton, is the founder to find out. Since the passing of Terry Thornton who started the Graveyard Rabbit blog group, his website is no longer available. The poem that was the inspiration for the name can be found on this site

Janet the researcher will be my main blog where I will write about genealogy and local history and other topics of interest.

blog post updated 2017

A walk in the past

Last Sunday, I participated in a tour of Greenwood Cemetery. About 70 people enjoyed the beautiful first day of fall to visit our local cemetery. Our knowledgable guide, Jill McFadden-Bartley, from the Billy Bishop Home and Museum and the Owen Sound & Marine Rail Museum told us stories about the many monuments that we saw. This one is of the Williams family. What is fascinating about this monument is that although it looks like a cut off tree, it is actually made of stone.

Near the end of the one and half hour tour, the group stopped at a MacKay family monument. Jill had prepared a recorded story as if told by Flora MacKay, the mother of the family. Many from this area earned their livelihood from sailing the Great Lakes. The Mackay family was one of these. The story was very moving as we heard of the anxiety of Flora when her sons and husband were at sea. Son Norman lost his life with the sinking of the Hibou on November 21, 1936.

For those interested in learning more The Scanner magazine article on the Hibou gives information on the Ship.

Those interested in Marine History may want to check the Table of Contents pages for the first 8 Volumes of The Scanner, published by the Toronto Marine Historical Society. The table of contents are hyperlinked to the articles that are scanned images of the pages. An up-to-date list of the Ships of the Month from this magazine is available in .pdf format

Greenwood Cemetery is open during daylight hours. It a great place to walk and to explore the past of this community.