Friday 29 September 2017

Laying the groundwork part 3



The Great Canadian Genealogy Summit is offering sessions on a variety of subjects that relate to my Nova Scotia research. The natives and immigrants who formed the basis of the population came from a number of distinct groups. My research families have interestingly diverse backgrounds. There seems to have been a great intermingling once these groups came together in the new land. 

Some of the groups, such as the Mi’kmaq and the Irish, are not represented in the various sessions. But other groups that helped to form my research family’s backgrounds, will be discussed at the summit. A major settlement group covered is the Acadians. 

The most well-known fact about the Acadians is that they were expelled from the Maritimes in 1755. But that is not quite correct. The expulsion of the Acadians started in the last half of 1755 and continued until 1763. The Acadians were scattered all over the New World and the Old and there were also some still left in Nova Scotia. 

Did the Acadian families I am researching find their way back to Nova Scotia or were they able to find a safe harbour in the land they considered their own? I hope that the Acadian sessions at the summit will give me some clues how to find this out. 





Sources: 


Griffiths, Naomi E.S. The Contexts of Acadian History 1686 – 1784. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal, 1992



 

Sunday 24 September 2017

Laying the groundwork part 2



What would a research trip be without a trip to the local archives? For those who are interested, the Great Canadian Genealogy Summit includes a day at PANS (the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia). Of course, I signed up. Now I need to check out their holdings at https://archives.novascotia.ca/genealogy and make a research plan.


That is easier said than done. I have been to PANS before so have to go through my previous research to look for gaps in what I have and also check out the potential connections that I was looking into. All of this is complicated by the glimpses of the interesting multiple connections between my research families that I caught along the way. Something tells me that I should have started getting ready months ago!