A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF THE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

Fall 2010 ISSN 1185-166X (Print)/ISSN 1921-7889 (Online) Volume 31-3

The Four Stages of Life

President’s Report September 2010

Well, another summer draws to a close. As the days get cooler and shorter there isn’t the guilt of sitting inside looking at difficult to read hand writing staring back at us from the most recent microfilm ordered in from Salt Lake City. Or, the hours spent pouring over letters or cert ificates you’ve received from distant relatives that might provide that nugget of information that will help you further your research. I spent the summer organizing and digitizing my many boxes of photos that have landed on my lap after Aunts and Uncles h ave passed away. I think the show “Hoarders” has prompted me to get more organized. Doing this made me take a closer look at what I had (many duplicates) and I have been able to identify many of the people in the photos. I was even able to confirm someone in a photo from 1905/1906 by finding out that the photographer lived in the same area as the person in the photo lived. It’s amazing what Google is able to help you find if you use the right combination of words in their Advanced Search. We’re back to ou r general meetings on the 3 rd Mondays of the month at Beban Park Social Center. The executive is hoping that someone will volunteer to be the Program Administrator who is responsible for finding our speakers for each meeting as well as advising the various media outlets of each meeting. This is not an Executive Position although that last eight or so years it has been a member of the Executive doing it. We are not looking for someone to fill in the Executive as this time. If anyone has an idea of someone they would like to year speak at our meetings, please let me know. In late June received our third year monies from the Gaming Grant that had been promised us. This money, $11,000.00/year pays for operating our Library on Victoria Ave. i.e. Ancestry subscription, purchasing books/microfilm, rent, power, cable and now property taxes. The province has made drastic cuts and shortened their list of who is eligible to receive money. I personally would be very surprised if we were to receive any further money from them. The money we have received will carry us through to summer 2011. After that, we will have to be very creative as to where we get our money to pay our operating expenses. I hope that this Fall brings many Ah-ha moments as well as a few Eurekas! Jocelyn Howat

Nanaimo Street Names We have many unusual names of streets here in Nanaimo. Some were named in days of Frank Ney and some are named for Robin Hood, Knights of the Round Table and dragon slayers. We have quirky names that are named for unknown reasons. My favorites include: ♦Blue Girl Way (named after Frank Ney's boat) ♦Black Powder Trail (named after C.I.L. explosive plant - located in CILaire) ♦Tom's Turnabout ♦Galloway Gultch (a realtor) ♦Eyelash Drive ♦Forever Road ♦Lynn-la-ran Road ♦Buttertubs Drive ♦Giggleswick Place ♦Smokey Cresent (one of my favorites ) ♦Widgeon Place ♦Yellowbrick Road ♦Bullrush Place ♦Embarcadero Place (spanish for pier or wharf - where the explosives plant wharf was located) ♦Zorkin Road (a developer)

AncesTree Newsletter Nanaimo Family History Society Fall 2010 V 31-3 2 ISSN 1185-166X (Print)/ISSN 1921-7889 (Online) Page 2 ♦Wakesiah Ave (named after 2nd name of the place we call Mt Benson) ♦Smugglers Hill ♦Stamp Way ♦Adam Grant Horne Lane (name is as long as the street - actually a laneway) ♦Azure Road ♦Bergen-Op-Zoom (a town in the Netherlands) ♦Bumble Bee Road ♦Garden Street (future development? - currently a swamp!)

The area Frank Ney gave Dutch-origin street names to was called "Dutch Acres." Origin of Bergen-op-Zoom In Nanaimo, Bergen-op-zoom is in a subdivision with names such as Amsterdam, Tulip and Arnhem Terrace. Frank Ney served in the RAF and RCAF as a pilot during World War II. The naming of those streets was in memory of the Canadian involvement in Holland during the war. Located north of the Scheldt River near the Belgian border, Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery contains 968 Canadian graves, including 64 from the RCAF. Most of the soldiers buried here lost their lives in the fighting north of Antwerp during the Battle of the Scheldt, as the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, with support from the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, worked to clear the right (north) bank of the Scheldt estuary of German forces.

INQUERY FROM HOLLAND My name is Wim Schook , I live in The Netherlands and I’m looking for anything about my name SCHOOK . My pedigree is now going back to approx. 1475. The reason I write to you is that I discovered that in Lantzville, Nanaimo there is a Schook Rd . You will understand that I’m very curious to know who was this Schook that has a road named after him. Until now I have not been very successful in finding out this even I asked not only the City of Nanaimo and many people over there (yes, I even have visited this road). Is it possible for you to publish my request, so as many people as possible could read it, including maybe that only person that surely knows who that Schook was and can tell me more about him. I’m interested in receiving your answer and I hope that this action will finally give me the result I’m hoping on. Kind regards, Wim Schook Zoetermeer The Netherlands [email protected]

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Google is the search engine of choice for most genealogists Google is the search engine of choice for most genealogists I know, due to its ability to return relevant search results for genealogy and surname queries and its huge index. Google is much more than just a tool for finding Web sites, however, and most people surfing for information on their ancestors barely scratch the surface of its full potential. If you know what you are doing, you can use Google to search within Web sites, locate photos of your ancestors, bring back dead sites, and track down missing relatives. Learn how to Google as you've never Googled before:

1. Search With a Focus Google has four important ground rules that you need to know for focused results:  Use a plus sign before words which are absolutely critical to your search. Example: powell +wills  Use a minus sign before words that you want to be excluded from the search. This is especially useful when searching for a surname with a common usage such as rice or one which is shared with a famous celebrity such as Harrison Ford (i.e. you would enter your search as ford - harrison to exclude results with the word 'harrison').  Use quotation marks around any two word or greater phrase to find results where the words appear together exactly as you have entered them. This is especially useful when searching for proper names (i.e. a search for thomas jefferson will bring up pages with thomas smith and bill jefferson , while searching for "thomas jefferson" will only bring up pages with the name thomas jefferson included as a phrase.  Use OR to retrieve search results that match any one of a number of words. The default operation for Google is to return results that match ALL search terms, so by linking your terms with OR you can achieve a bit more flexibility (ie smith genealogy OR cemetery )

To get really fancy you can combine these options together to achieve truly focused search results. For example, crisp +surname -apple genealogy OR +will OR "family tree" will return sites with the terms smith AND surname , combined with either genealogy, will , or the phrase family tree . Plus you won't retrieve any pages talking about " apple crisp !" I only recommend limiting your searches to this extent for common surnames, however. Otherwise you may just find yourself missing some good sites!

2. Search Without Stops Stop words are small, common words that many search engines ignore, or don't stop for, when searching for documents that match your query. This is because these words are either too common to generate meaningful results (i.e. where, how, about... or are parts of speech like conjunctions, prepositions and adverbs (i.e. and, if, be, the...). Google tells you when it's ignoring a stop word by displaying details on the results page below the search box (i.e. "about" is a very common word and was not included in your search). There are times when searching that you will not want Google to exclude these stop words. For example, will is considered a stop word by Google, which can mess up your search results if you are searching for the will of a specific ancestor. To get around this you can either force Google to include a stop word in your search by putting a "+" sign in front of it or by enclosing your phrase of two or more words in quotation marks (i.e. "about genealogy" or "will rogers"). AncesTree Newsletter Nanaimo Family History Society Fall 2010 V 31-3 4 ISSN 1185-166X (Print)/ISSN 1921-7889 (Online) Page 4

3. Search Suggested Alternate Spellings Google has become one smart cookie and now suggests alternate spellings for search terms which appear to be misspelled. The search engine's self-learning algorithm automatically detects misspellings and suggests corrections based on the most popular spelling of the word. You can get a basic idea of how it works by typing in 'geneology' as a search term. While Google will return search results for pages on geneology, it will also ask you "Did you mean genealogy?" Click on the suggested alternate spelling for a whole new list of sites to browse! This feature comes in particularly handy when searching for cities and towns for which you aren't sure of the correct spelling. Type in Bremehaven and Google will ask you if you meant Bremerhaven. Or type in Napels Italy, and Google will ask you if you meant Naples Italy.

Mafikeng Concentration Camp Cemeteries [GSSA CEMETERY RECORDING PROJECT NEWSLETTER VOL 8 NO 2 (22) WITH COMPLIMENTS JOHN SCHWARTZ Editor]

One inscription found in the minutes of the Prime Minister’s Office, Pretoria, dating to 11 November 1926, refers to three areas of land in Mafikeng used as burial grounds for those who died during the second Anglo-Boer War (URU 869, 3574). “…the areas in question having been used as cemeteries for the burial of persons who died in the burger concentration or refugee camps during the continuance of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902.” (URU 869, 3574) The first area encompassed one morgen and is situated approximately two miles from Mafikeng on the north side of the road leading from Mafikeng to Setlagoli, the second, about 300 square roods, is also situated two miles from Mafikeng on the same

AncesTree Newsletter Nanaimo Family History Society Fall 2010 V 31-3 5 ISSN 1185-166X (Print)/ISSN 1921-7889 (Online) Page 5 road only on the southern side, whereas the third area encompassed another 300 square roods approximately 6 miles from Mafikeng on the southern bank of the Molopo River on the Pitsani road (URU 869, 3574).

The second cemetery or smaller cemetery, also known as the Magogwe cemetery and named after the subsidiary joining of the Malopo River, contains 220 graves (Sebigi, n.a.). In December 1900 Gen. Kitchener gave orders to move the pro-British women and children to a smaller camp about 800 metres to the south of the original camp (Sebigi, n.a.). This might well have been what was termed a refugee camp and according to most historical records mainly consisted of African women and children. It is therefore believed that many African women and children were buried here, but that not all were notarized as such (Sebigi, n.a.).

Description of cemetery The smaller cemetery, also known as the Magogwe cemetery, is situated approximately two kilometres from the Lothlamoreng dam where the original concentration camp once was as well as the still existing larger fenced off cemetery containing 825 graves. The Magogwe cemetery contains 220 surface dressings of graves positioned in twelve rows with about nineteen graves per row. Each dressing consists of a cement slab. Four of these graves (as represented by the current surface dressings) still have marked headstones in varying degrees of dilapidation, namely:

1: Pieter Willem Johannes Lowies Jazua Jordaan 11 November 1839 – 14 March 1902

2: Sara Jacoba Debora van Zyl, gebore Nieuwoudt 21 May 1846 – 4 December 1901

3: Magritha Moolman 20 December 1889 – 29 November 1901

4: Moolman ?

At the entrance to the cemetery a memorial was erected explaining the history of the cemetery. The cemetery is located within the informal settlement and surrounded by recent graves of members of the local Barolong boo Rashidi who live here.

Location of cemetery The Mogowe cemetery is located in the Tloung township approximately 3.5km southwest of Mafikeng on the N18 Route to Vryburg. It is approximately 1km south-east of the larger cemetery at the Mafikeng concentration camp site.

Historical Overview The Mafikeng concentration camp may have been the first concentration camp set up during the second Anglo-Boer War and existed from July 1900 to January 1903 (Hobhouse, 1902). Although the Mafikeng concentration camp was actually part of the Cape Colony, it was run by the Transvaal camp system (Van Heiningen, n.a.). It was one of the most isolated concentration camps, situated on the northern most point of the railway line to Bechuanaland (Van Heiningen, n.a.). Its isolation probably also lead to its neglect later on. It was first visited by Emily Hobhouse on the 9th of

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April 1901, followed by the Ladies Committee in August 1901 (Raath, 1999; Van Heiningen, n.a.). With Emily Hothouse’s visit to the camp it was already almost a year old and housed between 800 and 900 refugees (Raath, 1999). Yet, many more would arrive later on including some of the Cape rebels and more refugees from Taungs ( sic ), Zeerust and Lichtenburg (Van Heiningen, n.a.). There is also mention of at least 300 African domestic workers who resided close by (Van Heiningen, n.a.).

By the end of July 1902, 1400 refugees were sent home, excluding the Cape rebels as well as those refugees who wished to stay in the camp since they had no houses to return to. In all it was estimated that over 4000 p eople were housed at Mafikeng throughout the concentration camps’ existence (Van Heiningen, n.a.).

I In the middle of August 1901 disaster struck when the influx of new refugees from Taung(s) brought with them measles, whooping cough and typhoid (Van Heiningen, n.a.). The decrease in food supplies along with a shortage in medical staff and medical supplies resulted in half the refugee camp becoming infected by the new diseases. “Over 2000 in a camp of about 4000 were ill and half that confined to bed.” (Van Heiningen, n.a.) The Mafikeng concentration camp was also struck by meningitis, the most severe outbreak to occur in any of the concentration camps (Van Heiningen, n.a.).

According to the newly appointed camp doctor, Mr. Marrow, the black concentration camp, on the other hand, was much cleaner and therefore also presented fewer deaths (Van Heiningen, n.a.). Nevertheless, many lives were lost and due to the lack of any mortuary the dead had to be buried hastily, possibly even resulting in the burial of more than one person in one grave.

Proposal It is proposed that the graves currently located in the Mogogwe cemetery be excavated using archaeological methods; that the remains be exhumed and analysed through physical anthropological methods and that the remains then be reburied in the larger Mafikeng cemetery and suitably memorialised. Currently both cemeteries are owned and under the protection of the Heritage Foundation, specifically the Voortrekker Monument, which manages the site with the co-operation of the local Rapportryers and the Barolong boo Rashidi tribal authority.

Known deceased individuals buried here must be followed up and it should be established if they have any living relatives who should then be consulted. Since there is a distinct possibility that this cemetery may represent “refugees” and may therefore contain also graves of black individuals these consultations should not be restricted to the Afrikaner community.

WC Nienaber, A Meyer and M Steyn Forensic Anthropology Research Centre, Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria

Prof JH Meiring Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria

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EVENTS: Finding Your Roots Family History Seminar

October 23, 2010 8:00 am - 4:00 pm Located at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 6270 - 126th Street Surrey, BC 604-597-9695 Registration available after September 1st, 2010

Website for further information and registration http://www.findingyourroots.ca/

Schedule

High 104 Relief Chapel 107 Primary 111 Overflow Time Council Society

8:00 AM Registration Beginner or review

8:30 AM Opening Session in Chapel Instructions and Late Changes to Program

Scotland Ontario Paint&Pictu Roots Interviewin Beginner New Int/Advanced Ancestors re Manager Magic g s FamilySear 9:00 – Techniques Genealog ch (For LDS) 10:20 Carol Wolfe Judith Elaine y Joyce Nagy AM Ueland Jolicoeur Lyn Brenda McGonigal Smith Jean Evans

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UK Netting Your Jewish Analyze FHC Online Searching 1800’s From Ancestors Genealogic Historical Beginners Portal For Your Research Ireland 10:30 – al Photos Foremothe Case What’s 11:50 Databases rs Study Next AM Terry Rogers Diane Lorraine Lyn Catherine Rogers Irving McGonigal Brenda Donald Youngren Smith W. Davis Joyce Nagy

12:00 – Noon Hour Displays 10:30 AM – 3:00 PM 1:00 PM

Research BCGS Your Scotland Ireland Canada English Sources: German’s from French Intermedia Online Poor Law Where Are Russia Canada te & Records They? 1:00 – on the Advanced 1:50 PM internet Dave Obee Diane Lil Chris David Donald Joyce Nagy Rogers Heselton Longley Eunice Jackson W. Davis Robinson

Civil United Writing Passengers Canada Planning a Registration Empire Your & Cloverdal Trip to 2:00 – Loyalists Family Immigratio e Library England 2:50 PM History n Carl Laurie Susan Dave Obee Stymiest Bill Overy Eunice Cooke Snalem Robinson

FamilySearch.o Netherland England USA Military Indexing LDS rg s Translatin Records Family 3:00 – g Early History 3:50 PM Wills Centers Lorraine Ardell Elaine Jolicoeur Mary Muir Bill Overy Irving Green David Jackson

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Research Outlines and other Genealogical materials will be available for purchase throughout the day by non-profit organizations

6270 – 126th Street Surrey, 604 -597 -9695 604 -597 -9695

There is no charge for classes or registration. Co -sponsored by the Abbotsford, Surrey and Stakes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -Day Saints

Finding Your Roots 16th Family History Seminar will be held Saturday 15th October 2011

PUBLICATIONS available from Nanaimo Family History Society Index of Births, Marriages & Deaths from the Nanaimo Free Press – this covers April 1874 to December 1899. The date shown in each case is the date of publication rather than the date of the event. This will allow the reader to refer to the appropriate microfilm copy of the newspaper Price: $5.00 Nanaimo Cemetery – Surname Index – Extracted from the Nanaimo Municipal Cemetery Records 1876 to 1926. These are NOT gravestone inscriptions 4467 burials. Price: $5.00 1920 Voters List – Nanaimo, Ladysmith & District – Eligible voters of Central , from Ladysmith north to Nanoose Bay, including Nanaimo, Cassidy, Extention, Ladysmith, Northfield, Cedar, South Wellington, Grant Mines (Lantzville), Nanoose Bay, Wellington, Gabriola Island. Price: $5.00 Early Catholic Parish Registers 1873 to 1925 – St Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, Nanaimo BC 1877 to 1925 Burials to 1990’s; St John’s Roman Catholic Parish, Wellington BC 1892 to 1901; St Mary’s Roman Catholic Parish, Ladysmith BC 1901 to 1925 Price: $5.00 Pioneer Albertans 1912 – An index to Biographies of over 500 pioneer Albertans, with cross references to 950 spouses and mothers, extracted from History of Alberta, by Archibald Oswald MacRaw . Price: $5.00

NOW AVAILABLE at the NANAIMO FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY LIBRARY on Microfilm BC Vital Statistics Registrations from British Columbia Provincial Archives (Now you can avoid that trip to Victoria or Vancouver to search BC Registrations) Births: 1858 to 1888 (1888 to 1904 not available because of the 120 year restrictions) Marriages: 1895 to 1933 Deaths: 1872 to 1988 Overseas Casualties from WWII

LIBRARY HOURS: Tuesday & Thursday 1-4pm; Wednesday 6:30-9 pm; Saturday 11 am – 3 pm Visitors welcome - $2.00 drop-in charge

Volunteers needed, no experience necessary - training provided. Don’t miss this great opportunity to meet new people and learn things along the way. Our library is run by volunteers. Without whom we would have to close. We could really use a few more people to help. It doesn't have to be every week. A few hours every other week would be great: especially looking for help on Wednesday evening. We also need people to fill in occasionally when someone is away. Please contact Jill Stedman our Library Administrator at 758-9731

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GENERAL MEETINGS 7:00-9:00 pm 3 rd Monday of each month (except holidays, & July, August, December) At Beban Park Lounge 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo BC Coffee, Tea, Cookies available for a cost of $.50 (vending machines also available) VISTORS ALWAYS WELCOME AS GUESTS: Check the web site for events and speakers

2010/11 Executive Nanaimo Family History Society

President Jocelyn Howat 1st Vice President Jackie Riceman 2nd Vice President Nancy Stewart Secretary Linda Malpass Treasurer Doug Toms Membership Enid Lighthart Librarian Grant Bridgeman Library Administrator Jill Stedman Past President Sid Norman Passenger Lists Vickie Beamish Newsletter Editor Jacquie Jessup

AncesTree Newsletter Nanaimo Family History Society 3999 Victoria Ave PO BOX 1027 Nanaimo BC V9R 5Z2 Phone: (250) 751-8731 Email: [email protected] Web page: http://[email protected]/nfhs

Table of Contents PRESIDENTS REPORT P 1 NANAIMO STREET NAMES P 2 INQUIRY FROM HOLLAND P 3 GOOGLE SEARCHING P 4 GENEALOGISTS PSALM P 5 MAFIKENG CEMETERIES p 5 EVENTS P 8 PUBLICATIONS P 10

Donating to the Nanaimo Family History Society Upon renewing your membership please consider donating to the Nanaimo Family History Society. Members’ donations will help support the Society. Perhaps you would consider making a bequest to the N.F.H.S. in your will. By donating to the Society you keep alive your interest in the study of family history.

The N.F.H.S. is a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency and monetary donations are eligible for official Canadian tax deductible receipts.

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