GENEALOGY DROP-IN CLASS – ARCHIVED TOPIC

GENEALOGY DROP-IN CLASS ARCHIVED TOPICS

Paul Rose is a dedicated historian and registered genealogist, has passionately pursued genealogy since his teens, tracing his ancestry back to 1100. 

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The Vital Role of Railways in Immigration and Settlement in Alberta with Les Kozma

• Wednesday, September 4, 2025

Les provided an excellent insight into the role of railways in the early settlement of Alberta. They played a vital role in not only providing transportation in the area before the building of roads, but they were the communication line for products and services both coming in and out of the province. For many early settlers, it was the means of passage to their new homeland and settlement on their homesteads.

There have been three phases of railway development in Alberta:

1. The Pioneer Era 1879 – 1898:

This was a period of early railway construction in the Canadian West. The Canadian government’s intent was to secure the west for Canada and avoid American encroachment into the prairies. A transcontinental railway from Ontario through to Vancouver was seen as a means to ensure that Canada would retain ownership of the prairie region. Railway lines were expanded during these years into more remote regions. Alberta witnessed the building of rail lines north from Calgary to Edmonton, followed by branches further east, west and north into then unsettled territories.

2. The Pre- War Boom 1898 – 1918:

With the railways criss-crossing the area, settlement followed. An aggressive advertising campaign was launched to attract new settlers from eastern Canada, the United States and Europe, particularly Eastern Europe. By 1914, an estimated 3 million immigrants arrived in Canada, most coming to the prairie region. The promise of 160 acres of free land and the ability to live a life free of poverty, oppression and persecution built Alberta into one of Canada’s major grain producing regions. The railways enabled this growth, bringing settlers to the settlement areas of the province, and likewise transporting goods both to and from these areas. Railways were the life-line for the hundreds of new settlers to Alberta.

3. The Inter-War Boom 1919 – 1935:

Following the First World War (1914-1918) railway construction and expansion continued. The Inter-War Boom period saw a growth of a diversity of industries in Alberta beyond grain farming. Cattle ranching in the southern regions, coal mining in the foothills and mountain areas, lumbering, sugar beet processing, and brick manufacturing expanded the province’s growth and contributed to a period of economic prosperity during the 1920s. More and more new settlers arrived in the province to support the increasing diversity of economic opportunities. All of this growth depended heavily upon the support of railways.

This growth though fell drastically when the Great Depression came during the 1930s. With severe droughts, grain production fell significantly, and many homesteaders simply abandoned their land and moved to the cities in search of work or emigrated to other regions outside the province. With the building of roads and improved transportation with trucks and automobiles, dependency on the railways gradually declined in the post-World War II years.

The railways contributed in several ways to the growth of Alberta:

• They opened the region to settlement. Without the presence of roads, the railways were in most parts of the province the only means of transportation and communication. A network of rail lines criss-crossing the province enabled settlers to reach the outer regions of the province transitioning them into productive farms and villages.
• The railway built many of the villages and hamlets throughout the province. Railways were required to build a railway depot every eight to ten miles along their tracks. An estimated 83% of the villages in Alberta were laid out along rail lines. These villages provided not only residences for some settlers, but supported the development of businesses that served the neighbouring region with goods and services.
• Railways were vital to grain farmers. Farmers transported their grain produce to the nearby depot where it was sold to grain dealers who in turn transported the grain by rail east to Thunder Bay for shipment further east. Millions of tons of grain were moved by the railways and without their existence, grain farming in Alberta would have been impossible.
• Similarly, the influx of settlers to Alberta beginning in the 1890s was accommodated by the railways. Settlers new to Canada, boarded a train in Halifax or Quebec City, and travelled the long journey over several days to their destination in Alberta. Although a long journey characterized by challenging and sometimes deplorable conditions, the railways offered the best means of transportation west. Even the Harvest Excursionists of the early 1900s travelled west from eastern Canada by rail and without their assistance, grain crops may not have been harvested before the onset of winter.

On the other hand, there were some dissolutions with railways during this same period:

• Initially the CPR was the only rail line in Alberta. They held a twenty year exclusive access to Alberta with no other railway company permitted to build in the province. In 1880 a syndicate was signed for $25 million and 25 million acres as compensation for the building of the railway in Alberta. This did in essence create a monopoly by the CPR over rail transportation which many settlers felt was an unfair advantage.
• Although farmers could only ship their grain with the CPR during the early years, the government did set the shipping rate at 1.5 cents per mile. Still farmers had but one option to transport their grain.
• With the requirement of having a railway depot/station every eight to ten miles along the rail lines, villages sprang up surrounding the depots. But the adjacent lands were owned by the railways who in turn would auction the land to potential buyers. Speculators often purchased these lands and in turn resold them to settlers at inflated prices.
• Communication with outer regions was in most cases solely dependent upon the railways. Railway schedules and the scrutiny of station masters dictated the availability of services for settlers. Although the trains operated to the Railway Time Table established in 1882, the individual discretion of station masters, train engineers and even the weather determined if trains arrived on time or at all. Several times people and goods did not move because “the trains weren’t moving today”.
• Settlers often were exploited and disillusioned by the railways and immigration officials. Attracted to settlement in Alberta, they left their homeland with visions of land ownership, prosperous farms, and a better life. Sold 160 acres of railway lands sight unseen, they would find that their land was uninhabitable. Forced to abandon their land with no compensation, they would need to relocate to more hospitable areas at additional cost and hardship.
• Even though government establishment of transportation fares and shipping rates attempted to ensure a fair cost to users, the railways did hold a monopoly on their services. Farmers and settlers had only one option when it came to travelling or transporting their goods.

 

The importance of the railways in opening up Alberta goes undisputed. They provided not only the principal means of transportation of people and services, but they were instrumental in penetrating to the outer regions of the province where they played the role as the principal means of communication. There was some exploitation of settlers during the settlement years, but generally it is recognized that without the railways, Alberta would not have enjoyed the growth and eventual prosperity it came to enjoy.

 

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Learning Moment:

Tombstone Symbols – Flowers

• Bellflowers – Hope for Eternal Peace
• Lillies – Marriage / Fidelity
• Daffodils – Rebirth / New Beginnings
• Daisies – Joyfulness, Hope and Love
• Lillies of the Valley – Humility / Hope
• Morning Glories – Loss of a Young Person
• Roses – Life Ending in its Prime

Source: Sept/Oct 2025, Family Tree Magazine

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Upcoming Events

Here are the website links for upcoming genealogy events as presented in our meeting September 3.25:

 

1. WSAC Genealogy Group on the WSAC General Website:

https://weseniors.ca/whats_new/genealogy-drop-in-class/

2. Family History Fair – Saturday, October 25, 2025

https://www.edmontongenealogy.ca/edmonton-family-history-fair

3. AGS Fall Workshop – Camrose, AB – October 4. 2025

https://www.abgenealogy.ca/news-events

4. AGS Training – AGS, Edmonton –
5. Introduction to Genealogy – Sept 27.25
6. Tracing Your Family Tree – Nov 1, 8 and 22

https://www.abgenealogy.ca/join-ags

5. The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland – Rebuilding the Public Record Office of 1922

www.virtualtreasury.ie

6. MAC Genealogy User SIG (In-Person Only)  – Sept 8.25  7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

https://www.edmontongenealogy.ca/mac-genealogy-user-sig

7. Technology for Genealogy SIG – Tips and Tricks (Zoom) Sept 18 – 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

https://www.edmontongenealogy.ca/technology-for-genealogy-sig

8. Town Halls – AGS (Zoom or In Person) Meet President Karen Wilson and provide input on

                Goals and priorities for the Edmonton AGS.

https://www.edmontongenealogy.ca/town-hall

9. The Ukraine Genealogy Group (UGG) – September 2025 Newsletter

                Listing of happening with Ukrainian Genealogy.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#i

Polish Settlement in Alberta and Western Canada

• Wednesday, June 4, 2025

At our June 4. 25 meeting we welcomed John Szumlas, Honorary Polish Consul for Northern Alberta, who spoke on the settlement of Polish immigrants in Alberta and the Canadian Prairies.

Poland of course is located in Eastern Europe and has been ‘wedged’ between some of Europe’s major powers through its history. As a nation, it ceased to exist in the late 1700s when it was amalgamated into the Russian, Prussian (Germany) and Austrian Empires. As a result of the disappearance of Poland as a country, the Polish people have lived through several years of struggle and hardship in their efforts to retain their culture and heritage. Immigration was seen as on means to achieve that goal. There has been five major waves of Polish immigration to Canada:

• Phase 1: Pre-1890 Polish immigration was in Eastern Canada and the United States.
• Phase 2: 1890s to 1939 with the promotion of Western settlement by the Canadian Government and the post World War I years when Poland became an independent nation, but struggled during the Depression years.
• Phase 3: 1939 to 1956 with the invasion of Poland by Germany and Russia and the onslaught of Communism following the end of World War II.
• Phase 4: 1956 – 1990s during the Communist regime in Poland and the exit of many Poles seeking freedom and opportunity in the West.
• Phase 5: Today and into the Future with a democratic Poland enjoying strong economic growth under the shadow of neighbouring Russia.

In the early stages, most Polish immigrants came to Canada as poor peasants with dreams of building a better life for themselves and their families. For the cost of $10.00, they could obtain 160 acres of land while retaining their culture, language and religion. Next to Winnipeg, Strathcona (now southern Edmonton) was the second largest immigration distribution center for new arrivals. Twenty-two Polish families were the first to come to Alberta. The men would leave their families at the distribution center and travel to their allotted homestead of bush, rocks and hard work. Their families would then follow and faced the hardship of working alongside their men building a self-sufficient life on their homestead. They integrated well with their Ukrainian counterparts who shared similar origins, culture and language, and together they created a life for themselves. They shared three common elements – Faith, Hope and Opportunity.

In addition, many Poles worked in the mining industry in southern Alberta. Coal was needed to fuel the growing railway network throughout the province, and several Polish immigrants had worked as miners in their homeland and it was only logical that they continue working as miners in Canada.

With the onslaught of the Depression, the German-Russian invasion of Poland in 1939 and then the Communist rule of Poland in the post-World War II years, Polish immigration continued. Many Poles simply ‘escaped’ the hardships in their homeland and made their way to western Canada to find a better life for themselves and their families. These were troubled times for Poland when the country was brutalized by German invaders, then Communist Russian rule. It was a period when many thousands of Poles were distributed around the world where their descendents live today.

John enhanced his presentation with several personal experiences of his own family immigration to Alberta which added to a better understanding of the challenges Polish immigrants faced, the hardships they overcame, and the ultimate success they achieved in their new homeland.

Polish immigrants have contributed significantly to Canadian culture and heritage. The Poles fought valiantly during the Second World War alongside other Canadian troops, and have played prominent roles in the governing, the economy and the culture of Canada. Today there is a estimated three million Canadians with Polish ancestry. Next to Toronto-Mississauga in Ontario, Alberta claims the second largest Polish group in our country. There are approximately 173,000 citizens in Alberta who can claim Polish heritage, 134,000 of whom live north of Red Deer. Today many of these are in their third and fourth generation and continue to contribute to the success of Canada in a wide variety of sectors.

The presentation was well received by those members who attended, and has contributed to our understanding of another facet of Alberta’s heritage.

Genealogy and Computers

• Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Our May 7 meeting was hosted by Don Bowling who had arranged for Art Taylor, a member of the Ontario Genealogy Society, to present on the topic of using MetaData as a means of filing, categorizing, and placing notations with digital photographs. As we move more and more to storing our genealogy information, records and photographs digitally, MetaData is an important tool that will enable both organization of these files and easy retrieval.

In addition, Art was to provide a presentation on how he used photographs and negatives to reconstruct the travels of his grandfather, Ed Taylor, from his birth in 1883 until his death in 1961.

Unfortunately, the Zoom connection to Art’s presentation was lost about half ways through his talk, and we were unable to re-establish connection. Accordingly, I will provide you with some information on MetaData and where you can link for further understanding.

 

METADATA

MetaData is “data that provides information about other data”, but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata including ‘Descriptive metadata – the descriptive information about a resource.

Metadata on a website refers to data about data, essentially providing information about the content and structure of a webpage. It’s typically implemented through meta tags in the HTML head section, making it visible to search engines and those who inspect the page’s source code. This data helps search engines understand and index the page, improving its visibility and ranking.

Key aspects of website metadata:

• Meta Tags: These are HTML tags, like title, description, and keywords that provide details about the page to search engines and other clients.
• Purpose: Metadata helps search engines understand the content, structure, and purpose of a webpage which is crucial to SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
• Visibility:  Meta tags are not displayed on the webpage itself, but they provide valuable information to search engines.
• Examples:  Metadata can include information like the author, date of creation, file size and content type.
• Importance of SEO:  By providing information about your website’s content, metadata helps search engines understand what your website is about and how to rank it in search results.
• Checking Meta Tags:  You can view the meta tags on a website by right clicking on the page and selecting “View Page Source” or “View Source”.

With the loss of our connection with Art Taylor, the group took advantage of the time to share genealogy experiences, sources and recommendations for other members. Here are a few of those that were discussed:

 

Photomyne:   https://photomyne.com/

“The perfect home for scanning old memories and preserving them for your family’s future”.

Easy, speedy and high-quality – scan dozens of photos into digital albums in minutes.

Every time captures memory – dedicated scanning apps for multiple types of media – photos, slides, negative, and kid’s art.

Enhance and infuse with new life – Touch-up old photos so they look as good – or better- than when the shutter snapped.

 

Immigration Ships Lists: Searching for the arrival of ancestors to Canada can be challenging depending on the arrival location and dates. Many immigrants to North America came through Ellis Island in New York or Pier 21 in Halifax although there are several other points of arrival. Three sites that may be of value in your search for record of your ancestor’s arrival are:

1. Immigration Records – Library and Archives Canada

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration-records/passenger-lists/Pages/introduction.aspx

2. Passenger Lists – Ancestry.com or Ancestry.ca

Passenger lists searched by location or date worldwide.

3. The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation:

https://www.statueofliberty.org/discover/passenger-ship-search/

The Passenger Search database allows you to look for family members who arrived at the Port of New York from 1820 to 1957.

 

Using chatGPT for Soundex Searches:  www.chatgpt.com

One way to expand genealogical searches is to use the Soundex feature.  The Soundex algorithm is a phonetic algorithm used to classify words that sound similar, even if spelled differently. Using Soundex Examples:

• ChatGPT can explain how database search engines can use Soundex to find records based on the phonetic similarity of the works in the records.
• ChatGPT can provide an example of how Soundex can be used to group names that are spelled differently but sound the same life “Johnson” and “Jonson”.

** There will be more discussion and demonstration of chatGPT in our 2025-2026 meetings”.

I thank all those who were able to attend our meeting, we had a good turnout. Our next meeting, and final meeting for the 2024-2025 season, will be on June 4, 2025 in the WSAC Boardroom. The presentation will be on Polish Settlement in Alberta and Western Canada by John Szumlas, Polish Consul for Northern Alberta. Even though you may not have Polish ancestry, learning about the struggles, challenges and contributions of how this group of immigrants has enhanced the heritage and culture of Canada contributes to your understanding of this wonderful country we live in called Canada.

Researching Your Family’s Military History

• Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Do you have ancestors who participated in Canada’s involvement in the Great World Wars? Did your grandfather fight at Vimy Ridge? Did your father land in Normandy as part of the Allied invasion of France in 1944? If you have an ancestor or relative who participated in one of Canada’s past military events or was a member of Canada’s military forces, you may be interested in this month’s meeting topic.

 I am pleased to welcome to our meeting Matthew Ostapchuk, Curator of Military and Government History with the Royal Alberta Museum here in Edmonton. Matthew’s topic is “Researching Your Family’s Military History” where he will explore how to research a family member’s Canadian military service particularly in the First and Second World Wars. This should be an interesting presentation and should help address those challenges you may have faced in learning about your relatives’ military history.

Our April 2.25 meeting of the WSAC Genealogy Group was very well attended and I thank all those who were able to join us. This is a summary of the meeting:

 

Learning Moment:   23andMe Bankruptcy

As many of you may be aware, the DNA analysis company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection with the intention of either selling their activities or alternatively reorganizing. If the company is sold, then the next custodians of their genetic data will be awarded to the highest bidder with no future certainty as to the use of the company records and files.  Should they go bankrupt, all their websites, services and servers will likely close down and the data will be lost.

If you have used 23andMe for genealogy DNA analysis, you should do the following to protect your data and continue to access your results:

• Download your data
• Screenshot your matches
• Backup your data
• Delete your data from their website.

There are several websites detailing these procedures, but one source I have found to be useful is

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/23andme-data-bankrupt/

 

Presentation:  ‘Researching Your Family’s Military History’

We were fortunate to welcome Matthew Ostapchuk, Curator of Military and Government History at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, who spoke on researching family military history during the First and Second World Wars.

Matthew broke his presentation into three principal parts:

• Military objects (or artifacts) held at the RAM. He described army uniforms worn during World War I and the insignia/buttons/ epaulets attached, weapons used, medals awarded and other memorabilia from the war. Sources for tracing the background of several medals and awards were provided.
• Personnel Records: Matthew walked the group through the research process of using the Library and Archives Canada website to find military files and documentation on enlisted personnel during both wars – service records, attestation papers, casualty details, and other records. It is important to keep in mind that World War I records are available for viewing and can be obtained either in paper format, electronically or viewed in person. World War II records have limited access; for those enlisted who are deceased, generally all documentation is available. For those enlisted still living or who have died in the last 20 years, this documentation is restricted to the enlisted person themselves or their legal representative.

Beware that receipt of requested documentation for World War II enlisted may take upwards of three years to be received.

• War Diaries:  These records can be a useful source to ‘fill in the blanks’ about the actual history and events that surrounded the combat activity of ancestors. War diaries were kept by each unit and detailed the daily activity that the unit experienced. They speak of actual combats and the events the unit experienced during the combat. The diaries go beyond the actual documentation provided in the Personnel Files and give description to what the units were experiencing at any particular time during frontline combat.

I have provided a copy of the listing of websites below that Matthew provided that are useful in researching each of these three components of which he spoke.

In addition, the military used a significant series of acronyms in their documentation, the meaning of which are unfamiliar to the average researcher. A dictionary of these acronyms can be found on the Library and Archives Canada website at the following address:

https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/military-heritage/Pages/military-abbreviations.aspx

In addition, Matt has provided the electronic version of the resources that he had shared. He has added a link to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and advises that users can use their search tool to find where individuals are buried or commemorated.

 

Researching Your Family’s Military History: Resources

Researching your family’s “Objects”

• https://canadiansoldiers.com/ 
  • “A referenced source regarding the organization, vehicles, weapons, uniforms, traditions, and insignia of Canadian soldiers in the 20th Century.”
• https://veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance 
  • “Stories, military history, memorials, medals and decorations of those who served.”

 

Personnel Records 

• https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/help/pffww 
  • First World War Personnel Records database, LAC
• https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/military-heritage/second-world-war/pages/personnel-records-second-world-war.aspx 
  • Personnel Records of the Second World War, LAC

 

War Diaries

• https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/Pages/war-diaries.aspx
  • War Diaries of the First World War, LAC
• https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/military-heritage/second-world-war/Pages/second-world-war.aspx 
  • How to search War Diaries of the Second World War and other collections, LAC
• https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_133700?usrlang=en
  • Canadiana Héritage, Digitized War Diaries (some not digitally available through LAC)

 

Military abbreviations used in service files

• https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/military-heritage/Pages/military-abbreviations.aspx 

 

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

• https://www.cwgc.org/ 

The Harvest Excursions and Women on the Prairies

• Wednesday, March 5, 2025

These two events may have been the reason behind some of your ancestors migrating to Western Canada and should provide some insight into the life and challenges they may have faced.

 

The Harvest Excursions

With the growth of the grain growing industry in western Canada beginning in the early 1890s, the Prairies became one of the world’s largest grain producers. Farming the grain crops was very labour intensive in these times particularly in the harvest period from August through to October. The grain was usually cut either by scythe or a horse drawn cutter, then stooked to further dry and ripen, then gathered on wagons and taken to a thresher to be separated into grain kernels and straw for animal bedding. The process required many hands – the farmer, farm labourers, sometimes the farmer’s wife and older children, and neighbouring farmers – all very labour intensive. Still there was a shortage of hands to meet the harvest in the short time available.

The CP Railway saw an opportunity to improve this process by encouraging men and sometimes women to come west to assist with the harvest. This opportunity was intended also to promote western settlement, the sale of railway lands to new settlers, as well as increase the harvest yield hence increasing the need for railway transport of grain to shipping terminals. Beginning in about 1900 until 1930 thousands of young men took advantage of reasonable rail rates to experience the West. During the mid 1920s, over 50,000 men travelled to the Prairies annually. For many, the lure of The West brought many to take up homesteading and remain permanently on the Prairies.

We looked at their life on the prairies while harvesting, the challenges they faced, and the contribution the harvest excursions made to Western Canada. With the advent of the combine in the late 1920s and the onslaught of the Great Depression, the Harvest Excursions came to end.

 

Women On the Prairies

In 1911, the ratio of men to women on the Prairies was such that for every 1,000 men there were 730 women. Part of this discrepancy was the settlement of men who came on the harvest excursions. Men exceeded women by about 25% which put the growth of families and family life at risk as well as created a shortage in some labour sectors such as teaching, nursing, domestic help, seamstresses and general labour. The Government of Canada launched a campaign to bring women west, and through advertising in magazines, billboards, and posters they created an idyllic image of life on the Canadian Prairie for women. We looked at the actual reality of that “idyllic life” and the experiences many women encountered. Theirs’ was often a role of spouse, mother, farm labourer, factory worker, teacher, etc. They faced tremendous challenges – loneliness, long labouring days, large numbers of children, disease and illness, loss of their spouse and the need to “go it alone”. They had few rights compared to their male counterparts, earned less money for equivalent work, and had few legal privileges. It was a hard life for sure.

What came from looking at these two elements of history on the Prairies was that both the Harvesters and the Women who followed demonstrated an undoubtable strength and courage to face the challenges they encountered. But as one woman said “these folks were ones of courage, strength, humour and determination. And for those who endured and survived, they would do it all over again.”