• Thanksgiving Day
• Reminder (Mission Statement)
• The More Things Change
• Quirky Item Filming in the 1930s
• Website Links
• Canadian Place Names
• Social History Bicycles
• Books to Give for Christmas
• Something To Think About
• Suggestions
• Subscription, Privacy Policy

Happy Thanksgiving, whether or not you celebrate it this month as in Canada, or at another time!

The date for Canadian Thanksgiving, which now falls on the second Monday in October, has fluctuated significantly in the past.

For example, I found this item regarding the holiday in the early 1900s in The Delta Times:

"Thursday next, Oct. [sic] 26th, being Thanksgiving day, the bank and stores will be closed."

However, the following, taken from The Weekly Optimist, 12 October 1922, identifies the day quite differently:

"THANKSGIVING DAY ð Thanksgiving day this year will be November 6th. The date was fixed by parliament at the 1921 session, being designed to fall on the Monday of the week containing Armistice Day, which is November 11th."

A Reminder about This Newsletter

The following is a quote from the premier issue of this newsletter:

"My expertise lies in the history of the community where I live, namely Ladner and the municipality of Delta, so much of what I discover has that slant to it. At the very least, it concerns the Province of British Columbia. But, we all know that there are larger applications to many of the interesting sources that we come across.

I welcome suggestions and in-put, so if you've found a really useful resource that other researchers might benefit from, please send me an e-mail, and I'll include it if I think it has merit. At this point, I'm open to a variety of items being included here. And, since I have a commercial web site, and publish my books, you can expect the occasional plug for my products."

The More Things Change ...

"CORRESPONDENCE REMOVING TO ALBERTA

EDITOR, COLUMBIAN Sir: My attention was drawn to an item in your paper referring to the departure of an old resident of B. C. for the Edmonton country. It is the desire of many settlers of New Westminster District to follow in the wake of the above emigrant, and they would soon do so if they could sell their farms. A Langley farmer leaves to-day with his family for Calgary, taking along a [rail] car of stock and effects, for which he pays the C.P.R. [sic] $170 for transport; also a neighbor of his is planning to go as soon as he can find [a] sale for his farm. These instances are significant of discontent among our best settlers, and the cause is not hard to find a deplorable condition of roads and a wretched management of public affairs by a wicked and imbecile Government.

SETTLER

Stave River Valley, April 4."

A Quirky Item

This item, taken from The [Ladner] Optimist, 02 June 1938, page four, may appeal to someone:

"Acknowledges Support

Travel Films acknowledges with thanks the whole-hearted support of the following business firms in Ladner and district:

The Big Store, Luck's Cafe, Holloway and Watts, Perry and Knott, Cook's Garage, Ladner Meat Market, The Optimist, Simpson's Ladies Wear, Delta Pharmacy, Ferry Service Garage, Dunnet & Cormack, W. McCrea (Pat's Pool Room), O. A. Murphy, Percy W. Lord, E. R. Bell, Mrs. G. F. Rollins, Dr. J. C. Grimson.

These businesses and individuals have contributed most generously to insure the inclusion of the Ladner area in the Natural Color Motion Pictures of the entire Fraser Valley, which, when completed will be shown continuously at the Canada Pacific Exhibition in Vancouver from August 29 to September 5 of this year.

This particularly absorbing series, consisting of practically every type of industry functioning in the area lying between New Westminster and Hope, both on the north and south sides of the Fraser River, will afterwards be displayed in the Delta Community Hall, free of charge to the public.

Subsequently, these pictures, showing the natural beauty of the Lower Mainland, will be shown through the prairie provinces, thereby giving Ladner and Delta invaluable publicity.

Advt."

Website Links for Hard Copies

Given that some subscribers (libraries in particular) are saving these newsletters in hard copies, I've looked back through the issues of the first volume and have come up with a list of the URLs for the various websites to which I've directed subscribers. A partial list follows, with a notation as to which issue carried the original description. This list covers the first five months of this newsletter; a second list will be compiled for the November issue.

1. Crown Land Registry Services [December 2000] can be found at http://www.elp.gov.bc.ca/clrs/index.html.

2. B. C. Archives On-Line [December 2000] for general information about land pre-emptions is at http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/index.htm.

3. The Canadian National Registration of 1940 [January 2001], with detailed information, can be found on Bill Martin's site, at http://www.tbaytel.net/bmartin/natreg.htm.

4. For aerial photographs, [January 2001] check out the site of the National Air Photo Library at http://airphotos.NRCan.gc.ca/main.html.

5. Heritage Databank is at http://fn2.freenet.edmonton.ab.ca/~databank/index.html [January 2001].

6. B. C. Vital Events Indexes [February 2001] is at http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/textual/governmt/vstats/v_events.htm.

7. For the B. C. Historical Federation [February 2001], go to http://www.bchf.bc.ca/.

8. The place to convert the value of money from historical amounts to modern terms [March 2001] is http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/inflation_calc.htm.

9. Among the locations of Canadian Census databases is one for Vancouver Island 1881 [March 2001] at http://web.mala.bc.ca/dunae/census/.

10. For locating a lot of information, but especially for narrowing the search for Home Children [April 2001], go to the National Archives site at http://www.archives.ca/02/020202_e.html.

11. A B. C. Website devoted to the subject of British Home Children [April 2001] is at http://www3.telus.net/Home_Children_Canada/.

12. The link for the City of Victoria Archives [April 2001] is http://www.city.victoria.bc.ca/depts/archives/index.htm.

13. Help with Fire Insurance Plans [April 2001] can be found at http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/sanborn/details.html.

14. Background on early British Columbia newspapers [April 2001] can be found at http://members.tripod.com/~Hughdoherty/victoria.htm.

Canadian Place Names

Finding places that existed at one time but whose names have since been changed or who have disappeared from the map entirely is a source of incredible frustration especially if the locale is unfamiliar.

Thanks to Heather, a frequent contributor to the RootsWeb message board, the job is a lot easier, using this website, http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/english/cgndb.html.

Social History, also known as Life As It Was Lived

This item is taken from the Vancouver Daily World, 21 September 1897, at which time bicycles were becoming enormously popular. A few years afterward, however, we would be reading unflattering comments in the newspaper about women having taken to riding bicycles and enjoying this new-found freedom.

"LATEST BICYCLE EXPRESSIONS

An awkward person is a 'wabbler'.

A gossip travels with a 'loose sprocket.'

If your clothes are not in style you are a '95 model.'

When a man's sweetheart jilts him he is the victim of a

'broken chain.'

Any rider abrading the skin by a fall merely 'scrapes off some

of his enamel.'

A stupid individual, if there be any such on a bicycle, has

'sand in his bearings.'

A proud person, or one unduly haughty, 'rides with his handle

bars raised too high'

The unfortunate condition of being broke is described as a

'compound puncture of the pocketbook.'"

Christmas Is Coming Soon, The Goose Is Getting Fat ...

Too soon to be thinking about Christmas presents? Not if you're buying through mail order.

I have four (and more) suggestions for the person who has everything, or the office gift exchange, or the hostess gift (when there's already enough food on hand): my books naturally!

1. "Ladner's Landing of Yesteryear: Two Heritage Walks in the Historic Village" covers the original village that started at the waterfront.

2. "Beyond Ladner's Landing: Two Heritage Walks South of the Original Village" explores some residential areas, including Arthur Drive in Ladner.

3. "Across the Bridge From Ladner's Landing: Delta Manor and Its Chickens" takes you around a newer area of Ladner that started out as chicken farms in the 1920s.

4. "Port Guichon: Forgotten Neighbour of Ladner's Landing" transports you to a time when steam engines were a common sight on Delta's landscape.

Order now at http://www.ladnerslanding.com/Book_Store.html and beat the price increase coming at the beginning of December.

Something To Think About

My thought for the month of October is borrowed from The Delta Times, 23 January 1904:

"The man [or woman] who is really great is willing to leave the discovery to other people."

Looking for suggestions

If you have an issue that you would like to know more about, send me an e-mail, and let me know what it is.

Privacy

Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone. If you wish to unsubscribe, let me know by e-mail.

Gwen Szychter, M.A.

P.S. Here's a favour you can do for me: If you liked this newsletter and found it helpful or just interesting, please pass it on to a friend or colleague. Thank you.

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BOOKS, DATABASES, AND RESEARCH RESOURCES

***** Christmas Gift Ideas for the Person who has Everything *****

http://www.ladnerslanding.com/home.html

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