Friday Fotos (January 10, 2014) -- The Medical Alumni Association of the University of Toronto (June 9, 1967)

Dr. George Douglas Jeffs (front row right) is the maternal great grandfather of our two sons. He was born in Havelock Township, Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada in November 1893. He died in Lake Worth, Florida in February 1980. He and Eulalie Lillian Mary Jeffs were married in York, Ontario, Canada on October 4, 1919.

Dr. Jeffs was a "graduate of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Toronto, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Medicine on May 2, 1917."

As the photograph above indicates, Dr. Jeffs was an active member of the Medical Alumni Association of the University of Toronto.  The photograph was taken at a meeting of the Association on June 9, 1967.  The exact location is unknown, but it is presumably in front of a building on the University campus in Toronto. The Association members pictured in the photograph are as follows moving left to right by row starting with the front row standing on the sidewalk.

Front Row: J.C. McClelland; J.S. Crawford; N.B. Beardmore; R.M. Harvie; and G.D. JEFFS

Second Row:  S.J. Evelyn; E.D. Hutchinson; J.F. Adams; W.P. Tew; G.M. Dobbin; J.H. Howell

Third Row:  F.H. Boone; C.S. MacDougall; C.V. Mills; J.L. King; J.W. MacKenzie

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Original photograph and certificate from the family genealogy collection.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Wordless Wednesday (January 8, 2014) -- The Herbert Beverly Jeffs Family 1893

Herbert Beverly Jeffs, Eulalie Lillian Mary Jeffs, and Elizabeth Ann (Fennell) Jeffs

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Original photograph (circa 1893) in the family genealogy collection.

The baby is the maternal grandmother of my wife Molly and the great grandmother of our two sons. Eulalie was born in Bond Head, Ontario, Canada in 1893 and died in Burlington, New Jersey in 1984. Her mother, Elizabeth Ann Jeffs nee Fennell, was born at Bradford, Ontario, Canada in December 1866. Her father, Herbert Beverly Jeffs, was born in March 1864 in West Gwillimbury, Ontario, Canada.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity

Here are a few discoveries from my surfing after returning from vacation.  I commend the following for inclusion on your reading list.

1.  There are a lot of very clever blog names and themes out there (Jennealogy by Jennifer Dunn is a nice example).  I admit I am quite a fan of strawberries and good food in general, so I was taken by the clever food theme (and tantalizing strawberries wallpaper) developed by Tracy Meyers at Family Preserves blog.  Have a look here .  And I dare you to not suddenly crave some strawberries!    

2.  Up Front With NGS linked to a piece by Mary Harrell-Sesniak titled "How To Spot and Avoid 9 Common Genealogy Mistakes and Errors."  You can check it out here.  

3.   Speaking of Up Front with NGS, if you are like me and want to learn more about DNA testing and genealogy, have a look at the series on DNA Testing in genealogy.  Part 4 of 4 can be viewed here and you can then link backward to the earlier postings.

4.  This is a hard one to read and view, but it is clearly about love and capturing or making the moments while you can.  [Having tissues nearby is advised!]        

5.  There are many reasons to become a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) and among them is the receipt of The Weekly Genealogist digital newsletter.  Recently a newsletter linked to a story that all of us who have visited cemeteries where ancestors and relatives are interred and have tried to gather data from worn or damaged headstones can appreciate.  Shannon Nolte is fascinated by how people remember and memorialize their deceased.  As a doctoral candidate she did research on that very subject, but now the former college instructor is in a new line of work.  Read about it here.      

6.  Does your family hold a reunion?  Would you like to start holding family reunions?  Perhaps you would like to see what others do for and at their reunions and get some reunion tips?  Well here is a place to visit to learn more about what goes on during summer reunion season . . .  Tom Ashbrook's OnPoint at NPR station 90.0 WBUR focused on family reunions recently.  Have a look here.

7.  As a follow-up to an item in Saturday Serendipity a few weeks ago, the data and images in the  1921 Census of Canada were finally released while I was vacationing in the Adirondacks.  It is now available at http://www.ancestry.ca/cs/ca/census?iid=55940&o_lid=55940&o_sch=Web+Propertyline  

The images are not yet available via an every name index, but you can browse the census data and images via district and sub-districts if you have that information -- or, if you are one of those intrepid souls with a love of record surfing and the time to do so, you can guess and browse the districts until you stumble onto what you are hoping to find.  There are some 8.8 million records to index so it will take a little while to complete the indexing process.  If you have Canadian ancestors or relatives and want to learn more about how and when Canadian Census records are gathered, here is a good starting place.  And if you want more background and detail about the 1921 Census in Canada, you really should be aware of Elizabeth LaPointe's blog, Genealogy Canada, where you can learn ahead of time, for example, that Newfoundland is not included in the 1921 Census because it did not become a Province until 1949!  [BUT there was a 1921 census of Newfoundland and Labrador and it has been available for a few years now.]

With respect to access to the 1921 Census, Elizabeth LaPointe has posted the following clarification on her blog . . . 

          Jeri Brown, Senior Consultant with Ancestry.ca, has written to me to make sure that everyone understands that -

“Under the terms of the partnership with Library and Archives Canada, Canadians will be able to access the 1921 Census of Canada images free of charge through the Ancestry.ca website. If you currently do not have an account or registered login with Ancestry.ca, you will be prompted to register (for free) to access the images. Registration requires the entry of a name and email address only. As the images are free for Canadians only, those attempting to access the 1921 Census via the other sites (ie: Ancestry.com, Ancestry.co.uk, etc…), will be prompted to sign up for a 14-day free trial”.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (August 16, 2013) -- Then and Some Time Much Later

The photograph above was first posted here on The Prism on June 12, 2013 as a Wordless Wednesday offering.  The date of the photograph is not known.  The photo is of the James Jeffs family of Ontario, Canada.  My wife's great grandfather, Dr. William Henry Maines Jeffs, is shown fourth from the left in the back row.  His seven siblings and his parents are also shown.  James Jeffs and Sarah Maines Jeffs are my wife's great great grandparents.

The date of the photograph below is also unknown, but it was taken many years after the one above.  It shows four of the children in the top photograph late in their lives.  Francis West Jeffs (second from the left in the back row above) apparently went by "Frank Jeffs" in his later years.

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Photographs kindly provided by Jim Jeffs of Ontario, Canada.  James Jeffs (Father) and his son, Dr. William Henry Maines Jeffs, pictured in the top photograph, are my wife's great great grandfather and great grandfather respectively.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Mystery Monday (July 1, 2013) -- A Mystery From Canada

Minnie (Brown Jeffs), George Douglas Jeffs, Howard Brown Jeffs, and Dr. William Henry Maines Jeffs 

The above photograph is of my wife's Canadian great grandparents with their two sons (circa 1895): George (known as "Douglas" who is my wife's maternal grandfather) is on the left with his mother; and Howard is on the right with his father, Dr. William Henry Maines Jeffs.  Both Douglas and Howard grew up to become physicians themselves.

William Henry Maines Jeffs was one of the eight children of James Jeffs and his wife Sarah Jane Jeffs nee Maines.  [William is pictured with his parents and siblings in the James and Sarah Jeffs family portrait posted here at The Prism on June 12, 2013.]

Until about two years ago, the Minnie and William Jeffs family photograph shown above was understood to be the entire family -- that is until it was discovered that Minnie and William also later adopted a daughter around 1906 that no one in generations subsequent to those in the photograph had ever heard about (including my mother-in-law, the daughter of Douglas Jeffs pictured above beside his mother).

The 1911 Census of Canada for North Toronto, York South, Ontario, p. 47 shows Family No. 302 headed by William H. Jeffs, age 46, Doctor.  There are five other members of the household listed as follows: Minnie Jeffs, wife, age 48; Howard, son, age 19; Douglas, son, age 17; Jeanette, adopted daughter, age 7; and Mary H. Connor, age 37, listed as a "Patient."

The only other information about Jeanette is that she was born in July 1903 in the "U.S.A." and that she immigrated to Canada in 1906.  Whereas all the other members of the household have their "Racial or tribal origin" listed as Irish or English, Jeanette's origins are stated to be either North American or perhaps Native American -- it is hard to make out the handwriting in the next to last column to the right of her name.  Nothing more is known of Jeanette.  There are no photographs of her or mention in any family records that have been found.  It is unknown if she died young or perhaps married young and moved away.  Jeanette Jeffs is a complete mystery at this point.    

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Photograph in the collection of the author as provided by my mother-in-law.  

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Wordless Wednesday (June 12, 2013) -- The James and Sarah (Maines) Jeffs Family circa 1900

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Photograph kindly provided by Jim Jeffs of Ontario, Canada.  James Jeffs (Father) and his son, Dr. William Henry Maines Jeffs, pictured in the photograph, are my wife's great great grandfather and great grandfather respectively.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (March 1, 2013) -- Three Sisters and Three Sisters

The Fennell sisters: Jane, Susan/Susannah and Elizabeth circa 1869.

The maternal side of my wife's family is from Canada.  Her maternal great grandmother is Elizabeth Ann (Fennell) Jeffs who was born in Bradford, Ontario, Canada on December 12, 1866. Elizabeth was the daughter of Robert Fennell and his wife, Mary Jane (Wood) Fennell.  Robert and Mary Jane had seven children -- three girls (Jane, Elizabeth and Susan/Susannah) and four boys (William, Albert, Robert and Thomas).

On September 16, 1891, at age 24, Elizabeth Ann Fennell married Herbert Beverly "H.B." Jeffs in Bradford, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada.  H.B. was 27 years old at the time of their marriage.

The Jeffs sisters: Eulalie, Kathleen/Kay and Helen circa 1900.

H.B. and Elizabeth Jeffs had three daughters.  The eldest, Eulalie Lillian Mary Jeffs, born in 1893, is my wife's maternal grandmother.  Eulalie's younger sisters were Helen Elizabeth Jeffs, born 1894, and Kathleen "Kay" Lorna Jeffs, born 1897.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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