Toronto trip - day one

Well I've arrived safely after a good flight (arriving an hour early!), and was met by Linda and Pierce Reid of the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, who kindly brought me to the hotel where I am staying at in North York. We had a brief chat about researching family history in Canada, where I learned that the country can be quite strict on various issues concerning privacy and records releases. One particular impact from that was the 2011 census, which had a short form and long form, the long version being the one with all the info but which was not compulsory - John Reid has blogged quite a bit on this before on his excellent Anglo-Celtic Connections blog, so I was vaguely familiar with the story, but had not realised just how big an issue privacy can be here. (We're extremly lucky in Scotland on that front!).

Having checked in I then spent the afternoon doing what any self-respecting full blooded Ulsterman would do - I went for a dander (for the unwary, that basically means going for a walk and seeing what happens!). Within ten minutes I had stumbled across a graveyard - York Cemetery and Visitation Centre - so clearly the genealogical imperative kicked in and I had to take a peak. I came across a Sherman tank inside the grounds, acting as a war memorial, and several Scots graves - the following had this inscription, which I thought was a tad sweet:

Till the seas gang dry my dear,
And the rock melts wi' th sun,
Oh, I will love thee still my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run

This was found on a plaque commemorating an Edinburgh man born in 1890 who passed away in Toronto some years ago. I took a few photos, but will have to upload these when I get back as I've left the thingummyjig to connect the camera to the laptop back in Largs!

Looking forward to the two Irish sessions tomorrow evening!

Oidhche mhath! :)

Chris