Phase One of the NB Scottish web Protal Started

Stories like Capt. John Hamilton will be highlighted

The NB Scottish Web Portal Advisory Committee has held two meetings with our third coming up on April 21^st.  We are on schedule with the project and have officially started phase one with the hiring of Melynda Jarratt and her business Maven New Media .  We have also started mapping the layout of the actual portal.   In April will we will begin the hard cord research that is going to be needed to bring the information and data to the portal.   We will be looking at the 1851 census and family histories and individual biographies.

It was the Scots who literally opened up New Brunswick

The committee is also looking at holding workshops around the province to provide training for those people who will be helping with the search.  This training will make sure that everyone recording the data is recording the information in a constant way and to establish some rules for everyone to follow to make sure we have a regular flow of material.

I would encourage everyone to review phase one to find what this phase will include and if you know of anyone that might have information that should be included on this phase please contact us.   

I would also like to encourage you to review the map that we have created listing Scottish settlements through out New Brunswick.  We might have missed a few and we want to make sure we don’t miss a settlement.  

We will be telling the story of people like Lauchlan Donaldson

Last but not least we are always asking for financial help to see this project through to its end.  If you make a monetary contribution to the project you can do so by visiting our donation section  

The advisory committee came together for its second meeting.  The focus on Saturday was donations and grants.  As you know the project needs to collect $20,000.00 in seed money privately ( members and the general public) by March 31, 2012.   To date, we are happy to report as result our supporters we have raised almost $8000.00.  In just the last week alone we have received over $500.00 in donations. We would like to thank everyone for their kind contributions.  We also would like you to know there is no such thing as as to small of  a donation. 

 We have along way to go to meet our target by the end of this month.   To make a donation visit our donation section.

We have also started to tap into the media for help, in Friday's Daily Gleaner we had a story about the project. We also had an interview on CBC Radio and Television early Friday morning.  It is our hope that we can get the information into other newspapers around the province.

Back Row left: James Thompson-Caledonian of Restigouche , Barry MacKenzie-NBSCA,
Maxine Campell- Fredericton Society of Saint Andrew
 Allen Doiron- Provincial Archives, Melynda Jarratt-Project Manager,
 Front Row: Juliette Babineau Moore-Secretary
Dan Taylor- Chairman, Bill Donald-Miramichi Highland Society
Missing: Laurie Hossack- Saint Andrew's Society of Saint John and Chris Robbins-NBSCA

Included in today's update is this picture of the Advisory Committee.  As you will see the committee  consist of representatives from different areas of the province. We are continuing to search for a person from the Perth-Andover area.  To date we have not been successful in finding anyone from that area.  If you know anyone from that area that would be able to attend our meetings please let us know.

The Web Portal section of the NBSCA website has been up dated with a map of the different Scottish communities around New Brunswick.  These communities are the areas we will be focusing on for the Web Portal project.    We have also added the outline for the project in this same area.

If you are interested in helping out either financially or as a volunteer please contact the project directly. You will find our contact information on this blog.  We would also like to hear from you if you have a story of a family that should be included in this project.

The New Brunswick Scottish-Cultural Association has  launched a special appeal to the people of Scottish descent in New Brunswick and Canada.

The advisory committee hopes that the people of Scottish descent will step up to the plate and help this project comes to reality.  Without the assistance of individuals this project will not get off the ground.  As a matter of fact, this will be the third time the Association has attempted this project.  Each time it has failed because of two things.   Lack of  money and volunteers, and the money has been the big killer each time.   The sad part is if this project doesn't happen this time it will never happen.   Grant money is quickly drying up both provincially and federally. So this is it, we need to get it right this time around.    To help make this project to come to a reality please visit www.nbscots.com and visit the web portal project area on the home screen and make a donation to help this project.  There isn't any amount to small and all donations are welcomed.  To recongize the donor we will publish their name on this blog and on our website ( We will not publish any person name without their permission)

Welcome to NBSCA's Scottish Web Portal Project blog.  As many of you have heard the NBSCA has launched one of it most ambitious multi-year projects in the Association's history.  We can not stress how important this legacy project is to the province of New Brunswick to the people of Scottish descent from New Brunswick and formerly from New Brunswick.  This is a legacy that will be here for future generations to be used in schools in New Brunswick and around the world.  Once and for all the story/narrative of the people who came to New Brunswick from Scotland will told.  It will show the impacts these peoples had on New Brunswick in the areas of government, education, law and commerce for example.

The New Brunswick Scottish Portal project will serve as the showcase for an online "virtual" exhibit and the gateway to the history of all things Scottish in New Brunswick.  The NB Scottish Portal will encompass all the major themes of New Brunswick Scottish history, including; immigration, settlements, censuses, land petitions and land grants, teachers petitions, passenger lists, biographies of individuals and families, cemetery transcriptions, etc.

We are very luck to have the provincal Archives who have agreed to host the portal on their servers and as a result will be developed in cooperation with the NBSCA and the Province Archives of New Brusnwick.  If you have any questions about the project please do not hesitate to contact the project team by email nbwebportal@bellaliant.net or calling the toll free number 1-877-627-2234.  You can also write the project team at New Brunwick Scottish-Cultural Association, PO Box 781, Fredericton NB  E3B 5B4.