The CBGHA receives many questions from our members and we wish to help whenever possible. We try to answer all questions within twenty four hours. Due to the nature of some questions, some answers may take longer. Unfortunately, our volunteers are sending a great deal of time answering questions, for our members, that are already covered in our Frequently Asked Questions Section. We ask that you check this Frequently Asked Questions section before contacting us with questions. If the answer is not found in the Frequently Asked Questions section, we will be pleased to try to answer your questions.
HOW SECURE IS THE CBGHA WEBSITE?
The CBGHA takes the security of our website very seriously. The CBGHA uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and AES-256 encryption. AES-256 is the same encryption standard used by banks to secure customer data. All financial transactions in the CBGHA STORE are protected; you can purchase a membership using your credit card with confidence that your transaction is secure. We do not store any of your credit card information. CBGHA research records are username and password protected and are only available to CBGHA members. CBGHA members may copy the records on the site for their personal research. Material on the site cannot be used for any commercial purpose without written permission from the CBGHA.
How do I login to the website?
Login is located on the right side of the homepage. Enter your USERNAME and PASSWORD that was sent to you by email. Once you have entered the proper information, you will be logged in as a member and have full access to the site. The above procedure is the only way to login to the website. We offer a ‘Request a New Password’ tool that will email you a new member password and instructions. PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS RECEIVED IN THE EMAL COMPLETELY. There is also a ONE TIME login link that can be used if you wish. If you use the ONE TIME link you will have to set a new password for yourself when you login, be sure to click SAVE when making any changes.
How Do I Navigate the Site ?
Please review HOW TO NAVIGATE SITE found on the main page of this website. It only takes a few moments to review HOW TO NAVIGATE SITE and we are confident that members will find the information to be helpful.
What do I do if I lose my password?
If you forget your personalized password, click on Request a New Password located just under the site login area. On the new page, enter your email address or USERNAME that is in your CBGHA membership records in the space provided, then click on E-mail new password and you will be sent a new password within one hour. PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS RECEIVED IN THE EMAIL COMPLETELY. There is a ONE TIME login link that can be used. If you use the ONE TIME link you will have to set a new password for yourself when you login, be sure to click SAVE when making any changes. See “How do I edit my personal information” below .
How do I edit my personal information?
To edit personal information do the following – log in to site, Click on My account down the right side of the HOME page, the VIEW command will be highlighted, click on EDIT, the next page is for editing your email only so click on Personal Information, all your personal information can be changed on this page. If you make a change you MUST click on SAVE at the bottom of the page for the change to take effect.
What if I change my e-mail address?
Login to the site using your USERNAME and PASSWORD. Then follow the instructions for – How do I edit my personal information? Shown above. You can also send an email with the new information, please include your old email address. Please put EMAIL CHANGE in the subject line.
How do I join or renew my membership?
How to membership – NEW or RENEWALLogin to the website using your username & password if you have them.New members will be sent their username & password when joining. Then click on Membership(1) down part way on the right side of the page On the next page click on Add to cart On the next page click on the down arrow next to Please select and click on Personal, then click Add to Cart On the next page click Checkout if your order is correct On the next page enter your personal information and enter the information for the type of payment you wish to use, then click Review order at the bottom of the page.If your order is correct, be sure to submit or save your order to complete, depending on your browser to complete the order.
HOW CAN I GIVE A CBGHA MEMBERSHIP TO A FRIEND?
The easiest way to set up a donated membership is yo Place an order on your account and make a $25.00 donation. In the comments section, State that it is a donation membership and add the person’s name, address, phone and a correct email address. We will process the order and email details to the giver and recipient.
HOW DO I GET ADDED TO THE RESEARCHER’S LIST?
THE SURNAMES
RESEARCHERS PAGES
The CBGHA RESEARCHER’S PAGE http://www.cbgen.org/node/2000 can be a great genealogy tool. You can find others searching the same family or area and let others know about your research interests.
Any CBGHA MEMBER that wishes to have their Surnames listed or updated on the CBGHA Researcher’s Page and who are willing to share information on your family genealogies with others, please use the Contact form at the top of the Page
To be included on the RESEARCHER’S page, please send the surname of your ancestor in Cape Breton, the location where he/she settled in Cape Breton and your name with a valid e-mail address. Requests without this information can NOT be processed
Please send RESEARCHER’S PAGE updates via the CBGHA CONTACT link. Please use the method outlined above. Thank you.
Click on the researcher’s name to send them an e-mail message.
Most email programs will start automatically when you click on the researcher’s name. If that does not work with your email program you can right click on the name and one of the options will be copy the emailaddress, then you can paste the email address into your email program and send your message.
What is the mailing address for the CBGHA?
CBGHA, 1616 Morrison Rd., Sydney, Nova Scotia,B1M 1B6, Canada
WHAT ARE THE HOURS FOR THE HELP CENTER?
The CBGHA HELP CENTER is open Tuesday, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Thursday, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, located at the former Bank of Montreal building, 173 Charlotte St, Sydney, N.S.Use of the HELP CENTER is free and open to everyone.
Why is my invoice shown in US dollars?
We do business with a large US company for our credit card purchases and their form says US dollars. All orders including our US members are actually processed in CDN dollars. You will see on your credit card statement that you are charged in CDN dollars. When we started the CBGHA in 2003 we could not get a Canadian company that would provide credit card services so we have stayed with the same company. Thank you for supporting the CBGHA.
What is done with my personal information?
The CBGHA only uses your personal information in relation to your account, to send out notices and reminders, etc. Your personal information is not shared with anyone and would never be sold. How can I increase or decrease font size to my preference?
Font size
We are using a size of font recommended by the server as the most popular size. However any member can increase or decrease the font size by doing the following – Click on the VIEW command at the top of your browser, then select ZOOM and pick the size that is most pleasing to you. The instructions for changing font size have been tested in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera browsers. Google Chrome and Safari browsers also have zoom options with slightly different commands
Does the CBGHA provide any third party links?
The Cape Breton Genealogy & Historical Association may provide links to the websites of third parties to try to make further information available for our members. We accept no responsibility for the content, products and services on these sites. We only list links that the CBGHA believe to be of good quality but third party websites will have their own terms and conditions, practices and procedures and as such we can make no assurances about them. Since third party websites are not operated by the CBGHA, we are unable to ensure that the websites will remain available.
How do I report a page or link that is not working?
You can email questions and problems by clicking “Contact” at the top of the page. Please advise the URL shown at the top of the page where you encountered the problem or send a copy of the error message.Nearly every page on the CBGHA site has a node number in the URL address at the top of your browser. In the event that a member wants to email to us on anything related to the site or information on the site, it would be very helpful if you could reference the node number in your email. Thank you very much for your assistance.
What is the EZINE?
The EZINE is our electronic newsletter. You will find the newest material added to the website in the EZINE. All the material in the Ezine can also be found filed in the appropriate section of our records. All old EZINE material from previous years is now filed in the appropriate records section. It is no longer necessary to search through old EZINE issues for information. Where is the information from previous Ezine issues ? We post the newest EZINE issue under Ezines at the top of the homepage. A number of older Ezines can now also be found in the Records section under Ezines.. All previous Ezine material is now permanently filed in appropriate areas on the site. For example, cemetery records that were in a previous Ezine are now filed with the cemetery records. What if I need research help?The Cape Breton Genealogy & Historical Association receives a great many requests for help each month. We regret that we are not able to offer personal assistance on family research at this time via email. For anyone in our area we have a Help Center that is open on Tuesday and Thursday each week. The Help Center has skilled volunteers and does provide personal research assistance. It is the present policy of the CBGHA not to recommend researchers for hire. However there are some other options.The CBGHA website contains a huge amount of easy to search information that members can search from their homes at any time. We recommend a complete examination of the information on the website, take some time to see all the information that is available in all the different RECORDS sections. Check our Researcher’s Page to see if any member is working on the same family and area. More complete instructions can be found on the Researcher’s Page.We recommend writing an article to be placed in the Help section of the Ezine, our electronic newsletter. Please include what you already know about your family and what information you wish to locate. Be sure to include location, dates and any other information that may help to identify your familyArticles should be sent as email attachments to – canada1949@gmail.com
Can I get search techniques & tips?
Complete search instructions can be found by clicking on the SEARCH link near the top of theHome page after you login – https://www.cbgen.org/?q=node/2342. Ctrl+ f – A Great Search ToolBy Norm MacDonald. Many of the records on the CAPE BRETON GENEALOGY & HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION website are lengthy lists that can be very time consuming if we search them be scrolling through the material.If searching for a key would help, then why not try the Ctrl+f command from your keyboard, when you are on the page that holds the information you wish to search. This search technique is part of the Windows operation system and it is very easy to use:
- Go to the page you wish to search.
- Press the Ctrl key and the f key at the same time
- A small box will appear in which you can type the word you are trying to find. The search box will appear near the top or bottom of the page depending on your computer
- Type the word in the box and almost immediately all instances of that word will be highlighted and you can use the up or down button to jump from one to anotherIf you are looking for a name perhaps Effie Morrison, you could search Morrison and get a great many possibilities or you could search Effie and get many less possibilities. Looking through the possibilities for Effie you can quickly locate Effie Morrison. You could also search Effie Morrison and find what you need but personally I prefer to keep the search simple.
As you use this search method, you may develop your own preferences. Give it a try it can be a great time saver. This search can be used on webpages, excel documents, word documents, etc ANOTHER SEARCH HINT We have noticed that many members do a name search, some time and time again, when trying to locate their family. Many members will enter James Green, for example, in the search box and the resulting list will return every instance of James and every instance of Green on the site. If “James Green” is entered in the search box you will only get instances where James Green appears.
We feel using the quotation marks in your search will give superior results and improve your enjoyment of the CBGHA website – www.cbgen.orgFor other ideas on how to improve your search results on the CBGHA website –www.cbgen.org we recommend reading the article Search Tips and Techniques by Kevin Podgursky that can be found on the main webpage by the SEARCH box. Knowing how to best use the search function of the CBGHA website is a great way to improve your use of the website What should I do if I have a question about an item on the website?Nearly every page on the CBGHA site has a node number in the URL address at the top of your browser. In the event that a member wants to email to us on anything related to the site or information on the site, it would be very helpful if you could reference the node number in your email. Thank you very much for your assistance.I do not seem to be receiving email from the CBGHA.Please ensure that your e-mail account has been set up to allow e-mails from the CBGHA e-mail address. The most used CBGHA e-mail address is norm@cbgen.org We have had a few of our members, particularly those using Hotmail, who have either not received our e-mails or have had our e-mails go directly to their Spam/Junk mail folders. If you do not receive a response, it is likely that this has occurred. Once you have ensured that the e-mail is not in your Spam/Junk mail folder, please change your email settings to allow CBGHA e-mail or resend your e-mail from another account.