12 December 2020
Great Moments
The Great Lakes and the Purvis Family - Trade and Tragedy
Jamey Burr (starts at 00:00
Jamey Burr told the story of his mother’s family, who came from the east coast of Scotland to start a significant family fishing business on Lake Huron. The story included tales of international travel on the jute trade route, early political activity in Upper Canada, lighthouse keepers, the Klondike, family losses, and a sad role related to the enormous loss of life on the S.S. Eastland in 1915.
Hugh Reekie's Visit to Ballinasloe - A Memorable Occasion
Hugh Reekie (starts at 23:00)
After the Irish famine, Hugh Reekie’s forebear William Maxwell, a civil engineer and architect, was very involved in designing houses, farms and factories. Hugh took us on a grand tour of Ballinasloe, telling us the history of the town and area, finishing up with a family gravestone - in a very interesting location!
Ellen Murray and the Lady Sherbrooke
Michael Mac Neil, Starts at 44:00
Various family accounts tell us that Ellen Murray survived a shipwreck in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on her way to Canada from Ireland sometime between 1830 and 1833, after which she married Michael MacNeil’s great-great-grandfather, James Tompkins in Margaree, Cape Breton. A search of shipwreck databases indicates that she was most likely on the Lady Sherbrooke, sailing from Derry, Ireland in June 1831. It ran aground near Cape Ray, Newfoundland on the night of July 19th, with as many as three hundred persons drowning. While researching the various accounts of the shipwreck in contemporary and later newspapers, Michael discovered that false news is not a recent phenomenon but can be enduring.
5 December 2020
Online workshop
Ontario Land Records Made Easy
Ken McKinlay
With so many of our European ancestors settling in Ontario and the recent closing to the public of the Ontario Land Registry Offices, many of us have been struggling to find the land records of our ancestors. Focusing primarily on rural lots, which many of our ancestors farmed, Ken McKinlay explained how to meet the challenges involved in using the online records.
- The first part of the workshop showed how to figure out the lot and concession number using census and other records.
- The second part showed how to look for the property in the abstract books.
- The third and last part of the workshop showed how to search for the details of the transactions.
Throughout the workshop, after watching demonstrations of search techniques, participants had the opportunity to explore the sources on their own during short breaks, and ask questions on any problems they encountered.
14 November 2020
Feature talk
Going Down of the Sun: The Life of a Boy from Ottawa in the First World War
Philip G. Winkelaar
In churches, schools and public buildings across Canada there are brass plaques bearing the names of people long dead, and generally unremarked by those who pass by. There are two such plaques on the wall of Knox Presbyterian Church, Ottawa, and every Remembrance Sunday we are reminded that those named on the plaques were part of the congregational family. At the end of the service, we solemnly declare: “At the Going Down of the Sun, and In the Morning, We Will Remember Them”. But how can we remember those we never knew? Who were these people, mourned by friends, lovers, wives and children? What were their aspirations and dreams? A search of school records, memoirs, official histories, church and military records reveals the person; knowing the person helps us to fulfill that solemn declaration.
10 October 2020
Feature talk
Soldier, Settler, Sinner: The Remarkable Journey of Charles MacDonald
Jane Simpson
Jane Simpson told the story of her ancestor Charles MacDonald, an officer in the British Army, on his journey of chance, spanning three continents and experiencing a number of precarious circumstances. Born into a life of relative ease in the North of England, tragedy struck and he found himself in the service of the King during the Napoleonic Wars. Not always a saint and sometimes very much a sinner, he fathered seventeen children and swept them along in his journey from England to the West Indies and finally to the quiet shores of the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario. Jane one day stunned her grandmother by asking an inconvenient question and the answer was not altogether convincing. Fifty years later, she had her answer, finding many surprises and shocks for her MacDonald relatives. Jane will relate her research leading to her book, Soldier, Settler and Sinner: The Remarkable Journey of Charles MacDonald. Visit Jane's website at www.turtlepointbooks.com.
12 September 2020
Feature talk
There's no Business like Show Business: Using DNA and Traditional Docs to find a Maternal Grandfather
Brian Laurie-Beaumont
After a decade of diligent research, Brian Laurie-Beaumont's significant brick wall was his maternal grandfather - a total unknown. Turning to DNA was the final attempt to break through. A year elapsed before a useful DNA match and a further two years of research to provide the supporting information to verify. And more time to convince the new relations. Brian will lay out the process, the stumbling blocks, and how he utilized DNA, traditional documentation, and deductive reasoning to eventually establish his relationship to a family of vaudevillians, early motion pictures and television entertainers, and one of the most important circus families of 19th century Europe.
13 June 2020
Great Moments
The Elmer-Leonard James Brickwall: Were they related?
Brian Glenn (starts at 00:00)
Brian Glenn spent his formative years growing up in Mechanicsville with two sets of James “cousins”. One family was definitely related through marriage to Brian’s father’s sister but the relationship of the other James family was not so clear. A Christmas conversation in 2018 with his cousin Susan James started his quest to solve the relationship between the two James families.
What is small, antique and eventually only belongs to just one person? (My Grandfather’s Travels?)
Sally Doherty (starts at 13:42)
A postcard! Sally Doherty shared stories she unearthed through a collection of postcards her maternal grandfather, Alexander Yuill Laing, sent to his children while on the high seas (1903- 1920). It is her hope that this presentation will make people dream of far-away places which we cannot visit right now.
A Battle of Wills
Marianne Rasmus (starts at 45:16)
In 2008, Marianne Rasmus received from an extended family member a 1951 newspaper clipping about the death of her paternal grandfather. Marianne shared how receiving that tiny piece of paper opened a door of possibilities: unearthing a passion and leading to discoveries about a family line she knew little about, including one particularly noteworthy conflict.
15 July 2020
Feature talk
Treasures and the Truth: Vlogging to Record Family Memories
Lianne Kruger
Do you have family treasures that have been handed down through the generations and you have them now? Do you like them? Do your children like them? Do you have room for them? Do you want them out of the house as soon as possible but you can't just throw them away because there are too many memories. Do you want to record history of houses or areas the family has lived? Have you written a family history and realized that no one wants to read it? This session will discuss ways to record these items and history so that future generations will know their family history in a way the next generation will enjoy, through pictures and video.
9 May 2020
Feature talk
Hitch: Hockey's Unsung Hero - The Story of Boston Bruin Lionel Hitchman
Pam Coburn
Hitch, Hockey’s Unsung Hero, is a biography by Pam Coburn about her grandfather, Lionel “Hitch” Hitchman, who played hockey in the NHL for 12 seasons (1923-1934). The story followed the Hitchman clan through the hardships of the second industrial revolution in England to “sudden” respectability in Toronto. After WWI, the family relocated to Ottawa where Hitch became the most talked-about newcomer, excelling at every sport he tried. The Ottawa Senators took notice, and he turned pro, helping them win the 1923 Stanley Cup. But Hitch was later sold to the Boston Bruins under cloudy circumstances. He flourished as captain, leading his new team to their first Stanley Cup and to the greatest NHL season of all time.
Pam’s talk focused on the first three chapters of the book, detailing the research that went into the discovery of the Hitchmans’ life in England, their move to Canada and the raising of a hockey superstar.
11 April 2020
Feature talk
Maud Lampman: First woman to work on Parliament Hill
Dianne Brydon
As a descendant of one of Toronto’s earliest settlers, Emma Maud (Playter) Lampman came from a privileged background, and she married young. By the age of 32 she had suffered the loss of a baby and her husband, and she was forced to find employment to support her remaining two children. The daughter of a prominent doctor, and the widow of a “Confederation Poet”, her story is a textbook example of an educated, genteel woman who entered the Canadian Civil Service around the turn of the 20th century, mirroring the experience of women in Britain and the US.
8 February 2920
Before BIFHSGO
British Colonial America Special Interest Group
Marianne Rasmus, Susan Davis & Ken McKinlay
After sharing stories about their Puritan ancestors who were involved in the Salem Witch Trials in 1 92, Marianne Rasmus and Susan Davis heard form other BIFHSGO members who also had deep New England roots. The group first met in November 2018. Members are interested in researching ancestors in British Colonial America's 13 colonies: Virginia, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
For information about the group, visit the Special Interest Groups page. To view the Salem presentation "Were You in Salem in 1692," given by Marianne Rasmus, Susan Davis, Brian Laurie-Beaumont Darrel Kennedy, and Glenn Wright, see the presentation for May 2018.
Feature talk
Captain Nicholas Lamont Power MBE, Halifax Harbour Pilot
Cathy Enright
Captain Nicholas Lamont “Mont” Power MBE, his family and their Irish heritage can be traced back to Michael Power (1806-1870) and a small town near Waterford Ireland, called Thomaston. Today 4th, 5th and 6th level direct descendants of Michael Power live in Canada, the majority in and about Halifax. Share with his granddaughter how Captain Power MBE spent his life navigating Halifax harbour as a harbour pilot. Experience fifty years of Canada’s history as seen through his daily captain’s logbook – over 200 pages handwritten from 1906 to 1956 – on how it all played out in Halifax, around and on the harbor. He recorded his observations about two world wars, the Explosion, Pier 21 immigration, the King’s visit and many family and political events. He was one of the pioneers of harbour safety standards that serve today’s mariners and the sea-faring public.
11 January 2020
Before BIFHSGO
A Review of BIFHSGO databases
John McConkey
John McConkey described the databases and indexes available at the time for public research on the BIFHSGO website. Each of the Home Children, Military and Migration offerings was covered in a live demo. The newly released RG17 Index was also be highlighted.
Feature talk
Using Family Lore with a Grain of Salt
Lynda Gibson
Were you fortunate to have received family lore from your ancestors? Lynda Gibson described the family lore she had to work with including a memo written in 1900 by her great uncle Letham Gibson. Of course, such information, while absolutely invaluable, must also be taken with a grain of salt to discover the true facts. Follow Lynda’s search for her second and third great grandparents from Canada back to the home country. But where will she find them?