11 December 2021
Great Moments in Genealogy
Finding a Great-Grandfather: A Story of Mistakes and Omissions
Mary-Lou Simac
One of Mary-Lou’s great-grandfathers immigrated to Canada from England sometime between 1871 and 1881, the last of her ancestors to arrive in Canada. So, finding him in passenger lists and other records should have been relatively easy, right? Not so fast! Mary-Lou described the mistakes, omissions and oversights by various parties along the way, and the lucky event that led to her finally discovering the circumstances of his arrival in Canada.
Mine! Mine! Mine!
Dianne Brydon
Following a death, it’s a sad occurrence when family members fight over the estate. For a family historian, the legal wranglings provide a goldmine of information about family members and often the wider community. Dianne Brydon told us about the litigious Guild family in 1795 Tranent Scotland, who challenged their youngest brother’s inheritance, using testimony from business partners and neighbours, anonymous letters, and cooked books.
13 November 2021
Finding UK Military Records: What, Where and How
Ken McKinlay / Glenn Wright
Ken McKinlay and Glenn Wright shared tips for finding UK military records and answered questions.
“At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them” Military Moments
Sandra Adams / Gill Croome / Gillian Leitch / Nigel Lloyd / Bill Rasmus / John D. Reid
Many BIFHSGO members have stories of ancestors who served, suffered and, perhaps, died during war. We remembered them through the telling of some stories behind their service.
9 October 2021
Picture It!
Stephen Gill
Stephen Gill, Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, and author of The Family Detective and the follow-up Design in Detail offered a lighthearted look at how photography evolved in Britain over 175 years, from vanity purchase to an everyday event. He explored what is happening to photographs from our own immediate past, and how we can ensure that current photographs are available to our descendants. He showed us how to tell a story about an old photograph and help date it.
The Paulin(e) Family Reunion: Taking Family Research to the Family
Gillian Leitch
It all started with this mad idea to recreate a family picture taken in the early 1890s in Victoria, BC. The idea evolved to organizing a family reunion—who do you invite, how do you invite, what do you do besides pose for a picture? Gillian Leitch discussed organizing the Paulin(e) reunion, held in July 2019, from the event planning, invitations, and publicity, to the actual reunion. Not only was the reunion a fun social gathering of relations (who were mostly strangers), it was the start of a new family community, sharing photos, stories and friendship. It also saw the creation of a Facebook page and a website (paulin.family.blog).
12 June 2021
Great Moments
Over the Sea... to "Shetland"
Jill Thompson - starts at 00:00
Jill Thompson and her husband Alastair Speirs needed to solve two puzzles. Each had discovered one relative born in the Shetland Isles in the 1800s. When and why had they moved away to Scotland (Alastair) and even more puzzling, southern England (Jill)? Inspired by the Ann Cleeves Shetland crime series, they visited the largest of the islands to see what they could find. Jill and Alastair related how generous help from the local tourist office and the Family History Center solved mysteries and introduced them to welcoming and friendly local folk.
The River Ran Red: The Homestead Steel Strike
Lynne Baxter -starts at 23:00
On 6 July 1892, in Philadelphia, a violent altercation broke out between locked-out steelworkers and 300 heavily armed Pinkerton strikebreakers. In the scrimmage, a Pinkerton man was killed, along with several strikers. Andrew Carnegie had the union leadership all arrested and charged with murder. Lynne Baxter’s great-grandfather, Sylvester Ash Critchlow, was the first one to go on trial. It would be one of the great moments on the maternal side of her family tree.
A Gem from the Inverary Archives
Dena Palamedes - starts at 49:10
This Great Moment explored the serendipity in Dena Palamedes’ search for the ancestors of Angus
McInnis, her fourth great-grandfather. It began with the following email, forwarded through the BIFHSGO queries email: “I am trying to contact Dena Palamedes who I met some years back … I unfortunately lost my email archive and hence her address. My reason for trying to contact her is that when she was here, she was trying to find an ancestor called Angus MacInnes who was a piper. While working through some archives today I have actually found a rental in which he appears.” The result was a journey that led to the Inveraray Castle, some wonderful discoveries and new friendships.
8 May 2021
Feature talk
A Russian Revelation: A Family Shaped by Significant Historical Events|
Marianne Rasmus
When Marianne Rasmus began her family history research journey, she knew little about her maternal grandparents’ ancestry. They were an unlikely match, although both were immigrants; one came from Newcastle, England, the other from Orenburg, Russia. In 1927 her grandfather, who died when she was an infant, left his father and siblings behind in Newcastle and came to Canada—sadly, he never saw his family again. Her grandmother died before Marianne knew the important questions to ask about her grandmother's childhood, immigration from Communist Russia, and adjustment to life in Canada. With conventional resources either unavailable or difficult to access, and starting with only a handful of names, Marianne revealed the process and sources used to discover a heritage she knew nothing about. She shared how historical events in both Canada and Europe affected her grandmother in a life-altering fashion, and how, despite historical events destined to separate family members, DNA has helped to shed light on long-unanswered questions.
10 April 2021
Education talk
How to Tell a Compelling Family History Story
Ruth Stewart-Verger
A timeline of dates, neatly matched to events and or achievements, encompasses most of the elements in a person’s life, but have no linking theme, no cause and effect nor climax and resolution. Ruth Stewart-Verger showed us how to transform our family history timelines into compelling, engaging stories.
Feature talk
Canadian War Brides: 75 Years 1946-2021
Melynda Jarratt
This year marks the 75th anniversary of “Operation Daddy” – the organized transport to Canada of nearly 45,000 war brides and their children following the end of the Second World War. Melynda Jarratt spoke to the war bride experience of meeting, falling in love with and marrying their Canadian soldier; the organization of their transportation to Canada through the Canadian Wives Bureau; their trans-Atlantic journey and travel by train across Canada; their early reception and how they adapted, compromised and settled into their new country.
13 March 2021
Education talk
Numbers not Names: Using British Government Publications to Locate Ancestors
Lucille Campey
Although census returns, customs records and the British Parliamentary Papers may seem like unlikely sources to use in tracking down a British ancestor who immigrated to Canada, they do hold nuggets of data that can provide vital clues. Lucille Campey demonstrated how such sources can sometimes reveal the geographical origins of immigrants and/or their places of settlement in Canada. This can be achieved by analyzing numeric data rather than hunting down a particular surname.
Feature talk
Canada's Irish Pioneers: Their Story
Lucille Campey
As pioneers, the Irish bestrode Canada. They were the largest immigrant group during Canada's formative years. They dug its canals, built its roads, chopped down its trees and established many of its early farming communities. They were ambitious, self-funded people with big dreams who were desperate to escape from the poverty in their homeland. And yet, despite their great pioneering successes, some politically motivated people continue to depict them as sad and helpless exiles. Lucille Campey debunked this negative imagery by revealing the facts underlying their immigration saga. She demonstrated how the Irish were able to fund their own sea crossings, find out about the availability of prime locations and make tremendous strides as pioneers. She concluded that Canada's Irish pioneers deserve our admiration and gratitude - not our pity.
13 February 2021
Feature talk
Children of Old Mokum
Christine Jackson
In August 1867, arriving in London’s East End from Amsterdam and making their way to the Dutch Jewish enclave in Whitechapel’s Spitalfields sector, Christine Jackson’s youthful great- grandparents must have wondered why they had left one slum neighbourhood for another. Eighty years later in struggling post-WW II Britain, their descendants described their immigrant ancestors as successful tobacco and diamond merchants living in London in large houses with servants and owning a cigar factory; it all seemed wildly incongruous.
In 2003–04, lacking any direct links to the era, Christine and her cousin Rod determined to unravel that family story. They found that the Internet, then about to change genealogy forever, not only helped to reconstruct their family’s place in Victorian and pre-WW I eras, but also revealed its humble origins in The Netherlands. Christine told us about their search and its results.
30 January 2021
Online workshop
Popping Perfect PowerPoint Presentation
Duncan Monkhouse & Barbara Tose
9 January 2021
Feature talk
Researching British Home Children
Gloria Tubman
Gloria Tubman offered an overview of British home children and the various resources available to research this topic. She related stories of individuals using the information discovered in various resources in Canada and in Britain. You may look at your own family research differently.