OSHAWA & the War of 1812
Learn About/Contribute
Quinte Branch OGS
Workshop - Loyalist Roots- April 21 - $10 - Adolphustown
FALL COURSES
are finished...
Check here later for course news.
An Act to Protect Ontario's Inactive Cemeteries
Join the campaign: - petition - MPPs
If you are a member of ANY branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, extra features are available online:- e.g.; back issues of eNewsleaf/Families, Pedigree Charts, OGS Database, online purchases (including memberships), our funeral cards.
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The Durham Members Only Area
Members Only: Here you can sign in with your email address and password. Links are also provided for recovering lost passwords as well as for creating your log-in for the first time, either by joining OGS or (for current members) by sending your email address to the OGS Membership Coordinator.
The Durham Region Branch, O.G.S. holds meetings at 7:30p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, in the Oshawa Library basement auditorium, 65 Bagot Street, just south of City Hall. Google Map Location
No meetings are held in July and August.
Visitors are always welcome. Come and bring a friend.
(Free Admission!)
Our historical and genealogical records are stored in our main Durham Region Branch Office.
April 25th
Kawartha Branch
Archives Bus Trip
Pick-ups include
Oshawa
For King and Country
A project to transcribe the war memorials in Toronto schools by the Toronto Branch of the OGS
Rick Roberts : (Global Genealogy) - Family Tree Maker from Beginner to Trickster - (materials will be availablefor sale)
Benefit from dozens of hints and tips that will help you improve your results using Family Tree Maker 2012 (FTM) Rick provides an overview of FTM to demonstrate the software's design and abilities for recording and sharing information both on paper and digitally. His talk will Include an introduction to new features in FTM 2012, including TreeSync™ which allows you to easily update your tree online from your desktop, your laptop, even your iPhone or iPad -- and then simply click to sync so your tree is always up to date, no matter where you access it next.
Rick operates an online store at Global Genealogy. If you put in a request for material, he will bring it along. This will avoid shipping costs.
Our usual general meeting location is the Main Branch of the Oshawa Library (basement auditorium).
Bessie Gannon, a founder and longtime valued member of the branch, died on Friday, April 13, 2012, at 91.
Visitation is 2-4 and 7-9 on Tuesday - funeral 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Oshawa Funeral Home.
Gallery of Branch Photos. The following video files are large, requiring a waiting period for the complete download.
1998 Interview Excerpts [Windows 19MB - wmv | Mac 17MB - mov]
2011 Christmas Show and Tell [Windows 22MB- wmv | Mac 21MB - mov]
Note: The .wmv files are sharper than the .mov files.
Paul Arculus: Discovering History Through Gravestones
Paul Arculus has (for his historical writings and for his teaching career) won the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement. Although the topics for his historical writings range from local crimes, homes and estates, commerce and merchants, and steamboats on Lake Scugog, his most recent book recounts the life of a Port Perry man whose hand in the creation of General Motors is little known. Paul's interest in Dr. Campbell was spurred by a stone in the nearby graveyard. His book is titled, "Durant's Right-Hand Man" (another colourful Canadian story).
Ruth Burkholder - Early "Real Estate Agents" in Upper Canada: - a talk about companies formed to promote group emigration, provide income for institutions or just to make money. Covers Kings’ College, Canada Company, Peter Robinson settlers, and other related schemes.
[A new resource - Release of the Canadian Emigration: Parliamentary Papers 1826.]
Wayne O'Connor (Eoghan O'Conchobhair) - Irish Genealogy (mostly Southern Ireland)
Wayne (a previous Durham Branch newsletter editor), has investigated many resources while researching his own family. During the presentation he re-visited websites he found useful, demonstrating their strengths and weaknesses. Wayne signs his e-mails with "Slan go foill". Resources and links with be posted on the Blog.
Breaking Down Brick Walls - with our local expert moderators
Searching for family history becomes frustrating if you can't locate an essential record, or the records may be from another country (in another language), or a person's maiden name may elude you. Our moderators (and the audience at large) provided advice, related personal anecdotes, and pointed attendees in the right direction to resolve such dilemmas.
Celebrating the Holiday Season and Genealogy!
Show & Tell / Bring & Brag
- Bessie Gannon (shown here) was amongst a long list of presenters who related personal family and genealogy stories.
The Demon Liquor Trade in the 19th Century !!
- with Brian Winter (Whitby Archivist)
Although Whitby's economy prospered under American prohibition in the 1920s, the picture was not so rosey in the 1800s. Consider the death of one man in a bar room brawl, in a downtown hotel, in 1864. Not all of Brian's stories end badly for some are quite hilarious.
Mini-Talk: Anne Delong, demonstrated an excellent cemetery website, useful for both experienced and beginning genealogists researching in Canada and the United States. The site [Findagrave] contain 70 million transcriptions - many with additional biographical information.
Family Search
This presentation is suitable for beginning genealogists, but will also offer tips for experienced researchers. Family Search is both a genealogical website and a helping organization, developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. It contains millions of free records.
Also, "What do Your Committees Do?" - briefings on Durham Region's projects, dedicated to serving our members.
Ted Barris - speaking about his recent book, "Breaking the Silence: Veterans' Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan".
This will be a GREAT opportunity for those attending the next general meeting! Ted Barris is a well-known author, television personality, and radio commentator. Ted will not only relate stories from his book, but will also disclose how he was able to earn the trust of those who had previously held their memories in silence... similar to the the situation experienced by genealogists, who wish to obtain their family histories before it is too late. His web site is well worth a visit: http://tedbarris.com/
[Our usual general meeting location is the Main Branch of the Oshawa Library (basement auditorium).]
Alexandra Hartmann (CEO Uxbridge Library), presented "Tales and Video from Labrador" with special treats (Jam Jam cookies). Jam Jam cookies are one of the fine foods made by Purity (est. 1924), favoured by East Coasters. These delicious cookies have low fat and no cholesterol. [Purity also makes Hard Bread, also known as Hard Tack by WWII sailors.]
The Short Topic for this month's meeting was "Equine Pedigree", presented by Guy Lafontaine. Guy described the lineage of Northern Dancer and the racing sucesses of his progeny.
Breaking Down Brick Walls - with moderators Stephen Wood, Nancy Trimble and Anne Delong. Sometimes you can't locate an essential record, or the records may be from another country (in another language), or a person's maiden name may elude you. Our moderators were able to provide advise, relate personal anecdotes, and point attendees in the right direction to resolve such dilemmas.
One of our members, Joyce Lintner, recounted her visit to the 14th century St. Edburgha's Yardley Church.
Durham Branch 22 will hosted the
Region 7 Annual General Meeting
About 35 attendees enjoyed presentations by Rick Roberts, Guy Lafontaine and Anne Delong, and the wonderful lunch prepared by the auxilliary of Kinsgview United Church.
A $50 draw prize, won by Tony Gilbert, will be applied to attendance at Conference 2011.
Allan McGillivray - United Empire Loyalists
- Allan is the past curator of the Uxbridge Museum. Loyalists settled in what was initially Quebec (including the Eastern Townships) and modern-day Ontario, where they received land grants of 200 acres (81 ha) per person.
One of our members, Anne Delong, presented a short, bonus, "mini-talk" about Legacy.com.
Brian Winter read "Letters from Early Whitby": specifically those written by girls at Trafalgar Castle School [Ontario Ladies College], the first private ladies school in Ontario. Letters ranged from 1874 - 1929, providing a window on customs of the times, with some being quite humourous. [Whitby Archives Flickr Photos]
Anne Delong, one of our members, presented a short, bonus, "mini-talk" about Finding Vital Statistics on Provincial Government Websites.
• Genealogy Open House
on Family Day
at Our Office
• Discover Your Roots
• Research on the Net
• Volunteers for Q&A
• Print Resources
• FREE $60 OGS Membership Draw
• The THREE Spring Workshops were quite successful. We plan to offer them again next Spring (with an additional fourth course).
• Stephen Wood will staff the Branch Office twice per month. Please see the Our Office page for times and dates. Our brochure (pdf - 1.13MB), is an introduction to the Durham Region Branch of the OGS.
• Check the Blog for other news and upcoming events. Join the RSS feed by clicking on the subscription buttons
The above link leads to a compilation of monthly meetings of the Duraham Region Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society for the years 2008 and 2009. Scroll below for a summary of our 2010 meetings.
Nancy Trimble (President of the Ontario Genealogical Society)
How to Use the Ontario Genealogical Society Website (new features, new resources and how to get them). Nancy provided a live demonstration of the OGS website.
Guy Lafontaine , one of our members, will present a short, bonus, "mini-talk" - "How I Used Google Earth: to capture a recent photo image of an old family painting". [OOPS! Guy changed his mind and talked about resources in our branch office. Maybe next time?]
Grant Karcich - Italian Genealogical Research - sources and strategies
See our blog posting for a list of Grant's resources.
Guy Lafontaine gave a short demonstration of Cindi's List, a well-known, support site for any genealogical researcher. He showed how to easily navigate through the well-categorized sections of this website.
Grant Karcich - Carrying Place
[blog link]
Being sensible, European settlers followed the long-worn paths of Iroquois and Huron-Algonquin indians when finding their way to land grants north of Lake Ontario, establishing many namesake settlements along the way. This particular route, known as "Scugog Carrying Place", starts at Oshawa's Second Marsh (Oshawa and Farewell Creeks), ending at Beaverton on Lake Simcoe, and traversing Port Perry and Lake Scugog along the way. [Note: Oshawa means Carrying Place.]
The photo is from the book Wanderings of an artist among the Indians of North America by Paul Kane, 1859. [- a free download at Google Books.]
The Toronto and the Quinte Carrying Place routes served a similar function. A painting by George A. Reid, shows a portage between the Humber and Holland Rivers, which also led to Lake Simcoe.
CLOCA (Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority) compiled a local watershed historical document in 2009 : BLACK/HARMONY/FAREWELL CREEK WATERSHED EXISTING CONDITIONS REPORT CHAPTER 2 - HUMAN HERITAGE
Ivy Sucee, the daughter of a Barnardo Home Child and the founder and president of the Hazelbrae Barnardo Home Memorial Group, is the only honorary Barnardo Girl in Canada - a title given to her by the Barnardo Society in England a few years ago. Ivy discussed the Life and Times of Dr. Barnardo, along with her own dramatic personal research. She is very passionate about the stories of the Home Children.
Ivy Sucee - Contact - carlynshe@sympatico.ca & Website
2010 - Year of the British Home Child - Facebook
Photos of Hazelbrae - Canada's First Barnardo Home
Mini-talk - Chairperson, Guy Lafontaine, gave a short demonstration of a few programs and techniques he uses to record and store a family's genealogical data, information and photos. See the blog for his summary.
Fraser Dunford's topic - "What's On at the PO?" (i.e.; What is available to members at the OGS Provincial Office?)
[The Provincial Office has been incubating a number of ideas for new services to members and branches.]
Also, Steve Wood has learned to cope with researching original Dutch records. He will give a short talk on the subject.
On Monday, 15 February O.G.S. Durham Region Branch held it's first ever Family Day Open House.
The turnout was wonderful. More than thirty people visited between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Some visitors stayed for an hour and some for a few hours.
Twelve Durham member volunteers welcomed our guests and worked very hard throughout the day assisting them with their genealogy questions. The office was filled with energy all day. Frequently there were as many as twenty people discussing, working on the Web, reading reference materials or for some filling out an ancestor chart for the first time.
During the day people crowded around nine computers locating their genealogical information on the Internet. It was an enjoyable day for all participants. [PHOTOS]
Congratulations to Bill and Loraine Hall of Ajax who won a 2010 Ontario Genealogical Society and Durham Region Branch memberships.
