• Durham Region Branch Meetings [Location/Time] — [Future Speakers] [Past Speakers] - Next Meeting - Tuesday - May 7, at 7:30 p.m. •

Dorothy Shier - The Home Children/Barnardo Children

Tens of thousands of children, who could not be supported by parents in England, were sent to Canada by Dr. Barnardo. Many intakes of children, especially of girls, occurred in nearby Peterborough, where a stop-over house maintained a boarding operation from 1886 to 1922. This may be just one of Dorothy's topics. Her father, who farmed north of Whitby, was a Home Child. She searched for details about his life for 30 years.

Mini-talk - Nancy Trimble - a tour of the new Family Search including a webinar sample to explain what's new.

Our usual general meeting location is the Main Branch of the Oshawa Library (basement auditorium).

• at the April Meeting •

Peter Johnson - A Perilous Trip Into the Rebellious State Of New York: delving into various aspects of New York State - some history, some sources, lots of pictures - with a dip into New Jersey and Vermont briefly too.

Peter points out that his recent return, as a 'Loyalist', into once hostile territory, could, by a long stretch, be regarded as "perilous".

This photo of Peter Johnson and Anne Delong was taken at last year's Area 7 Meeting in Peterborough. They are distantly connected, genealogically.

Peter began genealogy in 1968 and became an OGS member in 1974; also, a UEL Assoiate. member since 1982. Later, he was the UEL Assoc: past Dominion President, past Toronto Branch President, former co-Genealogist, and now retired Bay of Quinte Branch president. He and Angela live on a piece of the 1801 Johnson land grant north of Trenton.

• at the March Meeting •

Ruth Burkholder: Railways and Genealogy

Come and hear how these two topics can be linked.

ruth DOT burk AT sympatico DOT ca

Ruth will expand this talk for her Conference 2013 session.

 

• at the February Meeting•

Using Maps to Build Your Family Story - Sher Leetooze

Sher is a well-known local author, who has learned many 'tricks of the trade' while developing her craft. She will demonstrate how to gleen information from a variety of map sources - but mainly those from Ontario and Great Britain.

Min-talk (time allowing): Anne Delong - on the criteria for putting your ancestor on Wikipedia.

• at the January Meeting•

Changed Topic: Sher Leetooze will present next month.

The meeting time is correct; however, the topic is, "Breaking Down Brick Walls". Our group of local panel experts will not only discuss their methods for, and experience with, solving long running mysteries from their own family trees, they will also attempt to solve yours.

So, bring along your most puzzling research problems. This may be the moment that you 'break down this wall' - as Ronald R. would say.

• at the December Meeting •

Celebrating the Holiday Season and Genealogy!
Show & Tell / Bring & Brag

At this meeting together we celebrated the season along with any genealogical breakthroughs, special stories, favourite websites, interesting documents or other artifacts, etc.
Members were invited share genealogy 'ah-ha's.

Please bring festive snacks to share (optional).
An extended break ensured an opportunity to chat and enjoy the seasonal treats.

• at the November Meeting •

Dr. Fraser Dunford, a retired engineer and university administrator, has been involved in genealogy for about 25 years. Much of his interest centres on his home county of Peterborough, Ontario. He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. For many years Fraser was the Executive Director of OGS. As the founder of The Ontario Naming Index (TONI), he was able go into great detail regarding its potential for genealogical research.

• at the October meeting •

Marian Press
Marian is a staff Librarian at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, who has immersed herself in computer technology, since its inception, as a research tool.

She is particularly well-versed on the topic of "Online Newspaper Research".

Nancy Trimble (mini-talk): TONI and Pay Per View: What is the Difference? (The Ontario Naming Index now contains over 850,000 names.)

• at the September Meeting •

Louise St.Denis
She spoke about Online Genealogical Education with the 'National Institute for Genealogical Studies', which offers a extensive variety of courses, many leading to certification. Each person in attendance was given a free course (nine courses for one lucky draw winner).

Plus a mini-talk - the Flip Pal - a mobile, battery operated scanner serving a variety of personal and genealogical needs. [Global Genealogy is a Canadian supplier.]

• at the June Meeting •

30th Anniversary Celebration: Nancy Trimble: "Look to the Future - Social Networking" - Janis Carter, on the history of our branch - with slide-show and all important CAKE!!

Optionally, bring along your Pedigree Chart (family tree chart), ready for display, for you may find unexpected ancestor connections while at this meeting/celebration.

• at the May 2012 Meeting •

Rick Roberts : (Global Genealogy) - Family Tree Maker from Beginner to Trickster - (materials 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.

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.

• at our April meeting •

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).

• at our March Meeting •

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.]

• at our February Meeting •

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.

• at our January Meeting •

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.

• at the December Meeting •

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 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

• Past Speakers and Meeting Descriptions •

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.