Dave Obee to reprise his Ontario Genealogical Society Conference success
Posted by conference on October 22, 2009 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Novice Researchers Stream, Speakers and Program | 
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Dave Obee of Victoria, BC, will speak on newspaper research and passenger lists.
Unusual among high-profile genealogists, Dave Obee has an unrelated day job. He’s editorial page editor of the Times Colonist in Victoria, the culmination of a newspaper career dating back to 1972. And family history isn’t his only mission. He was one of the founders of the annual Times Colonist book drive, which has raised more than $1 million in support of school libraries and other literacy projects since 1998.
Still, we know Dave best as a genealogist—and an entertaining and informative one at that. Attendee evaluations consistently rated his lectures at Conference 2009 as among the best. That’s why we invited him to reprise this success at Conference 2010.
Dave was born in British Columbia and has lived in many parts of both BC and Alberta. His BC roots go back to the arrival of his great-great-grandfather from Manitoba in 1890, although he also has ancestry in New York, Ontario and Russia. He’s been researching his family history since 1978, when he took a night course through Camosun College in Victoria. He has visited 17 countries in Europe, and has done genealogical research in most of them. He also has a keen interest in the world war battle areas in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Dave has compiled eight books for Canadian family historians, and has given more than 300 talks about genealogical and historical research to society meetings and conferences, libraries and community groups. He is a past president of the Federation of East European Family History Societies, a columnist for The Beaver and a member of the advisory panel for Ancestry.ca.
He is also one of the owners of Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services of Victoria. Interlink runs the Genealogy Unlimited website, which sells books and maps from Canada, the British Isles and Europe.
At Conference 2010 Dave will be presenting three lectures.