Posted by conference on April 11, 2010 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Innovations Stream, Marketplace, Speakers and Program, Sponsors | 
We’re delighted to announce a number of extras for family historians attending the Ontario Genealogical Society’s Conference 2010.
Friday, 2:00 pm
Marketplace Grand Opening
For the first time at an OGS Conference, there will be a grand opening of Marketplace. We’ve cleared the schedule of lectures on Friday at 2 pm so everyone can participate. Every square inch of display space has been let and we’ll be able to pore through the offerings of a large number of OGS Branches as well as many commercial exhibitors. And to spice things up, we’ll have some fun—and prizes. See you there!
Friday, 5:45 pm
Graduation Ceremony for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies
Ontario is home to what may well be the world’s most successful provider of distance-learning for genealogists, the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2010.
A number of Conference speakers are National Institute faculty or graduates. The latter have completed a 40-course program and are entitled to the designation of PLCGS (Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies), jointly offered with the Continuing Education Division of the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto.
Please join with other Conference attendees and the National Institute in celebrating its 2010 graduates at a special ceremony to be held Friday at 5:45 pm.
NB: The National Institute has also kindly agreed to sponsor the closing plenary, featuring a tour-de-force lecture by the ever-popular, John Philip Colletta, “Hacks and Hookers and Putting Up Pickles: Snares of Yesteryear’s English”.
Saturday, 12:45 pm and 1:15 pm
Lunchtime Learning Sessions
Also new this year are lunchtime learning sessions on Saturday. During the 90-minute lunch break, there will be two half-hour slots, each of which will feature a 20-minute mini-lecture on what’s new with an important institution or program. So you can grab a fast bite and catch one of the lectures—or if you’re made of sterner stuff, maybe eat on the run and attend two. For your convenience, we’re repeating the two lectures most likely to command large audiences. Here’s the schedule:
12:45 pm and repeated at 1:15 pm
Introducing Genealogists to the New Toronto Public Library Website: Andrew Lofft
12:45 pm and repeated at 1:15 pm
New Developments at FamilySearch: Stephen Young
12:45 pm
Introducing Canada 150: Harry van Bommel
1:15 pm
How OurOntario.ca Can Help You Search Hundreds of Digital Collections: Loren Fantin
Watch for news of more “extras” for Conference 2010 attendees coming soon. There’s still time to be a part of Conference 2010, but a few sessions are full, and others are close, so be sure to register soon.
Posted by conference on March 9, 2010 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Speakers and Program |
Ontario Genealogical Society conferences have always led the way with presentations on new resources and techniques for Ontario research, as well as in-depth sessions on important and sometimes rediscovered Ontario records. Conference 2010 continues that tradition.
If you have Ontario roots, be sure to take in some of these unique sessions:
On Friday, May 14, Fawne Stratford-Devai presents two in-depth sessions on Ontario Land Records. The promise of owning land was the biggest factor that brought many of our ancestors to Ontario. The records are extensive, complex, and rich with family history. This full day with Fawne (an excellent speaker) will help you understand the records and their potential.
Professional genealogist Janice Nickerson lectures twice on Saturday—first on Researching Aboriginal Ancestors, and then on Criminal Trials in Upper Canada. She has written books on both topics and brings a lot of practical experience to her presentations.
Glenn Wright is a popular speaker at OGS conferences. This year, on Saturday afternoon, he contributes an intriguing presentation to the Ontario offerings—about the records of Kingston Penitentiary.
Also on Saturday afternoon, “New Toronto Research Tools” will introduce four innovative web-based projects presented by Toronto Branch members Martha Jackson, Pat Jeffs and Jane MacNamara, and Stephen Young of FamilySearch.
Ontario sessions continue on Sunday with a case study of an Eastern Ontario Loyalist family by Melissa Ellis. Melissa’s examples will demonstrate how you can build your own family’s story.
With much of Ontario’s population clustered around the Great Lakes, Susanna de Groot’s presentation on researching ancestors who worked and travelled on the Lakes or on their shores, should interest researchers from Ontario as well as the eight US states that border the Great Lakes.
Just seven early-bird days left!
Be sure to register by Monday, March 15 to take advantage of the early-bird registration fee. Browse the program pages to choose your sessions, then go to “How do I register?” to select a registration package and register online.
Posted by conference on February 15, 2010 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Innovations Stream, Speakers and Program, Sponsors |
Stephen Young will be part of "New Toronto Research Tools" on Saturday, May 15.
We are pleased to announce that FamilySearch is sponsoring OGS Conference 2010 and is generously underwriting two previously unannounced appearances at the Conference by one of its most experienced project managers, Stephen C. Young, MA, AG.
Stephen will participate in both the “New Toronto Research Tools” session on Saturday afternoon and will also deliver a newly scheduled lunchtime learning lecture on new developments at FamilySearch, also on Saturday.
Stephen is no stranger to southern Ontario, having been born and raised in London. Indeed he has an ancestor buried in the Toronto Necropolis, one of the cemeteries in the Toronto Trust group (more on which below).
His interest in family history extends back to the late 1970s. After undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University, he obtained his Master’s in American History at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. An employee of the LDS Church since 1988, Stephen enjoyed a four year appointment (1992-1996) in England supervising the British 1881 Census Project. His current responsibilities (in Salt Lake City, Utah) entail working with archives and other genealogical organizations, such as OGS, in the cooperative indexing and publication online of historical records in Canada, the British Isles and the South Pacific.
And that’s how Stephen comes to be part of “New Toronto Research Tools”. As many members will be aware, a FamilySearch Indexing project is now well under way with Toronto Branch to index the records of the Toronto Trust Cemeteries, including the York General Burying Ground, Toronto Necropolis, Prospect and Mount Pleasant. Indeed Stephen was not only instrumental in getting the project off the ground, he is also one of our volunteer indexers.
One of the quirkiest things that could conceivably happen to any researcher is to find that one of your ancestors was responsible for the death of a colleague’s ancestor. That happened to Stephen when he discovered that his fifth great-grandfather, Henry Windecker, had reportedly killed the colleague’s ancestor during the Revolutionary War. Stephen told the story in his article: “Henry Windecker, U.E., and His Descendants.” Families 48, No. 1 (February 2009): 24-29, 18.
If Stephen weren’t busy enough already, he’s also researching and writing a book about his father’s experience in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve during World War II, including service on a minesweeper off Omaha Beach on the night and morning of the D-Day assault.
Welcome home, Stephen!
Posted by conference on November 26, 2009 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Essentials Stream, Novice Researchers Stream, Speakers and Program |
Fawne Stratford-Devai will present two in-depth lectures on Ontario's land records.
Conference 2010 organizers have made it their business to track down and sign up the speakers with the very highest ratings in Conference 2009 evaluations. Fawne Stratford-Devai is the third speaker we’ve announced from this list (the previous two being Dave Obee and Gary Schroder).
Many will know Fawne from her appearances on the popular History Television series Ancestors in the Attic, where she has been of the genealogical sleuths who unravel family mysteries.
Fawne’s passion for archival research began in 1987. As a university student she worked to understand the internment of German-Canadian citizens during World War II. Her love of history soon led to curiosity about her own origins. Before long she was hooked on discovering her English and Irish roots.
Fawne’s work on early Ontario records generally, and land records specifically, is well known. Author of such books as The Men of Upper Canada and The District Marriage Records of Upper Canada/Canada West, she has also published a number of research guides through Global Heritage Press and contributed articles to the online family history newsletter The Global Gazette.
Above all Fawne is dedicated to preserving Ontario’s heritage records. Together with Ruth and Howard Burkholder, Fawne and her husband Andrew traveled all over the province to rally hundreds of volunteers in the cause to identify and find homes for Ontario’s important land registry office records, with the Association for the Preservation of Ontario Land Record Office Documents.
A graduate of sociology at McMaster University, Fawne spent many years in health policy and epidemiological research at McMaster before joining the Ontario government.
Her lectures on genealogical and historical topics, particularly Ontario records, are always entertaining and educational. At Conference 2010 Fawne will demystify Ontario land records in two, two-hour, in-depth lectures on Friday.
Posted by conference on November 11, 2009 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Essentials Stream, Speakers and Program |
Gary Schroder will present extended lectures on Quebec family history at Conference 2010.
Conference 2009 had barely ended when a member of Toronto Branch Council exclaimed at a meeting that we had to have Gary Schroder return to Conference 2010—and we had to give him plenty of time to talk about Quebec records. Several weeks later, the evaluations from Conference 2009 arrived and they confirmed Gary as one of the highest rated speakers.
So we are thrilled that Gary will be delivering four hours of lectures at the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2010, two 2-hour workshops on Friday morning and afternoon.
Instead of inviting him as a speaker, we should have probably asked him to run the Conference. As President of the Quebec Family History Society since 1995, Gary has chaired three highly regarded, international Roots Conferences at McGill University in Montreal. And he’s now planning Roots 2011, which will be held in June of that year.
Even though he’s best known in Ontario for speaking about Quebec records, Gary speaks elsewhere on a wide variety of family history topics, including Canadian, English and Irish research and British military resources. He notes that his first known ancestor to set foot in Canada was his great-great-great-grandfather Cornelius Flynn, who arrived in the port of Quebec in 1805. Cornelius Flynn (1787-1861) served in the Royal Navy for over twenty years and was wounded during the Battle of Trafalgar.
Gary has taught family history courses at both McGill and Champlain College in Montreal and lectured right across North America. He was a speaker at the 2001 International Conference on Irish Family History held at Trinity College, Dublin. He is currently a member of the Special Advisory Board of Library and Archives Canada. He is the editor of various published works and is a frequent guest on Canadian radio and television answering a wide variety of genealogical questions and promoting the educational value of family history research.
Gary’s lectures at Conference 2010 will be of interest to all those with Quebec ancestry, regardless of language or faith.
Posted by conference on October 22, 2009 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Novice Researchers Stream, Speakers and Program |
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.
