Another top-rated speaker returns: Fawne Stratford-Devai to demystify Ontario land records at Conference 2010

Posted by conference on November 26, 2009 under Blog: New Postings, Canadian Records, Essentials Stream, Novice Researchers Stream, Speakers and Program | Be the First to Comment

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.

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 | Be the First to Comment

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.