SATURDAY, May 15: Schedule
Please note: OGS Conference 2010 is now over.
8:15 am to 9:30 am
ONTARIO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
CONCURRENT SESSIONS
(Choose from 25 wide-ranging lectures, or select the Dutch Ancestry stream or the Italian Ancestry stream.)
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Session 1: Introduction to Genealogy/Family History, Part 1 – Linda L. Reid
Using many illustrative examples, this lecture and its counterpart in Session 6 introduce participants to the basic principles of genealogical research. (There are some links between the two sessions but each can be attended independently.) Part 1 will show how to get started from family records; the recording of names, dates and places, including stylistic variations; and the pitfalls of jumping to conclusions. It will look at a schematic of how vital records, census records, church records and probate records fit together. Many examples of birth/marriage/death records and census entries will pertain to an Ontario family of Scottish origin but there will also be examples from England, Ireland and the United States to show similarities in the types of records. The first session will end with some confusing census data on the Ontario family and the clear need to find further evidence.
Session 2: How to Avoid Being Duped by the Internet – Thomas W. Jones
The Internet brings increasingly bountiful amounts of information to genealogists’ desktops—some valid, some erroneous, and much of unknown accuracy. Attendees will learn practical strategies for discriminating between correct and misleading information. They also will learn how online genealogical information—even if its accuracy is unknown—can lead to valid conclusions about ancestors.
Session 3: Researching Aboriginal Ancestors in Ontario – Janice Nickerson
Researching Aboriginal ancestors in Ontario can be very difficult, for a wide range of reasons. The first part of this lecture will explain the special challenges that face people researching Aboriginal ancestors. The second part will discuss the basic sources that apply to all residents of Ontario, with special emphasis on the strengths and weaknesses of these records as evidence for Aboriginal research. The third part will focus on some of the unique records that pertain especially to Aboriginal people. This lecture will draw on a guidebook written by the speaker for the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, dealing with all non-status Aboriginal people in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
Session 4: Genealogy Podcasts 101: Free Online “Radio Shows” for Researchers – Lisa Louise Cooke
Genealogy podcasts are the perfect way to pursue your family history passion no matter where you are or what you are doing—whether you are exercising, driving your car, cleaning your office or just relaxing. Podcasts are packed full of genealogy news, tips, entertainment and interviews with the experts. This presentation will remove the mystique around these “Internet Genealogy Radio Shows” and teach participants how to: locate podcasts, listen to them, subscribe to them and use free podcast website resources. You will get up and running so that you can tap into this free educational resource right away!
Session 5: The Voyage of the Caroline: Identifying Passengers without Passenger Lists – Glenn Wright
In the spring of 1832, a large group of English emigrants, inspired and encouraged by agent William Cattermole on behalf of the Canada Company, chartered three ships to bring them to Upper Canada. This presentation will follow one of those ships, the Caroline, from London to Quebec. The focus will be on the steps taken—and the wide variety of resources used—to recreate the voyage of the Caroline, to identify her passengers, and to tell the story of their quest for a better life, in an era for which key records such as passenger lists do not exist. Researching British immigrants who arrived in Upper Canada before the 1860s has always been a challenge. The story of the Caroline will offer hope and more than a few ideas on how this common brick wall can be overcome.
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Session 6: Introduction to Genealogy/Family History, Part 2 – Linda L. Reid
Using many illustrative examples, this lecture and its counterpart in Session 1 introduce participants to the basic principles of genealogical research. (There are some links between the two sessions but each can be attended independently.) The emphasis in Part 2 will focus on using different types of records together, extracting and evaluating data, and finding more than one piece of evidence for each link in the family tree. Part 2 will also show how North American data is essential to make the leap to the “old country”. The data compiled on the Ontario family in Part 1 will be used to identify the correct entries in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) for Scotland for both vital (civil) records and church records. Examples from the Family History Library Catalog will show how to find more Church records. A probate record will clarify some confusing data identified in Part 1.
Session 7: Five Proven Techniques for Finding Your Ancestors’ European Origins – Thomas W. Jones
Case studies will illustrate five approaches for identifying a nineteenth-century immigrant ancestor’s village or parish of origin in Europe. The techniques include both simple and complex approaches—the later applicable to complex situations where more obvious techniques are not successful. In each instance, emphasis will be on correlating records to ensure that records of the same name in North American and Europe refer to the same person. The case studies will include emigrants from France, Germany, Ireland, and Italy.
Session 8: The Paper Chase: Using Online Tools to Find Manuscripts – Rick Crume
Unpublished family histories, Bible records, diaries and other manuscripts are great sources of genealogical information. Most of these documents have not been put on the Web or even microfilmed, but you can use catalogs, indexes and other online tools to find them and to discover the ancestral clues they hold. This lecture will describe some of the largest manuscript holdings of private libraries and archives, and demonstrate how you can save time by using union catalogs to search the manuscript holdings of libraries and archives around the world.
Session 9: Sea Change: New Approaches to Passenger Lists – James F.S. Thomson
Late 19th-century and early 20th-century ship passenger lists have long been known to contain a wealth of information about the passengers recorded in them, but, until digitized and comprehensively indexed, these were not easily accessible. Things have vastly changed in recent years, thanks in large part to the ready availability of huge new Ancestry databases of arrivals and passenger lists, complemented by Ancestry databases of border crossing records and other significant databases such as AncestorsOnBoard. These records tend to be rich in detail, and frequently contain information that is not found elsewhere, or that provides invaluable leads to other sources. As one researcher who has made splendid new progress with the help of these records, the speaker will share his techniques and provide striking examples.
Session 10: Criminal Trials: Case Studies in Upper Canadian Justice – Janice Nickerson
Not all of our ancestors were illustrious law-abiding citizens. Some of them were criminals. This talk will use a series of case studies to tell the stories of four Upper Canadian criminals. Along the way, audience members will learn about the early history of justice in Ontario and the records generated by the justice system, including newspapers, government correspondence, court minute and docket books, judges’ benchbooks, jail and prison registers (including how and where to find them). This lecture will draw on examples used in the speaker’s upcoming book, Crime and Punishment in Upper Canada: A Researcher’s Guide (to be published by OGS/Dundurn in the fall of 2010).
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
LUNCH BREAK
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Session 11: What You Must Know to Save Your Research from Destruction – Lisa Louise Cooke
There are seven important steps that you need to take to ensure that your genealogical research is protected from destruction and can benefit future generations: get and stay organized; plan ahead; make it legal with a genealogical materials directive; identify your research’s keeper; prepare now for future donations with a deed of gift; groom your relatives now; and don’t wait until you are organized to get started! This presentation will give participants the steps and the tools to prevent research from becoming landfill.
Session 12: The Errors of Our Ways: Learning from 16 Classic Family History Mistakes – Dave Obee
We often learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. Many times, well-meaning family history researchers find themselves at dead ends because they took wrong turns without realizing it. This session will offer 16 examples of classic family history errors, and demonstrate how those errors could have been avoided. It might inspire you to take a second look at some of your research practices—or at least, to be better prepared the next time. The first error is that we start too late, but many of us repeat that mistake over and over again—every time we procrastinate! New technology has created new ways to go wrong, but we can still benefit by catching errors before they happen.
Session 13: Behind Bars: Kingston Penitentiary, Inmate Records and Family History Research – Glenn Wright
Kingston Penitentiary is the oldest federal institution of its kind in Ontario, dating from the 1830s. Thousands of men and women have passed through its doors, and records documenting inmates are an overlooked source for family history and genealogy. This presentation will review the origins of Kingston Penitentiary and the records that one might use to document an ancestor who found himself on the wrong side of the law and did “time” for his sins, with a focus on the 19th and early 20th centuries. The speaker will suggest relevant source materials and a search strategy for anyone researching a convict ancestor.
Session 14: Progress and Promise: Digitizing Scottish Church Records – James F.S. Thomson
Family historians are often surprised when they cannot locate vital events in the pre-1855 Old Parochial Registers (OPRs) of the Established Church of Scotland. Missing information may be explained by the loss of registers over time, defects in record-keeping, and the famous thinness of Scottish burial registers, but it may also be explained by the fact that many Scots in the late 18th and early 19th centuries were not adherents of the Church of Scotland, particularly after the establishment of the Free Church in 1843. The kirk sessions records of Church of Scotland congregations, records of dissenting Presbyterian congregations and Roman Catholic registers contain much nominal data not found in the OPRs, and they are now in the process of being digitized and made widely accessible. This lecture celebrates these initiatives, which offer the prospect of real progress for those stymied in their pre-1855 research, describes some of the record types one may be able to find, and suggests a methodology for carefully and fully taking advantage of them.
Session 15: Patrons and Performances: Finding Connections to the Arts in Early Modern England and Wales – John A. Geck
The Records of Early English Drama (REED) is an international project based at the University of Toronto that examines the historical evidence for early theatre, music, and other entertainment in England and Wales from the 12th to the 17th century. As part of its research, REED produces detailed information about patrons of the arts, their roles in society, and their genealogy, which is fully accessible to the public. This lecture will demonstrate how genealogists researching their British family histories can use the REED Patrons and Performances website to find evidence about their ancestors’ lives: the offices and titles they held, the properties they owned, the troupes they patronised and, perhaps most importantly, the sources that REED researchers used to uncover this data, many of which are accessible electronically.
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Session 16: Online Family Trees – Rick Crume
Someone has probably researched your family history already, so why repeat work that’s already been done? Check online family trees, such as Ancestry Member Trees, the GenCircles Global Tree and Genes Reunited, and you might even tie into a family whose history has already been traced back many generations. This presentation will point you to the largest online family trees, as well as several ethnic and foreign family trees. The speaker will share tips for searching family trees, verifying what you find and dealing with copyright issues, and will show you how to contribute your own family information, while addressing concerns you might have about retaining ownership of your research.
Session 17: Citations for Canadians – Alison Hare
Why is there such a buzz about citations? Not that long ago many genealogists paid no attention to them; now their importance is stressed to even the newest beginner. Why all the fuss? Many genealogists understand that a citation will allow them to find a record again if they need it, but good citations involve more than that. This talk will explain why citations are so important and discuss the ins and outs of writing them. What elements are essential? How should elements be ordered? How important is style and punctuation? What are the pros and cons of footnotes versus endnotes? Is a bibliography sufficient? How should online sources be cited? Examples for commonly used Canadian genealogy sources will be presented and explained.
Session 18: Destination Canada: Immigration and Related Records – Dave Obee
The decision to move from one country to another is one of the most important decisions in a person’s life—and in family history research, immigration is as important as births, deaths and marriages. Since the vast majority of Canadians descend from immigrants, it is critical to find out as much as we can about the migrations of our ancestors. This lecture will provide an overview of what is available—ship passenger lists, border crossing records, naturalization and citizenship documents, and much more—and how to use migration information effectively. The speaker is the author of the finding aid Destination Canada, a new edition of which will be published in April 2010.
Session 19: Social Networking for Genealogists: Should We Be Doing It Just Because It Is New? – Marian Press
Many genealogists have already embraced social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Flickr and Second Life, and made them uniquely their own for family history. Other social networking sites, such as Geni.com, FamilyHistoryLink and GeneTree, have been developed by genealogists for genealogists as a means of bringing related individuals together. In addition, some traditional genealogy sites, such as Ancestry, FootNote and Genes Reunited, are adding social networking features to their existing services. Is social networking more useful than other tools—GEDCOM sites, mailing lists, etc. —in uniting family historians? Which sites are most likely to be around in the long term? At the very least, genealogists should explore what social networking has to offer, since it pays to advertise one’s ancestors in as many ways as possible.
Session 20: How Do You Solve a Mystery like Marie? A Complex Case Study – Elayne Lockhart
This case study will show how public and private records from Switzerland, England and Ireland were used to uncover the unique story of the life of Marie Richenet (1797-1862). This is a story that evolved through unpredictable twists and turns from the 1600s until the mid-1800s and included town and canton records that provided insight into the lives of single mothers. The social history of Switzerland provided the backdrop for the start of a new life for Marie in Ireland and England, where her 40-year relationship with a leading aristocratic family opened up other avenues of research. The presentation will illustrate the value of searching parallel lines and locating present-day descendants.
4:45 pm – 5:45 pm
Session 21: Newspapers in Family History Research – Dave Obee
Newspapers can be a wonderful source for people trying to learn more about the lives of their ancestors. They can help to provide context to a family history and can be used to fill in gaps or correct errors in official records. Newspapers can also provide the basics—obituaries and announcements of births and marriages. This presentation will offer research tips from someone who has been a journalist for more than three decades, starting with an example of a case where newspapers helped push through a brick wall, and continuing with a variety of ways that newspapers might help a family history project. It will include ways to find and search newspapers on the Internet, on microfilm and in print.
Session 22: Tap into Your Inner Private Eye: Tracking Down Living Relatives – Lisa Louise Cooke
It is easy to get caught up with finding dead relatives, but it is the living ones who can share their personal stories, their boxes of photos in their attic, and their address books. It is imperative that you find and talk to these relatives while you still can. But finding a living person can prove quite a challenge in today’s identity security-conscious society. This presentation will offer tips and techniques from private investigators who are in the business of locating people. Participants will learn how to track down those elusive living relatives who just may hold that treasured photograph, or the key to a brick wall.
Session 23: Reading Immigrant Clues in Photographs – Maureen A. Taylor
Family historians often overlook the ethnic evidence that is hidden in their photograph albums. Using case studies and examples, this presentation will demonstrate how researchers can spot and interpret immigration clues in family photographs.
Session 24: New Toronto Research Tools – Various Speakers
Research in a big city presents its own set of benefits and problems. On the plus side, there were likely more records created with which to document your ancestors—and a better chance of archives and libraries to preserve the records. But on the other hand, it is really easy to lose track of your ancestors in all those records. This session will showcase several new projects—diverse in both content and method—to gather, organize, annotate, and make accessible important Toronto records and historical information. Several presenters from OGS Toronto Branch and partner organizations will provide the latest news on these projects.
Session 25: From Oysters to Riches: A Study of the Auger Family from Burnham on Crouch in England – Gary Schroder
This lecture will examine how you can use church registers, wills, picture postcards, and local English historical societies to gather a sea of information on a family living in a small village in Essex from the 1750s till the 1950s.
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
SOCIAL HOUR: EVERYONE WELCOME (Cash bar)
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
CONFERENCE 2010 BANQUET (Optional ticketed event)
Banquet address – Author, historian and archaeologist Karolyn Smardz Frost will tell us about the 20 years of historical detective work in researching the stories of fugitive slaves Thornton and Lucie Blackburn for her Governor General’s Award winning book, I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad.