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Index:
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Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Canadiana Department of North York Central Library present: |
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| ENGLISH FAMILY HISTORY WORKSHOP | ||
| Saturday, November 5, 2011 North York Central Library Auditorium 5120 Yonge Street, Toronto (North York Centre subway station) (For a Google map, click here) |
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| Program* | ||
| 9:00-9:45 | ||
| Registration and Coffee | ||
| 9:45-11:00 Plenary | ||
| Welcome, Introductions & Session A | ||
| English Parish Records | ||
| Church records are one of our most important sources of information about the births (baptisms), marriages and deaths (burials) of our ancestors. Long before the 20th century they are our only source for these important life events. Thankfully, Ancestry, FamilySearch, Find My Past, and other sites are making these conveniently available online. We will explore some of these vital records collections as well as other records such as Poor Law, Non-Conformist, and Diocesan Marriage Bonds. Speaker: Lesley Anderson |
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| 11:15-12:15 Concurrent Sessions | ||
| Session B: | ||
| Researching Early 20th Century British Immigrants to Canada | ||
| Many Canadians have only a vague idea of where their ancestors came from, perhaps just "they were English." Now easily accessible records are often sufficient to allow us to trace our origins back to an ancestral village. Using case studies, and focusing on 20th century immigrants, pre-WW1, the period of greatest English emigration, this presentation shows how to use Canadian and British records together to track down your ancestral families and discover long-forgotten aspects of their lives. Speaker: John D. Reid |
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| Session C: | ||
| Solving Genealogical Problems Using English Probate Records | ||
| Probate records (the calendars and the wills themselves) are a cost-effective way of expanding your family tree to the aunts, uncles and cousins of each generation as well as going both forwards and backwards in time. Case studies to identify the people named in wills from the pre-civil registration period to the present day illustrate solving a number of genealogical problems, including finding a daughter who "disappeared", identifying someone who died away from home, finding where someone was born abroad and identifying the father of an illegitimate child. | ||
| Speaker: Linda Reid | ||
| 12:15-1:15 | ||
| Lunch Break: There is a food court in the adjacent mall and restaurants nearby on Yonge Street..., or feel free to bring your own lunch. | ||
| 1:15-2:15 Concurrent Sessions | ||
| Session D: | ||
| Find Your British Family History in Newspapers | ||
| Chances are there is information about your family history recorded in a newspaper that, when discovered, will be news to even the most diligent researcher. That information is usually carefully preserved on microfilm and difficult to access. It may be necessary to visit a British library in person, which can itself be an adventure, or seek assistance from someone local. We will explore sources to determine what’s available, and where to find it. Digital and optical character recognition technology, while still imperfect, are now making millions of frames of newspaper microfilm searchable online. Learn how to make best use of digitized newspapers to help your family history search. Speaker: John D. Reid |
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| Session E: | ||
| The Genealogical Use and Abuse of English Gazetteers: Finding, assessing and using them in family history research | ||
English researchers are fortunate that they can turn to many gazetteers, including several published during our ancestors’ lifetimes and still available today online or in CD or facsimile book. Few of us have ever stopped to ask whether these gazetteers are all equally appropriate to our needs. This lecture will accomplish three things: First, it will identify the gazetteers most likely to be encountered by family historians and how they can be accessed. Secondly, the major gazetteers will be assessed for scope, comprehensiveness, accuracy, depth of information and fresh material. (In reference-book publishing, there is a time-honoured tradition of cribbing from one’s predecessors.) This assessment will be based on the presenter’s previously unpublished analysis. Finally, practical examples will be given of how gazetteers can be used in conjunction with maps and other readily available references to create a geographic research plan to find ancestors and to shed light on their lives. Throughout, the target audience will be family historians based in Toronto with a bias to online research where possible. |
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| 2:30-3:30 Concurrent Sessions | ||
| Session F: | ||
| British Directories | ||
| Directories are an invaluable source for historians that be used to help fill in any missing gaps as they are published more frequently than the census. Using City, County and other directories, we will explore how they provide first hand data about local communities, their infrastructure and the individuals inhabiting those communities. Speaker: Lesley Anderson |
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| Session G: | ||
| According to the Custom of the Manor: An Introduction to English Manorial Records | ||
| If your ancestors were from England or Wales, there’s a good chance that they were part of a manor. And if your ancestor was not the “Lord of the Manor”, but a mere tenant, there’s a much better chance that he or she will be documented in manorial records. This presentation will explain how the manorial system worked, the types of records it created and their implications for genealogical research, and where to look for those records today. Speaker: Jane E. MacNamara |
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| 3:45-4:45 Plenary | ||
| Session H: | ||
| Some Lesser-known Websites for British family history | ||
In five years of writing his blog, Anglo-Celtic Connections, and even longer working on his British family history, John has seen an explosion of British family history websites. While many are commercial, accessed by subscription or pay per view, with relatively familiar offerings from the census and civil registration indexes, others are hidden gems which John will share in this session. |
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| Speakers' Biographies | ||
| Lesley Anderson works with Ancestry.ca to develop strategic relationships with archives across Canada and acquire new Canadian historical records. A passionate family history researcher for more than 35 years, her English search focuses on family names from Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Lesley is the Director of Education running educational seminars for the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa. Lesley also volunteers at the local Family History Centre, consults privately, teaches family history classes and speaks at seminars and conferences. | ||
| Paul Jones owns original editions of three 19th century gazetteers and the facsimile edition of a fourth. These and other more recent volumes will be available for inspection by workshop attendees. Paul is well known in Toronto genealogy circles for original and often humorous presentations. A committed genealogy volunteer, he is also an award-winning writer and currently contributes regularly to the “Roots” column in Canada’s History magazine. | ||
| Jane E. MacNamara is a long time member of the OGS and a member of the Society of Genealogists (London). Her English roots are concentrated in Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, London, and Yorkshire, where her eighth great grandparents lived as manorial tenants near the City of York. Jane lectures about research methodology, Ontario, Scottish, and English family history to genealogical and historical groups throughout southern Ontario. She has taught many courses for Toronto Branch, most notably hands-on courses about Ontario records. She leads regular trips to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and is the organizer of Genealogy Summer Camp, an innovative program that brings out-of-town researchers to Toronto for a week of tutorials and hands-on research. | ||
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| John D. Reid is known for his Anglo-Celtic Connections blog, now past its five year anniversary, providing an independent view of family history resources and developments with a British-Canadian perspective. Born and raised in Norfolk, England, with ancestry from London, the Midlands, Lancashire and Wales, he started his involvement with family history 15 years ago. He is a past President and Hall of Fame member of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, a past president of the Society of Genealogists and served on the Library and Archives Canada Services Advisory Board. | ||
Linda Reid is a retired librarian who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She has worked in a number of special libraries, including the Ontario Legislative Library, and has indexed for Thomson/Gale online databases. Linda has been researching her British roots for 25 years. Since 2004, she has been program co-ordinator for Toronto Branch of OGS. In 2003 she started the Branch’s Electronic Bulletin, an email service in which she updates Toronto Branch members on events and new resources. She also teaches genealogy courses for Toronto Branch and has spoken at conferences and workshops. For fourteen years she has been a volunteer in the Toronto Family History Centre. |
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| © Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society. Last Updated November 2011 |