Newsletter

Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Canadiana Department of North York Central Library present:

Finding Ontario Ancestors Workshop
A summer workshop exploring the richness of Ontario records

Note: the following is a link to a list of useful web sites provided by Ruth Burkholder. Click here for the PDF document with hot links.

Saturday, 6 August 2011
North York Central Library Auditorium
5120 Yonge Street, Toronto
(North York Centre subway station)

Find out how to get the most from familiar records or discover a new source to expand your understanding of your Ontario ancestors. You'll enjoy this relaxed, information-packed day with speakers who revel in the intricacies and richness of records—and love to share their knowledge.

Program (subject to change without notice)

9:15–10:00 am Registration

10:00–11:15 am (Plenary)

Session A: Ontario Education Resources on Teachers and Students for Family Historians
There are many resources available for genealogists whose ancestors were either teachers or students in Ontario. But these resources are often held by libraries unfamiliar to family historians such as university libraries and school board libraries, as well as the more well-known provincial and local archives. This presentation will include a brief history of education and teacher training in Ontario, and present the many types of records available for seeking out references to former teachers and students. These include lists of schools and teachers in the province, teachers' college yearbooks, and teachers' memoirs, among others. For a wider understanding of how school was experienced by early generations of Ontario students, there are historical curricula, textbooks, copies of exams and school histories available. Both paper and online resources will be examined, with an emphasis on what is online as digitization of education materials is advancing rapidly.
Speaker: Marian Press, M.A., M.L.S., is a librarian at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She writes regularly for Internet Genealogy, Family Chronicle and Discovering Family History, and is the author of Education and Ontario Family History (OGS/Dundurn, 2011).

11:30 am Session B: Every Ten Years: Understanding Census Records
Every ten years a snapshot was taken of citizens of the country. Finding your ancestors in census returns helps you complete family groups, identify and locate other members of the family and add generations to your family tree. While you may be familiar with the “personal” schedules that list names, age, place of birth, religion, origin, occupation and marital status, most censuses had additional schedules that may tell you where the people lived—how much land they held, whether they owned it, and any buildings, businesses, as well as farm production. The presence of a church nearby may indicate the reason for a religion change… and knowing the religion might just point the way to the baptismal and marriage records you need. Discover the benefits of these valuable records that are so vital in building a picture of a family or a community and learn how to evaluate the evidence they provide.
Speaker: Kathie Orr is an experienced lecturer and researcher with a passion for the under-used, early records of Ontario. She has spoken at Thunder Bay, Mississauga, Cornwall, Oshawa, Ottawa, London, Oakville and Hamilton OGS conferences and at regional conferences and meetings around the province.

Session C: Upper Canada Sundries–An Under-used Genealogical Gold Mine
Where can you find men begging not to be publicly whipped, neighbours informing on one another’s treasonous activities during the Rebellion of 1837, widows asking for militia pensions, and huge lists of aliens resident in Upper Canada? In the Upper Canada Sundries, of course! Officially known as the Correspondence of the Civil Secretary of Upper Canada, the Sundries provide a window into the relationship between the Upper Canadian Government and its people. Come learn about this little-known treasure trove of genealogical and biographical information about early residents of Upper Canada. Speaker: Janice Nickerson, M.A., is a professional genealogist. In addition to private client work, she also does heir searching for the Public Guardian and Trustee of Ontario, consults with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples on Central and Eastern Canadian Métis research issues and writes for Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, Discovering Family History and Your Family Tree magazines. She produced a monthly newsletter featuring first-hand accounts of life in Upper Canada and her website includes a variety of resources for this early period. Janice also did much of the genealogical research for the CBC television series, “Who Do You Think You Are?” and is the author of Crime and Punishment in Upper Canada (OGS/Dundurn, 2010)

12:30-1:30 pm
Lunch (There are several restaurants in the North York Centre.)

1:30 pm Session D: Question and Answer Panel

2:15 pm Session E: The Internet vs the Road Trip
After hearing many researchers state that they love to work on their genealogies until wee hours of the morning and that everything is on the “net”, I decided to put this to the test. The first task was finding a part of my tree that was both a brick wall and had not been worked on for 20 years—so all I had was pre-Internet information. After selecting the individual, an online search was conducted—followed by a road trip. This session will take participants along on the road trip, show the additional information that was obtained through that avenue—and how sometimes the two search methods worked together. You’ll realize there’s a great deal more information that hasn’t been digitized and be encouraged to do your own road trip.
Speaker: Marg Aldridge is a Computer Science graduate of the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and has worked in IT for 25 years. She has also studied at McMaster and York Universities and taught at Humber College. She is also a researcher for the Archives of Ontario, a writer, lecturer and an expert on Internet searching and many genealogy software packages.

Session F: Fleshing Out the Lives of Your Ontario Ancestors Using Land Petitions
Land petitions often contain information about the origin of ancestors, but they contain so much more. People petitioned the government for many different purposes—to get patents, to complain about hardships, to ask for compensation for losses, to resolve boundary issues. Ancestors can appear as witnesses, sureties, neighbours, etc. Now that the Upper Canada Land Petitions Index is available online, we can easily search for likely ancestors not only by name but by location. This session will cover the Upper Canada and Canada West period of Ontario history and introduce Library and Archives Canada’s collection “Upper Canada Land Petitions” as well as other collections of petitions at LAC and the Archives of Ontario. All are available easily in Toronto, or by inter-library loan and from the Family History Centres.
Speaker: Guylaine Petrin is a reference librarian at Glendon College, York University with many years of experience in genealogy and history.

3:30 pm Session G: “Lists”
From the mundane to the obscure, lists of all sorts can prove that our ancestors lived in a particular location—and at a particular time. This session will illustrate the types of records that might be available for your family. Discussion will centre on how to take the most information from each type. Why was your ancestor on the list, and who was there with him? Included will be city and other directories, municipal assessment rolls, registers from church archives showing memberships, newspaper items like ‘Society’ lists, and much more. Techniques for finding these treasures in libraries and archives and on the web will also be discussed.
Speaker: Ruth Burkholder is a genealogist, historian and educator, and has been working in the local history and genealogy fields for the past 25 years. She talks and teaches, writes books and compiles indexes, works for others and volunteers her time with historical and genealogical societies. Helping someone find that detail that leads to further knowledge of their family, however, is still one of the most thrilling things that Ruth experiences.

Session H: The Records of the First & Second Heir and Devisee Commissions
The First (1797-1805 and Second (1805-1911) Heir and Devisee Commissions were appointed to determine the property rights of the heirs, devisees and assignees of those who were given Crown grants of land, but for various reasons failed to patent their land. The heirs and or assignees had to provide detailed documentation of their relation to the original grantee and or their right to the land through sale or assignment of the location ticket. The evidence compiled to prove relationships in each case can be a rich source of information for social and genealogical research. Death dates, documenting relations of three generations, links to the home country, daughters married names and residences of the applicants are the types of information that can be found, The lecture will examine the types of records generated by each Commission, and how to access the record groups involved.
Speaker: Kathie Orr is an experienced lecturer and researcher with a passion for the under-used, early records of Ontario. She has spoken at Thunder Bay, Mississauga, Cornwall, Oshawa, Ottawa, London, Oakville and Hamilton OGS conferences and at regional conferences and meetings around the province.

How to Get to the Workshop

By public transit: North York Central Library is connected directly to the North York Centre subway station, on the Yonge line. Inter-city trains and buses link with the subway at Union, Dundas, or York Mills stations. Allow at least 35 minutes from Union or Dundas, or 15 minutes from York Mills, to get to North York Centre.

By car: North York Central Library is at 5120 Yonge Street, Toronto M2N 5N9, on the west side at Park Home Avenue (about halfway between Sheppard and Finch). From Highway 401, exit northbound at Yonge Street; proceed north to Park Home Avenue (6th or 7th traffic light) and turn left. The most convenient parking ($6 per day on Saturdays) is under the building—enter from Novotel on Park Home, or from Beecroft Road (parallel and west of Yonge Street).

(For a Google map, click here)

REGISTER
FEES: Members of the Ontario Genealogical Society
$30 (after July 15, IF SPACE ALLOWS)

FEES: Non-Members )
$35 (after July 15, IF SPACE ALLOWS)

© Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society. Last Updated August 2011