A Brickwall Chisel - The Cluster research Project

Ruth Blair
You have an ancestor and you know he should be found in that particular parish but he is nowhere to be found in the registers – now what? You have two people with the same name, age and living to adulthood, how do you distinguish the two? Are they related? This is where a cluster research project can be useful. This lecture will describe how to organize and start a cluster research project to help you breakdown a brickwall in your family history. A case study that is based in England will be used to describe the process.

Mini-presentation: Elayne Lockhart My DNA - the Genealogical Gift that Keeps on Giving

Great Revelations: Canada and the 1921 Census

Glenn Wright
Every ten years, family historians and genealogists look forward to the release of the decennial census. In anticipation of the 1921 census, this presentation examines the state of Canada in 1921: what had been the impact of the Great War, what was the nature of its population, the demographic trends, how had the country changed since 1911? Who were we ... as revealed in the census returns? More importantly, what can we expect to discover when the returns are finally made available for research purposes?

Mini-presentation: Marian Press: Writing for the Toronto Tree

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SAILOR: Mining the Internet for Occupational Photographs

Bonnie Bell
Finding a photograph of your specific ancestors engaged in their occupations is difficult but finding relevant pictures that illustrate how they might have been employed is not beyond possibility. This session will examine and review a range of websites from well known data bases to small specialized sites to determine how difficult ,or easy, it is to find relevant photographs of our ancestors at work. Specific occupations such as coalminers, innkeepers, coachmen and others will be used to illustrate the search.

Mini-presentation: Stephen Low: Tracing my Great-Grandmother

Writing for Publication: Tips On How to Get Your Family History Research Published

Ed Zapletal, Editor and Publisher of Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy

Mini-presentation: Donna Di Lello: How to index old books for Genealogical Societies

Great Moments in Genealogy

The following members have volunteered to give a 5 minute talk on an interesting discovery in their research.

Donna Di Lello Winding Roads (Ontario)
Judy Gauthier Tombstone Management- two different experiences
     (Ontario and Quebec)
Ken Godfrey Buried Treasure: Rescuing Valuables from the Trash!
     (England, Ireland, Scotland, Ontario)
Joanne Green
    My Eagle Eye: the Eagle Family Hotel in Weston (Toronto)
Elizabeth Kaegi A late, very late, birth registration (England)
Paul Jones
    Will the real Moses Levine please stand up! (Canada and US)
Don Hall
    When did grandma come to Canada? (England and Canada).
Greg Marlatt
     Missing Cadavers or How I Learned to Love Cemetery
    Transcriptions (Ontario and Michigan)
Gwyneth Pearce
    Queenie’s Secrets (Montreal and Newbury, Berkshire)
Marian Press
     Finding a Memoir: A Great-Great Aunt’s Story Fills in the Gaps
    (Scotland and Australia)

The War of 1812: Why Canada is Not a U.S. State

Ken Weber
We all know Isaac Brock (and we should!) but what Canadian has ever heard of Charles Plenderleath? He may very well be the man who kept the Americans from winning the war. We know Brock died at Queenston Heights (he was losing the battle at the time) but his most important battle was at Detroit two months before. And Laura Secord? Her warning scored a victory for our side but it was natives who did the fighting. The story of the War of 1812 is one of myth, mixups, bravery and some utterly stunning incompetence on the part of military leaders, mostly__but not always__officers of the U.S. forces. Who won this war? Everybody and nobody, but the native people had the most to lose and lost it all. What the war did do was shape forever the way Canada and the U.S. relate to each other, and the way the two nations conduct themselves today.

Most Canadians know very little about the War of 1812 and Americans even less, yet it can be argued that for Canada, this conflict was the first important step in becoming a nation that is distinguished from its southern neighbour not just by a border but by a very different value system and a different view of life.

Mini-presentation: Khadija Warsame: The Oral Tradition in Somalian Genealogy

What’s Happening in OGS?

Toronto Branch is looking forward to resuming regular meetings on September 24, 2012 when Shirley Sturdevant, President of the Ontario Genealogical Society, will be our keynote speaker. She will be presenting “What’s Happening in OGS?" - an introduction to the provincial office and staff and an overview of provincial initiatives and innovative projects underway in Branches and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) across the Province. Shirley’s visit is very timely. Like all other genealogical societies, our Society is facing unprecedented and serious challenges. Former ways of conducting our affairs are failing to attract new members as they once did. The spirit of volunteerism is in decline. Membership numbers and revenues are falling because people are being drawn to the internet directly. The same phenomenon is affecting our local archives and record offices, with whom we share a passion for, and a commitment to, genealogical and local history interests. Imagine the consequences if societies, archives and libraries no longer served as focal points for these interests. Fortunately, societies, including ours, are starting to identify ways to overcome the challenges!

Members will no doubt have questions about planned directions for our Society and suggestions as to how the Society might respond to its challenges. We are hoping for a lively question, answer and comment period following Shirley’s presentation, and we want to give all Branch members an opportunity to have their say. We invite members to forward their questions and suggestions to chair@torontofamilyhistory.org in advance – whether they are attending the meeting in person or not - so as to make the best use of the meeting time available.

Following our traditional ‘Refreshment Break’, we will be hearing from a panel of Branch members about our Special Interest Groups and some of the innovations being tried, including ways in which technology is being used to enhance and expand services for members. .

What's New on Ancestry

Lesley Anderson

Mini-presentation: Mary Newel :Pandora's Shoebox

Legal Research for Family Historians

Gwyneth Pearce
Caselaw and legislative documents are staples of traditional legal research. But they can also provide valuable leads for family historians. This presentation will point out some of the key free on-line resources for legal research, demonstrate techniques for researching court and tribunal decisions as well as the Canada and Ontario Gazettes, and offer examples of genealogical finds in legal collections.

Mini-presentation: Guylaine Petrin : The Importance of the Mother's Maiden Name

Women, Bicycles and Animals: Humanizing the First World War

Melissa Ellis
Melissa will look at some databases of women's involvement in the war effort and the bicycle corps' work in reconnaissance gathering.

Mini-presentation: Linda Reid : My Great Grandfather's Rap Sheet

Unusual, Underused and Underappreciated Resources Online for Genealogists

Marian Press
It is all too easy to get comfortable and keep going back again and again to the same “big name” genealogy web sites. These sites are indispensable for today’s genealogist, but there are many other web sites that are worth a regular or an occasional visit. Some are genealogy specific, but often underused; others do not have family history as their primary purpose but have valuable content for family historians. This presentation will provide an eclectic journey through sites of this kind that the presenter considers unusual, underused and underappreciated. The addresses for all the sites will be provided on Toronto Branch’s Electronic Bulletin.

Mini-presentation: Kathy Shorney : All for Silver and a Future

One Note

Jim Onyschuk
Microsoft OneNote is a computer program for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. It can gather user's notes (handwritten or typed), drawings, screen clippings, and audio commentaries and share them with other users of Microsoft OneNote over the Internet. The desktop version of OneNote is available for the Microsoft Windows platform. (Wikipedia)

Mini-presentation: Greg Marlatt : The Flight of William Lyon Mackenzie

Origins of Funeral Customs

Susan Smart
Have you ever wondered why it’s customary to wear black at a funeral? Or why a coffin looks the way it does? The rituals around burying the dead have very ancient roots and have developed over the centuries in different ways depending on religion and geographic area. This talk will describe the origins of some of the funeral customs found in nineteenth-century Ontario and explain how they evolved through the century. Wakes, hearses, flowers and food, clothing, coffins and tombstones will all be discussed.

Mini-presentation: Stephen Low: A Little Latin for Genealogists

Great Moments in Genealogy
In a series of short presentations, several Toronto Branch members will share with us “great moments” in their genealogical research.

Speakers:

James F. S. Thomson - I'll get to that one day ... (England)
Heather Ioannou - A Debt Repaid (USA)
Janet Berkman - Sex, Lies, and Family History: the Story of Janet Forbes Morren (Scotland/Canada)
Bonnie Bell - And Me Without My Gloves - A Moral Tale of an 18th Century English Will (England)
Cathy McNamara - My Unusual Great Great Grandfather (Ontario)
BREAK
Patricia Sheehan - Where There's a Will (or an Administration), There's a Way: Finding the Thompsons in Yorkshire (England)
Greg Marlatt - On the Trail of a Skunk - A case of Frontier Divorce (Ontario and Texas)
Carol Nichols - Buried in Belfast (Ireland)
Guylaine Petrin - Who was Jane Ross Kingston?-- The interesting life of a matriarch (Canada)
Michael Ball - Five dollars ruined his career (California, USA)

Annual Meeting

How On Earth Will I Ever Read That?: Decoding Handwritten Documents

Cherryl Moote
Until the beginning of the last century all documents were written by hand, transcribed by a calligrapher, scrivener or secretary. This presentation will offer an inside look at the life and work of the people entrusted with writing the documents that are so prized by genealogists, historians and paleographers. You will learn about the tools and materials, writing methods and the various hands used. Those hard to read symbols will be demystified and some suggestions for unlocking the difficult passages will be given.

Mini-presentation: Michele Skehill: Dearly Departed

Discovering Untold Stories: Slavery in the Town of York

Hilary Dawson
How do you find out about people who had no rights, rarely appear in the public record and for the most part were illiterate? Where do you look for information about the disadvantaged who did not receive direct payment for their work, and who had little control over their own lives? How can we uncover the stories of indentured servants and enslaved Africans?

Hilary Dawson will describe where she found personal papers and other manuscripts, and show how she used them to piece together the stories of the Pompadour family, Henry Prince and others who were regarded as “property” by York slaveholders like Peter Russell and William Jarvis.

Mini-presentation: David Reed: Modern Families

Conserving, Preserving, and Restoring Your Heritage

Kennis Kim
Artifacts, whether found in museums, our community, or our homes, offer glimpses into the past. Be they documents, photographs, books, or clothing, as custodians of our history, we're faced with how to maintain these items. Professional conservator Kennis Kim tells us how. Topics discussed include: creating an accession list; the nature of conservation, restoration, and preservation; deciding on display, storage, or using the artifact; common threats such as light, humidity, insects, and rodents; and when to call in a professional. Here is what is needed to determine what can be done to preserve precious articles for future generations.

Using Technology in Your Family History

Carol Nichols
The developing world of technology provides exciting possibilities for genealogists, making information easier to find, to organize and to share in interesting ways.

We will look at how computers and the internet can help you gather genealogical facts, photos and background information to fill in your stories or lead you in new directions. We will share ways to store and organize your genealogy. We will see how integrating stories with photos, music or your voice can help hook your family to its history through family newsletters, blogs, books or visual presentations.

Finally we will look at new directions and trends to see how technology will continue to offer you ways to expand your family history.

Mini-presentation: Evelyn Kidd - What you find when you aren't even looking

High-performance Computing and Family History

Dr. Andrew Ross
A project headquartered at the University of Guelph is using the province's high-performance computing grid to follow hundreds of thousands of Canadians from one census database to another.
For further information on this research project, click here.

Mini-presentation: Linda Reid: Researching Friends and Associates: A War Story

Why not make your own web site?

Randy Saylor
In the world of facebook and blogs, having your own web site still makes sense. Randy will show how easy it is to set up a free web site, share some of his own experiences and comment on elements that bring focus to good web sites.
Points to be made:
1. How to set up a free web site on Rootsweb and WorldConnect
2. Software needed.
3. Other web site options.
4. Randy's main experiences: Transcription, research teams, feedback.
5. How to bring focus to your web site. Geographic, family surname, military, emigrant groups, etc.

Click here to see Randy's web site.

Mini-presentation: Elayne Lockhart: A Crime Writer in the Family Left His Own Clues

A fresh look at FamilySearch.

Gwen Armstrong,
Assistant Director, Toronto Family History Centrer
Current databases, lessons and information. What is the future of FamilySearch?

Mini-presentation: Hilary Dawson "Alumni Ancestors: Resources at the University of Toronto Archives"
African Canadian William Denis Lafferty married Hannah Susan Dobbs in Toronto in 1869. One of the witnesses was Alfred M. Lafferty, M.A., of Richmond Hill. Who was Alfred? How do you find out about a university graduate?

Wikis as Genealogical Information Tools

Marian Press
A wiki is a web site that allows individuals to collaboratively build content. As a result the content may continue to change and is always a work in progress. Over the last year, wikis as genealogical information tools have suddenly begun to flourish and are being used by such institutions as the LDS Church (FamilySearch Wiki), the Allen County Public Library (We Relate Wiki) and by individuals such as Dick Eastman (Encyclopedia of Genealogy). This lecture will cover the technology of wikis, the location of the major genealogy wikis and how to contribute to them, as well as providing information on how to use freely-available software on the Internet to establish one’s own wiki. The pros and cons of such a step will be discussed.

Mini-presentation: Michele Skehilll: "Dearly Beloved"

Great Moments in Genealogy
In a series of short presentations, several Toronto Branch members will share with us “great moments” in their genealogical research.

Speakers:

Paul Jones - What the Photo Detective Saw (England)

Patricia Sheehan - Did the census-taker drop his folder? - an unscrambling job in Grey County (Ontario)

Ann Rexe - Lost in the 1850's - Unusual Name Unusual Record put a new perspective on my family (England)

Judy Gauthier - Serendipity (good fortune; luck: an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident)

Douglas Hill - A letter home from abroad-- from a whaling boat in 1835 (New Zealand and England)

Break with punch and home-baked goodies

Marian Press - Among Strangers: How the Granddaughter of General George Ross Kemp Died (Quebec)

Diane Clendenan - From Ireland to India

Greg Marlatt - Mainly Because of the Meat (Ontario with side references to England, Guernsey, and the US)

Donna Di Lello - Indentured Chinese in Guyana (Guyana)

Elayne Lockhart - Drama at the Dublin Registrar's Office (Ireland)

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).

Mini-presentation: Marian Press: "Web Sites You Don't Want to Miss"

Death or Canada: Uncovering the Plain people of the Irish Famine Migration

Mark McGowan
An exploration of the how average ordinary Irish people, both Protestant and Catholic, are discovered and tracked through manuscript and routinely generated records. This story begins in archives and museums in Ireland and continues in the commemorations, archives, newspapers, and cemeteries of Canada.
Copies of the book Death or Canada will be for sale.

Mini-presentation: Cathy McNamara: My Quilts and Genealogy

Cemetery-related topics:

Sue Henderson
Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries
A Genealogist’s Guide to the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries Sue will describe the 10 cemeteries, changing trends in the funeral industry and how to access burial records (with some potential anomalies). She will address issues such as photographing tombstones and using a “family” plot. Bring your questions.

Jane MacNamara
FamilySearch Indexing and the Toronto Trust Project

Rob Leverty, Ontario Historical Association
After Bill 149

Escape, Evasion and Revenge
Marc Stevens
Marc has recently published a book telling the story of his research of his father's life. He knew that his father was born in Germany but went to school in England and served in the RAF. In 1996 (17 years after his father's death) Marc discovered that his father was Jewish and had a criminal past in England prior to the war. The story includes his illegal identity theft that that enabled him to join the RAF and fly 22 bombing missions against the country of his birth without protection under the Geneva Convention, and which culminated in his being shot down and taken POW by the Nazis, who legally could have had him shot as a traitor to Germany (despite his being Jewish). Marc discovered a file about his father at The National Archives marked "Secret - Sealed until 2051" and was able to get that file opened in 2006 through an application under Britain's Freedom of Information Act. Some Toronto Branch members heard Marc's story at a book launch and highly recommend that we hear him.

Mini-presentation: Guy Lafontaine - Use Gmail as a Mail Mate? Google Toolbar or Translate? But now iGoogle, Don't Wait!
Guy will demonstrate its basic use, its value to genealogists or to anyone. It's easy and it's fun. That's the Google way!

Just Names on a List? Let’s Take Another Look at Passenger Manifests
Glenn Wright
Canadian passenger lists have evolved over time. Those from the 1920s and 1930s contain significantly more information on our ancestors than those from the 1870s and 1880s. This presentation will review what records are available – Canadian ports arrivals, incoming/outgoing UK lists, American records for immigrants destined for Canada, and much more. Online availability to these records has made them one of the most used sources for family history and genealogy, so perhaps it is time to take a second look at passenger lists and what can we learn from them. Just names on a list? No. The passenger manifest is an important documentary source of information about our ancestors, and this presentation will remind us just how important it is for our research.

Mini-presentation: David Reed - Early Halifax Chair Makers-- with some examples.

Unusual Sources for the Twentieth Century
Marg Aldridge
Marg talks about how the 19th and 20th centuries may require different techniques and sources due to the changing nature of electronic data, privacy issues and data gathering and how these affect genealogy.

Mini-presentation: Bob Murphy - The Importance of Networking.

Seeing Your Family's History Through Military Records and Memorabilia
Ron Wencer
Ron focuses primarily on the military service of four relatives, ranging from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, through the post-WW I occupation of Haiti, to both the European and Asian theatres of World War II. Starting with little, he has managed to find enough material to relate four coherent stories—five, if one includes the story of the Japanese pilot responsible for Ron's cousin's death in the Pacific.

Mini-presentation: Linda Reid - A Murder Case? Who was the victim?.

Great Moments in Genealogy
In a series of short presentations, several Toronto Branch members will share with us “great moments” in their genealogical research.

26 Oct 2009
Novatel Ballroom

7:30 p.m.

"Timelines" and How to Use Them to Benefit You the Most
Sharon Murphy
This will be an electronic presentation, giving examples and scenarios that we all can identify with, from the largest complete family history timeline, to the smallest individual task. Bring your questions and suggestions; let’s make this a real learning, participating event.

Mini-presentation: Pierce Reid - Annotating an image using Irfanview

Questions to Ask Before You Begin Writng
Gayle Dzis
The questions who, where, why, what, when, and how to begin writing your family history need to be answered individually because there is more than one right answer. How these questions are answered changes the nature, the focus, and even the content of your work. If you are considering fleshing out some of your ancestors, this interactive talk is for you.

Mini-presentation: Paul Jones: Why did the family save that photo? A late Edwardian surprise!

When, Why, and Whatever Else
Bonnie Bell
A look at the significant elements in dating photographs, such as the occasions that prompted the photos, and other information that may be gleamed from them, with a special emphasis on wedding photographs and the period 1880 to 1945.

Mini-presentation: Sue de Groot: Identifying Mrs. Andrew Surerus: The Photograph

Developing a Research Strategy to Find the Next Piece of the Puzzle
Brian Gilchrist
Brian will present options to be based on a review of your notes and learning how to ask questions of people who will help.

Mini-presentation: Joan Beckley: Alice Who? The search for an elusive maiden name in early Ontario records.