Course runs on two Thursdays: February 13 and 20, 2020.
Registration is required. Sorry, this session is now fully booked. Click here to add your name to the waiting list.
Once land was granted by the Crown and a patent issued, an owner could register land transfers and other transactions like mortgages and wills, in the Land Registry Office. Set up in 1795, the Land Registry was used in Southern Ontario for post-patent transactions until the late 1960s when a gradual phase-in of the Land Titles System began. Land Titles was devised in 1885 and was used for new patents in Northern Ontario from that point. This course will concentrate on research in rural and urban Land Registry Records at the Archives of Ontario, online at FamilySearch, and using the new ONLand website.
Participants will work in small groups following case histories through the records. Registrants will be expected to do some assigned background reading and experimenting before each class. (Assignments will be distributed by email.) It is important that participants commit to attending both sessions.
(This new course complements the Hands-on Early Ontario Land Records course but that course is not a prerequisite. They can be taken in either order.)
This course is offered in partnership with the Archives of Ontario.
Course Instructor: Jane E. MacNamara
Jane E. MacNamara is the author of Inheritance in Ontario: Wills and other Records for Family Historians (OGS/Dundurn, 2013) and writes about genealogy at wherethestorytakesme.ca. A long time member of OGS, Jane lectures about research methodology, Ontario, and English family history to genealogical and historical groups throughout southern Ontario. She teaches courses for the OGS Toronto Branch, most notably hands-on courses about Ontario records.
HOW TO GET TO THE COURSE LOCATION
The Archives of Ontario is on the Keele campus of York University.
By public transit: The Archives of Ontario is just steps from the new York University subway station. A number of regional bus services also stop at the campus. For information on transit options and directions, see the University’s webpage.
By car: The York University campus has some visitor parking. To see travel directions for drivers, go to this webpage.
Accessibility:
The Archives of Ontario building is wheelchair accessible. For more information about our policies on accessibility, visit our policies page. For assistance with a specific accommodation request, please send an email message to torontocourses@ogs.on.ca.
YORK COUNTY AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Speaker: Guylaine Petrin
In honour of Black History Month, Guylaine Petrin will give a special presentation on York County and the Underground Railroad.
Elgin Mills, 1910
During the last 30 years, York county, especially Vaughan and Markham township have changed so much, transforming from their rural roots into urban landscapes and modern cities. Sometimes when all those changes take place, it is easy to forget one’s history.
As part of the expansion and changes, there have been various archaeological assessment done on various sites along the Yonge Street corridor. In 1987 and 1989 two sites on Yonge Street, named by archaeologists the Murphy-Goulding, and the Bernard sites were excavated and searched for sites of archaeological significance. Other archaeological digs have also taken place, notably in 1995 where many artifacts dating from the 1850s and onward have been recovered.
At the time, an old resident of Richmond Hill named George Goulding pointed out to the archaeologist a site associated with the Underground Railroad, a kind of hidey hole, where refugees were supposed to have hidden to escape slave catchers. Archaeologists did find the remains of a cabin, but the idea that somehow Richmond Hill was associated with the Underground Railroad was deemed “highly unlikely”
Why on earth would escaped slaves find refuge in Richmond Hill? This presentation will address some of these questions, and also explain how genealogical tools can be used for fleshing out archeological questions.
Guylaine Petrin, Toronto, is a Toronto librarian, genealogist and historical researcher who has numerous publications to her credit including,”The Myth of Mary Mink: Representation of Black Women in Toronto in Nineteenth Century” in Ontario History. Guylaine is a long-time member of Toronto Branch who specializes in Upper Canada history and York County.?
Mini-presentation: Heather Ioannou: An Underground Railroad Extension?
RECORDS OF MIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT AT THE ARCHIVES OF ONTARIO:
Speaker: Jane E. MacNamara
Since its founding, Ontario has been involved in supporting and promoting settlement. This lecture will look at the major groups of records surrounding immigration, naturalization, and settlement generated by the province and earlier by Upper Canada and Canada West, as well as a selection of records at the county and municipal level, and in the fonds of organizations and individuals. These are rich sources which may provide clues to motivation and living conditions, as well as the basic immigration information for your ancestors.
Jane E. MacNamara, Toronto, is the author of Inheritance in Ontario: Wills and other Records for Family Historians (OGS/Dundurn) and writes about genealogy at wherethestorytakesme.ca. A long time member of OGS, Jane lectures about research methodology, Ontario, and English family history to genealogical and historical groups throughout southern Ontario. She teaches courses for Toronto Branch, most notably hands-on courses at the Archives of Ontario.
Mini-presentation: Michael Nettleton: Where’s Dorothy?
WEDNESDAY, March 25, 2020
Co-sponsored by Toronto Public Library.
The Toronto Reference Library contains many excellent genealogy resources. This hands-on class will demonstrate how to use the Toronto Public Library’s online catalog to find items on the open shelves such as how-to guides, directories, and maps as well as “hidden” collections in the closed stacks. Discover what treasures may be available for your specific region of interest by country, province, state or county.
Level: Intermediate
Registration is required. Sorry, this session is now fully booked. Click here to add your name to the waiting list.
Course Instructor: Librarian
HOW TO GET TO THE COURSE LOCATION
The Toronto Reference Library building is on the east side of Yonge Street, one block north of Bloor Street.
By public transit:
The closest TTC subway station is Bloor/Yonge.
Driving to the Library is not recommended. Parking in the immediate area is limited.
Accessibility:
The Toronto Reference Library building is wheelchair accessible. For more information about our policies on accessibility, visit our policies page.
For assistance with a specific accommodation request, please email us at torontocourses@ogs.on.ca.
This tour is now full. Please email us at torontocourses.ogs.on.ca to be put on the waiting list.
TOUR OF THE GENEALOGY COLLECTION AT THE TORONTO REFERENCE LIBRARY
Co-sponsored with the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at the Toronto Reference Library.
Discover one of the largest genealogy collections in Canada. Explore the extensive maps, city directories, passenger lists, historical atlases, digitized and microfilmed newspapers, indexes to births, marriages and deaths and so much more! Learn how to search the various catalogues including those for the collections of the Ontario Genealogical Society, Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto and the Canadian Society of Mayflower Descendants. Upon completion of the tour, participants are invited to research their family history with the assistance of library staff. Please bring your library card or other form of identification in order to request documents.
HOW TO GET TO THE COURSE LOCATION
The Toronto Reference Library building is on the east side of Yonge Street, one block north of Bloor Street. The Genealogy Collection tour is on the second floor.
By public transit:
The closest TTC subway station is Bloor/Yonge.
Driving to the Library is not recommended as parking in the immediate area is limited.
Accessibility:
The Toronto Reference Library building is wheelchair accessible. For more information about our policies on accessibility, visit our policies page. For assistance with a specific accommodation request, email us at torontocourses@ogs.on.ca.
CLOSING THE LOOP: THE LONG JOURNEY TO RECONNECT WITH A UKRAINIAN FAMILY
Speaker: Terry Maurice
Researching Eastern European genealogy presents many daunting challenges to the family historian. Unfamiliarity with the languages, history and geography of the regions can present major stumbling blocks to advancing one’s research.
Terry’s own quest to find his father’s family, who left Hlyboka, Bukovina, Austria (Ukraine) in 1914 proved to be much more difficult than he had imagined. His research began in 1971, but political boundaries at that time made it very difficult to obtain information from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
After the independence of Ukraine in 1991 and the subsequent microfilming of the Ukrainian records by FamilySearch, all that changed. It was then possible to search for and get the BMD records for family members. Studying the political history, geography and learning to read records in Church Slavonic, Romanian, Ukrainian, Latin and some German, proved to be very interesting. Over the period from 1970 to 2019 his paternal family tree grew from a few known Ukrainian relations to over 1600. Along with these genealogical discoveries, his knowledge of Austrian Empire and its colourful history provided a fascinating and rewarding backdrop to his research.
Although this presentation is focused on Ukrainian research, strategies and techniques for doing research in unfamiliar languages will be presented. The talk will be illustrated using records from FamilySearch.org, online geographical maps, cadastral maps, online translation tools, social media, professional researchers and Eastern European archives. Engaging in family research can be a great learning experience as this research certainly was. The talk will conclude with a brief overview of his trip to Ukraine in 2018 to meet his family, thus closing the family loop after a one hundred and three year break.
Terry Maurice, Guelph: Terry’s interest in family history began about 1970 and he worked largely on his mother’s Irish side of the family, but in 2017 began serious research on his father’s Ukrainian family. Although he had not been active in family research for over ten years, his interest in genealogy was rekindled with the advent of DNA genealogy. He now is very active in DNA testing and interpretation techniques and is presently the DNA Special Interest Group Coordinator for the Wellington County Branch of OGS. Over the past three years, Terry has presented over 20 workshops that have been designed to assist family historians in using DNA results to further their family research.
Mini-presentation: Romana Bahry: The Forgotten Pioneer of Probiotics
