14 December 2024
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An Unexpected Gift This presentation focused on Carol's third great-grandmother, Ann Gillies McPherson. An unexpected gift of information broke down a 10-year-old brick wall and led Carol to discovering the complete story of her ancestor. |
(From the Vaults) It Happened in Coolross
Ann Burns
This was the story of the amazing coincidence that happened while Ann was travelling in Ireland with her father in 2008. He wanted to see where his paternal great-grandparents came from. They booked a self-driving trip that included a visit to Islandmagee, County Antrim, where his great-grandmother, Eliza McCullough, was born, followed by a few days in County Wicklow, where his great-grandfather, Edward Byrne, came from. Ann had driven on the left side of the road before, but the Irish roads offered a special treat. They found nothing helpful in Islandmagee, viewing every headstone in every Presbyterian cemetery. They met and were treated by some really lovely people, but they had a life-changing experience in their search for the townland of Coolross in County Wicklow. And it happened on September 11.
Blown Away
Veronica Scrimger
This Great Moments presentation highlighted the journey Veronica took in 2019 to discover her grandfather’s foster home in the Shetland Islands.
Over the “Golden Bridge”—The unexpected discovery of more British home children in my family tree
Nancy Higgins
Nancy’s paternal granddad, William Stephen Higgins, was always “known” to be a British home child, though that has yet to be confirmed. He remains her brick wall, which she puts aside to pursue her easier Roper and Jefford maternal lines. A chance conversation in 2019 at one of BIFHSGO’s coffee breaks opened a door to unknown British home children in her family tree: William’s wife and Nancy’s granny, Mary Ann Rodger, and her younger sister, Helen. Following up on a few of the suggestions from this conversation has led to the discovery of Mary Ann and Helen’s sad past and their eventual journey to Canada.
9 November 2024
I’m Sorry—We Don’t Have Your Grandfather’s War Records…
Seana (Shea) Jones
“However,” said Seana, "at Garrison Petawawa Military Museums, we do have plenty of other primary source materials that provide an insight into the everyday life of your ancestors during the two world wars and during peacetime."
There are over 70 accredited Canadian Armed Forces museums across Canada, covering the army, air force and navy. Sheana explored the diverse array of artifacts, documents, photographs, and personal accounts that comprise the archival treasures of military museums.
Whether you're a seasoned historian or a new, eager enthusiast, this talk deepens your appreciation for the invaluable treasures housed within military museums and how these objects can help you augment your genealogy research.
Rebuilding A Life After Service in the Canadian Forestry Corps, With Help from the Soldier’s Settlement Board
Dianne Brydon
Dianne Brydon told us about her grandfather Frank Brydon’s experience in the Canadian Forestry Corps in England during World War One, his injury, and his dealings with the Soldier’s Settlement Board to rebuild his life on the family farm in Manitoba upon his return.
12 October 2024
How can the Ottawa Branch OGS Library help my research?
Grace Lewis
Grace Lewis has been the Volunteer Librarian for the Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society since 2010. She has shepherded the collection through an extensive expansion program, welcoming donations from individuals and organizations alike. In 2016, BIFHSGO closed down its library and transferred ownership of the 2,500-item collection to the Ottawa Branch OGS Library, which currently contains over 13,000 items. Grace’s presentation reviewed what is available for BIFHSGO researchers at the library she has helped develop.
14 September 2024
(From the Vaults) Middlemore Children: In Their Own Words
Patricia Roberts-Pichette and Glenn Wright
Home children in Canada have been the focus of extensive research and writing for many years, but rarely have we heard the children themselves. Drawing on the records of Middlemore‘s Children’s Emigration Homes, Patricia Roberts-Pichette and Glenn Wright let the children speak of their hopes, fears and experiences in coming to Canada as young immigrants.
(Unfortunately, as a result of technical issues, the questions and answers after the presentation were not recorded and are not included in the video.)
Exciting Cause: an investigation into women confined in the 1890s to the Kingston Asylum for the Insane (Rockwood) in Kingston, Ontario
Laurie Fyffe
Laurie Fyffe’s journey into the fascinating history of the Kingston Asylum for the Insane began with the discovery that her great-great grandmother, Sarah Ann Gerrard, died in that institution in 1901. How did Sarah Ann, a mother of four and a devout Anglican, come to spend the last eighteen months of her life in an asylum for the insane? Tracing Sarah’s surprising personal history led Laurie to the medical case history files of Rockwood’s female patients, where she found compelling stories and tragic outcomes for women who fell short of the ideal for female behaviour in late 19th century Victorian Canada.
8 June 2024
A Cripwell Golden Moment
Paul Cripwell
The census can provide that golden moment, when you find something that makes everything feel right! This talk was not only about one of those moments, but also about what happens next: the new avenues of research that become necessary to gain a better understanding of your family history.
Mystery in the Vestry
Jim Pot
Decades ago, a vintage desk, possibly more than 150 years old now, was donated to Knox Presbyterian Church. It sat gathering dust and cobwebs in the recesses of the church's boiler room until, one day when was it offered to the current minister, Rev. Jim Pot. While the desk was being restored for resurrection into the vestry, research into its provenance revealed that it may have belonged to an assassinated Father of Confederation. Jim shared the legend of the unfinished mystery in the Knox Church Vestry.
Just a Wannabe Scot
Veronica Scrimger
Veronica explained how the discovery of a tombstone in Arbroath, Scotland, ignited Veronica and her husband’s fascination with his Scrimger family history. But it actually all started when a friend declared that Yorkshireman Dave Scrimger was “just a wannabe Scot.”
11 May 2024
Back to Basics: Immigration and Emigration
Ken McKinlay
Just where do we find the document potentially recording the emigration from the British Isles and the immigration in distant lands? Ken looked at possible resources to shed light into this ongoing migration.
My Farrell Brick Wall and New Cousins: From Inchigeelagh, Cork to Holytown, Scotland and St Andrew's West, Ontario
Presenters: Helen O’Farrell Sloan and Dena Palamedes
Dena's second great-grandfather, John Porteous, started out in the world as John Farrell. The Scottish Old Catholic records said his father was Thomas O'Farrell, his mother was Anges Coats, and John was their "lawful" child. John married Annie Crosser and five of their eight children were baptized "O'Farrell." By 1880, the family was using the name Porteous and the remaining three children were called Porteous. Thomas O'Farrell was not to be found after 1851, and his "wife" Agnes appears to have abandoned her children and started a new life as a "spinster" marrying two more times.
Thomas O'Farrell's origins and ultimate outcome were unknown, a proverbial brick wall. Eight years after Dena's family first started DNA testing, they found a match only an hour from home in Kemptville, Ontario, and the brick wall crumbled.
This presents the story of how two families reconnected and of a Covid project to find out more about two brothers: Dennis, who emigrated to St. Lawrence County, New York, and later to St. Andrew's West, Ontario, and his younger brother, Thomas, who went to Holytown, Scotland.
13 April 2024
Back to Basics: Church Records
Ken McKinlay
Prior to the establishment of civil birth, marriage, and death registrations, there were parish registers. In this Back to Basics session Ken looked at various registers and where to hopefully find those sometimes elusive records.
Vimy: Exploring the Battle and the Legend
Dr. Tim Cook
Vimy is more than a battle from the First World War. It is common to hear that Vimy marks the “birth of a nation,” a claim repeated in school textbooks, by politicians, and in the news. Yet what is meant by this phrase? This was no militarist plot. While not all Canadians believed in Vimy’s importance, enough did, and the idea of Vimy was invigorated with the building of Walter Allward’s monument on the ridge. The monument’s unveiling in 1936 by King Edward VIII was attended by more than 6,000 Canadian veterans who crossed the Atlantic. Since then, Vimy has been incorporated into Canadian history, although its meaning has changed with each generation.
Based on his award-winning book, Vimy: The Battle and the Legend, Dr. Tim Cook explored the emergence of the Vimy idea, its changing meaning, and its endurance as a symbol of Canadian service and sacrifice.
So, who was Jack Hibbard's wife?
Ann Burns had researched her paternal grandmother Ethel Hibbard's direct ancestors, but other than collecting a few facts about her siblings, had not studied them closely. An impending visit from Robert, the grandson of Ethel's sister Mildred, who wanted to know more about the family, started Ann working on a line of collateral research as well. Robert was more interested in Ethel and Mildred's parents, grandparents, etc., but Ann also looked more closely at the sisters’ brother John, known in the family as Jack. And there she found a conflict in the information. That led to a situation offering a challenge she couldn't resist. Who, exactly, had Jack Hibbard married?
10 February 2024
Back to Basics: Censuses
Ken McKinlay
Ken looked at which census records have survived for the countries that make up the British Isles and possible census substitutes to help fill in some gaps in the records.
Researching Female Ancestors What Could They Tell Us?
M. Diane Rogers
Researching female ancestors can be frustrating. Sometimes even their obituaries say almost nothing. Diane provided examples of strategies to use in searching genealogical sources for information about women and in learning about women's history resources.
13 January 2024
Back to Basics: Scotland
Ken McKinlay
Ken explored the various collections and sites that can help us research our kin who came from Scotland.
You've Got Maill: Rent and Associated Agricultural Terminology in Scottish Records, circa 1500-1750
Robert Urquhart
Family historians, when researching Scottish ancestry, come across terms covering agricultural and measures for produce and livestock in diverse records such as testaments, marriage contracts, bonds, rental agreements, leases and tax rolls, and even in civil, criminal and church court minute books. These words and phrases often concern the rental or ownership of land and buildings and the management of debt.
Robert’s talk focused on how these occur in early modern Scottish records, in conjunction with terminology such as rent/maill, liferent, annualrent and ferdcorn/thirdcorn. It was part etymology, part legal theory and part social and economic history. Robert discussed how certain key ideas were expressed in 16th to 18th century sources and looked at what the produce and livestock mentioned in records tell us about everyday life in early modern Scotland.