Genealogy: Back To Basics

Starting in January 2015, Ottawa Branch OGS will present a genealogical education session prior to the monthly program. Genealogy: Back To Basics will include a short lecture on a genealogical topic, followed by a Question and Answer session with Ottawa Branch members. If you are new to family history research or need a refresher, come out and join us.

The first session will be Saturday 24 Jan 2015 at 10:30am in Room 115 of the City of Ottawa Central Archives. The presentation should last about 45 minutes and will be followed by a general Q&A session on genealogical topics until noon. Coffee and tea will be available throughout the morning.

There is no charge for the session and all are invited to return at 1:00pm for the monthly presentation with Elizabeth Kipp talking about One Name Studies.

Handouts for each session will be available at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/genealogy-back-to-basics/

The following is the current schedule for Genealogy B2B. For updates check our website at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

24-Jan-15            Getting Started                                               Mike More

28-Feb-15            Are You a Trust Me Genealogist?                Heather Oakley

Mar-15                 No meeting due to conflict with Gene-O-Rama 2015         

25-Apr-15            Genetic Genealogy                                         Richard McGregor

6-Jun-15              Lineage Societies                                            Dorothy Meyerhof

27-Jun-15            Ottawa Resources                                          Mike More

12-Sep-15            Getting Started                                               Mike More

24-Oct-15            tba

28-Nov-15           tba        

19-Dec-15           tba

Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2015: Tracks through Time

Georgian College
Barrie, ON

Mark Your Calendars – May 29 to 31 2015

conference<at>ogs.on.ca

Bad Weather Genealogy

 

Although we have not suffered like our neighbours in Buffalo NY this week, our own forecast for Saturday is mainly cloudy, with 70 percent chance of snow or rain late in the afternoon then 70 percent chance of rain or drizzle in the evening. That's not too bad but there may be times when the weather limits our ability to attend the Ottawa Branch meetings. What can you do?

You could sit at home and research on line. But you can also attend the Branch meeting. Our regular monthly presentations are web cast, so you don;t even need to leave your cozy home. You will miss out on the camaraderie as well as the drinks and cookies. But you can still listen to the speakers and see all the slides.

Instructions are on our website at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/. Click on the date on the calendar and scroll down to the instructions.

The Ottawa TMG User Group also web cast their meetings each month. The details can be found at http://ottawa-tmg-ug.ca/index.htm.

The next Ottawa Branch meeting is 1:30pm on Sat 22 Nov: A Case Study from the First World War

1:00-1:30: Networking & Refreshments 

1:30-3:00: A Soldier of the Great War: A Research Case Study For our presentation this month, Ottawa genealogist Ken McKinlay will discuss a case study of an individual who served in the First World War.

Bring Back the Mandatory Long-form Census.

John Reid's blog this morning reported:

Ted Hsu, Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands has a new private member's bill to bring back the mandatory long-form census. Debate on this bill began last week in Parliament. Your help is sought to build momentum leading up to the vote expected in February.

"The government replaced the 2011 long-form census with a voluntary National Household Survey (NHS). Unsurprisingly, the NHS data is of poor quality and can't be compared with previous census data. Experts who rely on this data, and the continuity of these data sets, call the NHS data worthless.

Bill C-626 is a private member's bill that will reinstate the mandatory long-form census and expand the authority of the Chief Statistician.

Throughout this debate, and leading up to the eventual vote on Bill C-626, you are asked to please:

1) Write or speak to your MP to encourage them to support the bill and reinstate the mandatory long-form census

2) Write a letter or op-ed for your local paper explaining the value of the census and the need to pass Bill C-626

3) Share this information with your friends, family and colleagues

It's not too late to fight for the census! If you wish to contact MP Ted Hsu, please email ted.hsu@parl.gc.ca."

Comment:  In my view some of the questions on the long-form census were unnecessarily intrusive, but politics is rough justice. You can't get everything you want and in view of the loss of information necessary for public policy and desirable for historical purposes when the long-form census was dropped I support this initiative for restoration. I emailed my MP and encouraging you to lobby your's.

Thanks to Barbara Tose for the tip.

Call for Presentations for the BIFHSGO Conference 2015

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) is seeking proposals for presentations at its 21st annual conference, September 18-20, 2015 to be held in Ottawa at Library and Archives Canada. The three themes for the conference will be Scotland, Photographs in Genealogy, and Technology (including hardware, software, apps, websites, databases, social media, DNA analysis tools etc.). Proposals on these three themes for lectures at the conference on the Saturday and Sunday are sought as well as for workshops or seminars on the Friday. Details on writing the proposals can be found at www.bifhsgo.ca under the Conference 2015 heading. Please send your proposals to conference@bifhsgo.ca  before January 31, 2015.

Kirsty Gray in Ottawa

The Special Genealogy Presentation on Sunday, sponsored by the Ottawa Branch Ontario Genealogical Society and the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, was a great success. About 132 people squeezed into the Woodroffe United Church banquet hall to hear Kirsty Gray deliver two lectures: Solving Problems Through Family Reconstruction and Searching for Surnames: Challenges, Pitfalls and the Downright Ridiculous.

Advice and tips were provided on levels of family reconstruction, things to consider in family reconstruction and how to do it. Tips on searching the internet were also provided, with examples of interesting (ridiculous) items found in the census.

Hopefully we will have more events like this.