Top Ten Canadian Genealogists Are .....Well.... NOT CANADIAN

This has been a week of celebration in the Genea-World. The annual Rock Star Genealogy Awards have been announced. This is a "People's Choice" of Genealogy awards, thanks to John Reid of Anglo Celtic Connections (http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/). John has rounded up nominations across the genealogy globe, has hosted online voting, and most importantly, has tallied the results.

Some genies don't like the awards. They find them frivolous, not adding value to the profession, perhaps even 'tacky', But those of us who were nominated have been delighted. We have unabashedly engaged in self-promotion, have crossed our fingers, toes, eyes and waited with baited breath for the winners to be announced. What we also understand is that this "People's Choice" award, whether a nomination, a top 10 placement, or a win, adds credence to our genealogy repertoire in terms of getting speaking engagements. Attendees at such talks have spoken by their vote and have let the planning committees of the genealogy and local history societies know who is popular, who will draw a crowd to their event and who will be engaging enough to hold the audience's attention. So, thank you John, for allowing all of us this opportunity. 

The categories are International, US, Canada, UK (Scotland, England, Wales), Ireland, Australia/New Zealand and DNA. The winners in each category are announced according to where their voters reside. Not where the genealogist resides or where the area of specialty for the genealogist is.

The Bronze and Silver winners were announced on Monday. Results can be found here:
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2015/09/rockstar-genealogists-2015-silver-and_14.html

Gold winners in each category were announced on Tuesday. The results of the Genealogy Super Stars can be found here:
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/2015/09/superstar-rockstar-genealogists-2015.html

The genealogy world has been a buzz of congratulatory messages, accolades and thinly veiled humility from the winners ("oh my, I never thought...." "Really? Me?" "Oh gosh, thank you") Of course in reality we were all screaming "WE ROCK!!!" WE. ROCK!!

Over the rest of this week, John will share the "top ten" in each of the categories outlined above. Those nominated, but not awarded the top three coveted awards, are all hoping they placed in the top five but will take anywhere in the top 10. The placement on these lists adds a boost to their marketability. 

The top 10 for Canada were announced today and the results were nothing short of disappointing:

1. Dave Obee

2. Christine Woodcock

3. Dick Eastman

4. Thomas MacEntee

5. Chris Paton

6. Lisa Louise Cooke

7. Judy G. Russell

8. Kirsty Gray

9. Gail Dever

10. Maurice Gleeson

Don't get me wrong. These are among the top genealogists in the WORLD. Not just in Canada. The genealogy elite in many respects. Those we all rush to hear when they give talks, or host webinars. We devour their written advice on blogs, in magazines, quick guides, books. If my own sense of self-worth were not so incredibly (perhaps pathologically) intact, the fact that MY name is on this list should be incredibly surreal. Little old me. From Canada. And there's the kicker. Only 30% of this list of top 10 genealogists, held in such high esteem, are actually FROM Canada. And, if you take me out of the equation (my specialty is Scotland, after all), the showing for Canada is nothing short of shameful. TWO out of 10. TWO.

How does that work? Easy peasy when you look at the big picture, and when you contrast it with the other top 10 list announced today - that of Australia and New Zealand where 70% of the top ten are actually from the area.

Canadian genealogists are not well promoted in the genealogy world. Those of us who are promoted and well known, have engaged tirelessly in self-promotion. We have not been held in esteem by our own genealogy society. The Ontario Genealogical Society is the largest in Canada. They have an annual conference. The "headliners" are rarely ever Canadian. Ok, Dave Obee might be the exception to that statement. But give Dave his due, he has been in the biz for a very long time.

This past May, the headliners for the conference were from the U.K. and the U.S. The conference for 2016 has already been announced. The headliners are, again, U.S. Why? No, really, WHY?

No offence to my U.S. or U.K. colleagues. As I said, these are the genealogy elite. Some of them, I even consider to be my friends. (The ones I don't are because they have no clue that I even exist, and to consider them friends would be unfair to them). 

Why is it that the OGS doesn't spend the effort in promoting their own? The handful that have been well promoted in the past are promoted because they already worked hard to make their mark. ONLY after they have tirelessly promoted themselves to make a mark in the genealogy community, will the OGS think, "oh, maybe we should give them a try. BUT not as a headliner. We need to hedge our bets, so let's import the main speakers and fill in with our own". Making us wonder if we are really just an after thought. 

Contrast the OGS conference, with the BIFHSGO conference this coming weekend. Out of 11 speakers, 6 are local. LOCAL. Sure, none of us are headlining, but some of us get equal time to those who are headlining. BIFHSGO actively promotes and supports their members. They have their own members speak at their monthly meetings. This builds confidence, allows exposure and gives back to the members. The exposure to the talent that is among the membership really IS a benefit of membership. 

OGS, take a page out of BIFHSGO's book. Look to your members. The people who PAY to be in your organization. Support them. Promote them. Let them shine. When you do, they will make you shine in return. It's a win-win. 

The 2017 conference is in Ottawa, for the 150th birthday of Canada. The conference theme is: Our Canada - Your Family: Building a Nation. PLEASE OGS, don't insult the intelligence of the Canadian genealogists by importing speakers. Look locally to members who excel in their knowledge of:

The Loyalists
Acadians
French Canadian Research
Scots Immigration
Scots-Irish Immigration
British Home Children
Eastern European Immigration

The people who are the fabric of OUR country. The people who built OUR nation. The people we proudly call our ancestors. 

BIFHSGO CONFERENCE 2015

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa is hosting its 21st annual conference Sept 18-20 at Ben Franklin Place in Ottawa. The focus of this year's conference is Scottish research. Other prominent topics are Technology and Genealogy and Photographs and Genealogy. 

Friday sees pre-conference seminars.

AM SEMINARS (9:00 - 12:00):

PHOTO DETECTING 101

MAUREEN TAYLOR                              

                                                              

Learn to help identify family photographs using ten easy steps, like researching photographers, dating costume clues and comparing facial characteristics. Topics include: 

• · What Photographs Can Tell You about Your Family
• · Exploring wrong information in the family album
• · Family relationships
• · What was important to your ancestors
• · Identifying the Images
• · Basic photographic history for genealogists
• · How to find out when a photographer was in business
• · What clothing has to say
• Techniques to Date and Interpret Your Family Photographs

SEARCH YOUR ROOTS; DISCOVER YOUR HERITAGE

CHRISTINE WOODCOCK

                                                            

While many people want to know more about their Scottish heritage, they often don’t know where to begin. Knowing where to look is usually where we falter. Fortunately, researching our Scottish ancestors is a fairly easy task. This seminar will get you started with researching your Scottish ancestry and will help you make the most of your research. Topics include:

• · Starting your search
• · The ScotlandsPeople website
• · Scottish naming pattern
• · Scottish marriages
• · Catholic parish records on Scotlands-People
• · Scottish Family History Societies
• · Scottish clans
• · Connecting with others.

FRIDAY PM SEMINARS (1:30 - 4:30)

USING MICROSOFT OFFICE TOOLS to CREATE &

PRESENT A TIMELINE OF YOUR FAMILY STORY

BRIAN GLENN

During this hands-on workshop you will use some of your own family history to create a visual timeline of two or more families. The timeline can be used to show overlapping events of the families, highlight critical areas of missing information and set the families’ personal events in relation to local and/or world history.

You will become familiar with the basic elements of Excel and PowerPoint and in

particular the mechanics of displaying information in an organized manner. Hopefully, creating the timeline will also uncover some previously unknown or not obvious element in your family story. Some registrants will have the opportunity to present their Excel timeline spreadsheet or PowerPoint slide show to the other participants.

Requirements: Bring a fully-charged laptop and power cord with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint (or very close equivalent) with you. You will also need to bring information on two or three families in your family tree covering the same 50- or 100-year span over one or more countries. Information can include, but not be limited to birth, baptism, marriage, death, immigration, war service, occupation(s) and census records. Digital images of as many supporting documents as possible and digital photographs of the family members will also be important.

DINNAE WASTE YER CREDITS, THEN

NAVIGATING THE SCOTLANDSPEOPLE WEBSITE

CHRISTINE WOODCOCK

ScotlandsPeople is the website that provides you with actual images of the statutory records for Scottish research. This is a pay-per-view site using credits. If you don't know how to use the website effectively, you can waste a lot of credits, spend a lot of money and endure a lot of frustration. In this seminar, you will learn how to get the most success out of your ScotlandsPeople searches. Topics include: how the credit system works, how to narrow down your search, which records are the most relevant, where to find past search results, how to trace female ancestors, where to get help, and what to do when you can't read the documents.

Speakers for the main program of the conference include:

Thomas McEntee

Chris Paton

Maureen Taylor

Christine Woodcock

Janet Few

Sher Leetooze

Shirley-Ann Pyefinch

Gloria Tubman

Gail Dever

Dena Palamedes

To register: http://www.bifhsgo.ca/aem.php?lv=r&eid=1

  

Registration for BIFHSGO Conference 2015 Opens May 9

The annual conference of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa takes place Sept 18-20, 2015. This year's conference focuses on:

• Scottish Family History
•  Photographs in Genealogy
• Technology for Genealogists

 Online registration opens May 9th at 8:30 EST. Here is a video showing the process of registering online:

https://youtu.be/hs4UgY4Sc2g

And here is the webpage with all of the conference details, including speakers and topics:

http://www.bifhsgo.ca/aem.php?eid=1

Hope to see you there!

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 Ottawaat 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.

The Genealogy Season of Meetings is Off to a Great Start

The season of genealogy and historical society meetings has started once again and this year it has started off with a bang.

I was honoured to be first on deck at both the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa on September 13th and again at the Kingston OGS Branch on September 20th.

The first talk at the BIFHSGO meeting was on Tracking Your Scottish Ancestors who emigrated. Unfortunately we ran out of time before the break. Next up was learning about preparing for a Genealogy Research Trip to Scotland. Both talks were loads of fun and the attendees provided great craic. Perhaps the best part of the weekend was the opportunity to spend time with Sue Davis, the Communications Director who has become a dear friend. It's always so good to catch up.

The Kingston talk was on Basic Scottish Research. The weekend was amazing. On Friday evening, the Executive treated me to a meal at Sir John's Public House. This building was once Sir John's law office. The hotel was located right on the water and provided a constantly changing canvas. And, best of all, genealogy serendipity kicked in and I was reunited with a neighbour from my childhood days! Not only great neighbours but also great friends of the family.

How has your season started? I hope you are learning lots of new strategies to try to find those elusive ancestors.

20th Annual BIFHSGO Family History Conference

The 20th Annual BIFHSGO Family History Conference takes place September 19 - 21, 2014.

 

This year's conference will focus on three main topics:

 •English family history;

 •Immigration from the British Isles, including Home Children; and

 •Genetic genealogy.

 Conference Program: 

Review the highlights in the conference brochure to find topics and speakers of interest to you. http://www.bifhsgo.ca/upload/files/Conference%202014/2014%20Brochure_final.pdf

Speakers: 

• Dr. Lucille Campey - emigration historian, author of numerous books on British Isles emigration to Canada who will launch her latest book Ignored but not forgotten - Canada's English Immigrants at the conference.
• Gail Dever - BIFHSGO webmaster, social media expert and blogger at Genealogy à la carte.
• John Dickenson - a former professor at Liverpool University who now researches Canada’s Home Children, especially their involvement in the First World War.
• Dr. Janet Few - freelance researcher and prize-winning author specializing in the south-west of England who will give a streamed-in presentation on North Devon immigrants to Canada.
• Paul Jones - retired publisher, “Roots” columnist for Canada’s History magazine who speaks frequently on offbeat topics at family history events.
• Debbie Kennett - an avid genetic genealogist, author of DNA and Social Networking (2011) and The Surnames Handbook (2012). Debbie is Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London.
• Paul Milner - an internationally recognized speaker specializing in British Isles research, author of Discover English Parish Records and Genealogy at a Glance: English Research.
• Gary Schroder - long-time president of the Quebec Family History Society and a frequent guest on Quebec radio and television promoting family history research.

In addition, speakers at pre-conference seminars on September 19 will include, from Library and Archives Canada, Paul Marsden and Sylvie Tremblay.

Online registration is available at: http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=126

Speakers announced for British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa Conference

PRESS RELEASE FROM BIFHSGO REGARDING THEIR CONFERENCE:

OTTAWA, 8 March 2014 — The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) has announced the speakers for the annual conference, to be held 19-21 September, at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.

For its 20^thanniversary year, the society will celebrate with an ambitious program which will help family historians delve into their British Isles roots.

The society expects to welcome more than 250 attendees at the event, which has three special themes:

·         English family history;

·         Immigration from the British Isles, including Home Children; and

·         Genetic genealogy.

“Our nation’s capital is also its family history capital.  Every year we have welcomed folks from far and near, researching their ancestors in collections at Library and Archives Canada and learning about resources for discovering their British and Irish roots at our conference ” said BIFHSGO President Glenn Wright.

This year’s conference speakers will include:

Dr. Lucille Campey - emigration historian, author of numerous books on British Isles emigration to Canada who will launch her latest book Ignored but not forgotten - Canada's English Immigrants at the conference.

Gail Dever - BIFHSGO webmaster, social media expert and blogger at Genealogy à la carte

John Dickenson - a former professor at Liverpool University who now researches Canada’s Home Children, especially their involvement in the First World War.

Dr.  Janet Few - freelance researcher and prize-winning author specializing in the south-west of England who will give a streamed-in presentation on North Devon immigrants to Canada.

Paul Jones - retired publisher, “Roots” columnist for Canada’s History magazine who speaks frequently on offbeat topics at family history events.

Debbie Kennett - an avid genetic genealogist, author of DNA and Social Networking(2011) and The Surnames Handbook (2012). Debbie is Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London.

Paul Milner- an internationally recognized speaker specializing in British Isles research, author of Discover English Parish Records and Genealogy at a Glance: English Research.

Gary Schroder - long-time President of the Quebec Family History Society and a frequent guest on Quebec radio and television promoting family history research.

In addition, speakers at pre-conference seminars on September 19 will include, from Library and Archives Canada, Paul Marsden and Sylvie Tremblay.

BIFHSGO looks forward to welcoming you at its 20^th anniversary conference.  Reserve 19-21 September in your agenda now and look for more details coming soon on the society website at www.bifhsgo.ca.

 

 

 

 

Call For Speakers - BIFHSGO Conference 2014

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa has issued a call for speakers for its 2014 conference. 2014 is also the 20th anniversary of the Society.

The theme for each year's conference rotates UK countries, with this current year's conference focusing on Irish Genealogical resources.

The 2014 themes are:

• English Genealogcial Resources
• Emigration from the UK Countries
• Genetic Genealogy

If you are a genealogical speaker and feel that you have something to offer others on any of the themes listed above, here is the link regarding proposal submissions:
http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=125

The deadline for proposal submissions is January 31, 2014.

BIFHSGO Call for Papers - Conference 2013

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) is seeking proposals for presentations at its 19th annual conference, September 20-22, 2013 to be held in Ottawa at Library and Archives Canada. The focus for 2013 year will be on Ireland. Proposals for other presentations besides those on Ireland are also invited as well as proposals for pre-conference workshops or seminars on Friday, September 20, 2013. Details on writing the proposals can be found at www.bifhsgo.ca under the Conference heading. Please send your proposals to conference@bifhsgo.ca before January 31, 2013.

BIFHSGO One Week Later

It’s hard to believe that one week has passed already since the BIFHSGO conference. This year’s focus was on Scottish genealogy and featured some wonderful speakers.

I did not take in the Friday workshops, choosing instead to use the Friday as a travel day.

Late Friday afternoon, the heavens opened up and the torrential rains began, which set the mood for learning about Scottish ancestry. The conference officially opened on the Friday evening. The Don Whiteside Memorial Lecture was given by Vic Suthren, who spoke on the War of 1812. I have to admit that interest in this portion of Canadian history has always eluded me. However, Vic’s talk was really the first time I have understood the war and its impact in creating Canada as a formidable nation. As Albert Einstein once said, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” and that was certainly the case for Vic’s lecture. His knowledge is so vast and his depth of understanding so great that he was able to explain the importance of the war in terms that even I was able to understand and follow along with. Having grown up in Hamilton, I was fascinated by Vic’s comments about the Battle of Stoney Creek. As well, friends of mine are descended from John Chrysler and so the battle of Chrysler’s farm was also a fascinating point for me.

At the reception following the talk, I was able to meet many of the people I have come to have regular e-mail contact with. It was great to be able to put faces to the names.

Saturday morning was quite chilly and I was instantly regretting leaving my jacket back at home. The Plenary was given by Chris Paton. I have heard Chris talk before, and knew that much of what he was going to say would be what I have already heard, but I always enjoy a refresher as well as Chris’ sense of humour. He started out by having us all say a big “hello from Ottawa” to those back in the UK, which he recorded and has placed on his blog http://britishgenes.blogspot.ca/2012/09/bifhsgos-2012-conference-report.html. Chris presents his information very well and, like Vic, knows his subject so well that it makes the rest of us feel that we too can do research in the Scottish records. As part of the Q&A, Chris referenced the “Poor Law” records. His Irish accent had it sounding more like “Purr Law” and I saw people scrambling to write down this rich, new, never-heard-of-before resource! I was poorless with laughter. After several requests to repeat the name of this new resource, Chris switched tactics and responded with “skint” Of course, few understood that one either!

The next session I attended was Lucille Campey’s talk on the Selkirk Settlers. Earlier this year, I put together a family history book for a family whose ancestors were Selkirk Settlers in Belfast, PEI, having come from Colonsay. Last month, I wrote a couple of articles on the Selkirk Settlers for magazines as well as a blog post on the online resources available for researching Selkirk ancestry http://scottishgenealogytipsntricks.blogspot.ca/2012/08/selkirk-settlers-online-resources.html

Lucille is very much an historian and her talk was very much a history lesson. Throughout her talk, I kept thinking that Thomas Douglas, 5^th Earl of Selkirk, received a raw deal in terms of how his UK peers would remember him. Lucille felt exactly the same way. Thomas Douglas really should be credited for bringing Celtic Culture to Canada. His desire for communities to transport their entire way of life to their new homes in Canada really was very innovative and was part of the reason for the success of the new colonisations. Lucille documented the path of the Selkirk Settlers from their start in Belfast, PEI, through Baldoon in Southern Ontario and then onto the Red River Valley in Manitoba. She portrayed a wonderful picture of both Lord Selkirk and of the hearty Scots whom he had assisted in re-settling in Canada.

Following lunch, my first session was “What’s New at FamilySearch” with Shirley Ann Pyefinch. I had the honour of attending a different workshop by Shirley Ann the previous month and once again was delighted with the wealth of information Shirley was able to share as well as how organized her presentations are. In both cases, after listening to Shirley Ann, I was eager to get home, get to my computer and get started on the various resources she provided.

My last session of the day was “McDNA” by Jane Buck. I have to admit, the whole DNA for genealogy purposes has never really interested me. However, Jane was a very dynamic presenter and I thoroughly enjoyed her talk. I left thinking “maybe…”

I opted not to attend the informal dinner Saturday evening, going instead to Byward Market for dinner. When I got the bill and realized they had charged me $8.25 for a draft, part of me was in awe at the audacity that allowed them to charge so much. Certainly, one could never afford to be an alcoholic in Ottawa!

Late Saturday night, I decided to give the first session Sunday morning a miss allowing me a bit of time to pack up and get organized and check out of the hotel. I was sorry to have missed Patricia Whatley’s talk on Scottish Poor Law.

I started my day with Ed Zapletal’s presentation on "Writing for Publication". I have enjoyed working with Ed in the past and have to say that I learned a great deal from him at this workshop. It really does make a difference having someone who knows their subject do a presentation. My particular interest in attending the workshop was in learning about copyright and I left feeling much more confident and knowledgeable. At one point, Ed was talking about copyright on pictures taken from the internet and that just because they are in the public domain does not mean they are not subject to copyright laws. Ed gave three websites where pictures can be accessed and each of these websites provides information on how to cite the source. As an example, Ed chose a photo of Sir John A MacDonald from the Library and Archives Canada Collection. My maiden name is McDonald (we were Mac at one point) and my son has repeatedly asked if we are related to Sir John A. Of course, everyone believes they have a connection to a famous ancestor, but I have been honest and stated “no, probably not” However, the photo that Ed used took me by surprise. It looked remarkably like my paternal grandfather. I can’t recall a whole lot of what Ed said about using these photos, as I was fascinated with the detail of Sir John A’s facial features and his classic “McDonald nose”. After that I decided I was going to contact my cousin in Aus and ask him for a DNA sample! Fortunately he works in a bio-chem lab, so will be more accommodating than the males on my maternal side.

After lunch, I was the session chair for Lucille Campey’s talk on the Scots in Ontario. This was a fascinating look at migration patterns as well as the UK governments strategic placement of the new colonisations in Ontario. Once again, I was taken in by the fascinating history as well as the new resources that Lucille discussed in her talk. History was never really a subject that grabbed my interest in school, but genealogy has changed my outlook, especially when history and ancestry are tied together in such a fascinating way.

The last talk of the conference was given by Chris Paton. I heard Chris’ talk last year on the murder of his three times great grandmother and the double sadness behind this event. (“There’s Been a Murrdurr”) so opted to get a head start on the long drive home.

The conference was very well put together, delivered some terrific lectures and was thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you to BIFHSGO and to the conference organizers.

Ahead of BIFHSGO Conference - Speaker Interviews

Ahead of the BIFHSGO Conference in September (14- 16 at Library and Archives Canada), which this year focuses on Scottish Genealogy, Blogger John Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ca/), has conducted a series of interviews with the speakers. These interviews provide a great introduction to the speakers and give you a far better flavour of their bio than does a written blurb in a syllabus. To access the interviews, simply click http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=62 then click on the individual speakers names to hear their interview with John.

Scottish Genealogy Conference

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) is holding their annual conference on the weekend of September 14 - 16 at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St Ottawa. This year's focus for the conference is Scottish Genealogy with guest speakers Chris Paton and Patricia Whatley. Other speakers include Susan Davis, Lucille Campey, Tony Bandy, Ed Zapletal, Jane Buck, Shirley-Ann Pyefinch and the Don Whiteside Memorial Lecture (friday evening) will be given by Vic Suthren.

The conference hosts a marketplace and offers plenty of opportunities for networking. The fees are $120 for non-members for the entire weekend, or $90 for members.

More information can be found on the BIFHSGO website at http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=22

See you in September!

BIFHSGO Conference 2012 - It's All About Scotland This Year!

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa has finalized the details for their annual conference which will run from September 14 - 16 at the Library & Archives Canada. This year's theme is Scottish Genealogy with Keynote speaker Chris Paton and guest speaker Patricia Whatley. In addition, there will be sessions on Selkirk Settlers, Scottish Poor Law, DNA and genetics, Writing for Publication, and using cloud technology such as Dropbox & Evernote.

The fees are $80/person for members if you register before 10 August. There are two buffet lunches on Saturday and Sunday for an additional $15 each. There are also pre-conference seminars on the Friday. The cost for these is $25 each.

Registration and conference information is available at: http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=22

BIFHSGO Conference 2012

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa has finalized the details for their annual conference which will run from September 14 - 16 at the Library & Archives Canada. This year's theme is Scottish Genealogy with Keynote speaker Chris Paton and guest speaker Patricia Whatley. In addition, there will be sessions on Selkirk Settlers, Scottish Poor Law, DNA and genetics, Writing for Publication, and using cloud technology such as Dropbox & Evernote.

The fees are $80/person for members if you register before 10 August. There are two buffet lunches on Saturday and Sunday for an additional $15 each. There are also pre-conference seminars on the Friday. The cost for these is $25 each.

Registration and conference information is available at: http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=22

BIFHSGO Conference 2012

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa is gearing up for their fall conference. The dates are September 15 & 16 at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St, Ottawa. This year, the topic for the presentations is Scotland. The final details are being ironed out, but we do know that Chris Paton will be the keynote speaker. There will be pre-conference sessions on Friday, September 14. For those details, check John Reid's blog Anglo-Celtic Connections.

Hope to see you at the Conference!