Symposium 2016 will be held Friday August 19th at the Courtyard Marriott in Brampton
The registration for the Scottish SIG Symposium is now open. We have another fantastic line up of speakers and topics for you:
Sierra Dye - speaking about Scottish women and witchcraft
Brian Anderson - speaking about his Selkirk Settlers who were pioneers of the Baldoon Settlement
Sandra Joyce - speaking about British Home Children in Scotland
Rory Sinclair - Rory will be our piper this year and will also discuss the history of bagpipes
Christine Woodcock - From the Highland Croft to Canada*
Early-Bird Registration Fees will be $60 for the day, including breakfast and lunch. Onsite registration fees will be $70
The hotel is offering discounted rooms for anyone staying at the hotel to attend the Symposium. The link to the hotel registration is on the SIG website
In this webinar, Shirley Sturdevant will assist you in gathering and recording your family histories, including the oral stories that have been passed down to us. In Scottish heritage, many of our traditions are passed down orally: superstitions, nursery rhymes, old Scots words and phrases, holiday customs.
Symposium 2015, an annual event sponsored by the Scottish SIG of the Ontario Genealogical Society was held in Brampton on Aug 21.
By all accounts and all of the feedback we have received, the event was a huge success. We have new people eager to sign up as members of the SIG. And many new genealogy friendships and connections were made. Lots of new initiatives were announced at this year's Symposium:
The Scottish Studies Program is going to create a Genealogical and Family History Institute.
Symposium 2016 is already planned and confirmed for next year.
The SIG will be hosting a series of Webinars with experts from Scotland as our guest speakers.
We are looking forward to the coming year, and all that is possible in the world of Scottish Genealogy Research.
James Fraser, the new chair of the Scottish Studies program at the University of Guelph was one of the speakers at this year's Symposium, which is sponsored by the Scottish SIG of the Ontario Genealogical Society. Towards the end of his talk, James announced a new initiative of the Scottish Studies Foundation, that of a new Genealogical and Family Institute at the University of Guelph. While still in the planning stages, the potential for this new Institute is vast. To assist with the development of the new Institute, the University will begin a crowdfunding campaign in December of this year. The Scottish SIG looks forward to working with the Scottish Studies program in supporting them in the further development of the new Genealogical and Family Institute.
The first ever Scottish Symposium hosted by the Scottish Special Interest Group of the Ontario Genealogical Society was held in Vaughan on Friday August 22, and by all accounts it was a rousing success!
The day started off with Piper Rory Sinclair leading the procession of speakers into the hall. Once the speakers were in and seated, Rory played a medley of Old Scottish Tunes and then asked the audience to name the songs he had played. It was a brilliant start to the day.
The opening welcome address was given by Anne Moir, president of the Toronto St Andrew's Society who gave an overview of the Society and its roll in assisting Scottish immigrants in settling in the Toronto area.
Our first lecture was on Basic Scottish Research and was given by James FS Thomson. James is always very thorough and provided a number of very helpful, very useful places to research in our attempts to find out more about our Scottish ancestors.
Our next speaker was Linda Reid who talked about a Scottish Pedigree and how she has used DNA to assist her in her genealogical research. Linda also provided a terrific amount of information for us to use in our quest to find our Scots ancestors.
photo courtesy L-D Crawley
Before we knew it, it was lunch time.
photo courtesy L-D Crawley
This gave the participants time to browse the marketplace.
photo courtesy L-D Crawley
photo courtesy Sandra Joyce
And then it was time to return to the big hall for the afternoon lectures. First up was Dr Kevin James who spoke about why our ancestors left Scotland and things to consider when trying to understand what compelled our ancestors to leave their homeland and make a new life for themselves in Canada.
photo courtesy L-D Crawley
Next up was Ruth Blair who gave us some very useful information of searching for our Ulster Scots ancestors.
photo courtesy L-D Crawley
Another short break and it was time for the last lecture of the day. Christine Woodcock gave us an overview of various online and offline databases to consider in searching for our Scots Emigrant Ancestor.
Our next SIG event will be a bus trip to the University of Guelph Library and Archives to see their very large collection of Scottish documents and books. This will likely take place in the spring. We are already looking forward to the trip.
One great thing about any gathering of the descendants of the Scots Diaspora is that when they get together there is ALWAYS great craic!
