Early Bird Deadline for OGS Conference 2020 is Near!

Don't miss out on the Early Bird Pricing for the 2020 Ontario Ancestors (Ontario Genealogical Society) Conference in Hamilton from June 5 - 7!

Check out the Conference Website here .

Oshawa's WW1 Soldiers

Jennifer Weymark, Archivist, Oshawa Museum will be presenting
"Letters from the Trenches: Oshawa’s WWI Soldiers" at the Durham Region Branch's meeting Tuesday, Feb. 4th at 7:30 pm.

Come join us at Northminster United Church, 676 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa, ON L1G 4V7 (NW corner of Simcoe Street North and Rossland Road West)

DNA Special Interest Group Meets Wednesday

This Wednesday evening is our DNA special interest group meeting at 7 pm in the Branch office. 

Stephe would like to show everyone what he thinks is his missing great grandfather through DNA and see what everyone's opinions are. This will be a really good discussion I hope.

Durham Branch January Meeting - Breaking Down Brick Walls

Overcoming Brick Walls  - strategies and anecdotes for overcoming research dead-ends.

DON'T GIVE UP!!

If, during your research, you have come across a particularly frustrating dead-end,our local panel of experts can help.

At this meeting our panel of experts will solve, or attempt to solve, some of the most difficult research problems faced by members. However, it is best to send problems, in advance, to durham@ogs.on.ca.

Our meetings are often streamed on YouTube starting at 7:30. Our channel for streaming is http://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCiHiKL0pfzXzG- G9YARS8Sg/live . 

Show & Tell and Christmas Celebration at Durham Region Branch's December meeting

Tuesday, Dec. 3rd @ 7:30 p.m., Northminster United Church

Show and Tell / Bring & Brag –

At this meeting we celebrate the season together, along with any genealogical breakthroughs, special stories, favourite websites, interesting documents or other artifacts brought to this gathering.

Members are invited to share genealogy "ah-ha's", serendipity moments and edible holiday treats.

Our meetings are often streamed on YouTube starting at 7:30. Our channel for streaming is http://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCiHiKL0pfzXzG- G9YARS8Sg/live . Should the stream fail during the broadcast, try refreshing the browser or closing the connection and reconnecting. In any case, an edited version of the meeting will be posted here, on the same channel, about one week after the meeting.

Parking is limited in the Church parking lot, but you can park on the side street, across Simcoe St. at the school, or 1½ blocks west on Rossland St.

All are welcome, as we celebrate with treats and hot cider!

DNA group meets Wednesday, Nov. 20th

The DNA Special Interest Group of the Durham Region Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society will meet on Wednesday, Nov. 20th at 7 pm in the Northminster United Church (NW corner of Simcoe St. N. and Rossland Road W)

We meet to discuss our experiences with our DNA matches and ask questions to help us better understand what DNA is all about.

All are welcome.

Durham Branch Hosting Ted Barris Tues. Nov. 5th

THE DURHAM REGION GENEALOGY SOCIETY  presents

Rush To Danger: Medics in the Line of Fire – by Ted Barris

Tuesday Nov. 5, 7:30 pm, Northminster United Church, Oshawa

Historian Ted Barris once asked his father Alex Barris, “What did you do in the War?” What the WWII Army medic told his son is the thrust of Barris’s latest literary journey.

Not only has Ted retraced his father’s wartime experience, in his new book, but he has also drawn from his library of interviews and research of military medical personnel – stretcher bearers, medics, nurses, surgeons, orderlies, dentists, and ambulance drivers – to show stories of those who chose go to where wounded soldiers lay – to rush to danger!

Not a comprehensive history of military medicine, Rush to Danger offers a powerful anecdotal account of how the science of saving lives in battle evolved, where breakthroughs occurred, who proved to be the heroes in these roles, and how such acts of courage played out in individual lives and in military history as a whole. And Barris’s canvas encompasses not just WWII (in which his father served as medic), but goes as far back as the U.S. Civil War, the 1885 North West Resistance, through the Boer War, the Great War, both World Wars, Korea and the 21st century wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Not a soldier, but the soldier’s storyteller, not a veteran, but recognized by vets as keeper of the flame, Ted Barris has published 18 non-fiction books, half of them wartime histories. For 40 years he has worked as a broadcaster on electronic media in Canada and the U.S. He taught journalism at Toronto’s Centennial College for 18 years. His book The Great Escape: A Canadian Story won the 2014 Libris Award, as Best Non-Fiction Book in Canada. And his last book Dam Busters: Canadian Airmen in the Secret Raid Against Nazi Germany won the 2018 RCAF Association NORAD Trophy

This meeting will include our annual elections. All are welcome.