Durham Branch’s February 6th Meeting with Dave Obee - "Between Friends / Entre Amis: Cousins Across the Border"

Please join Durham Branch on Tuesday, February 6th @ 7:30 pm as we welcome one of our favourite speakers, Dave Obee.  He will be speaking on “Between Friends / Entre Amis: Cousins Across the Border”.  This meeting will be on Zoom only [link below].

Many of us have cousins in another country, and many Canadians and Americans have family members across that long, undefended border.  This talk gives some examples of cross-border ties, along with advice on how to search in the other country.  It could be that clues in one country can help solve genealogical mysteries in the other.  And yes, DNA testing is helping us to find relatives we did not know we had.

Our presenter, Dave Obee, is a journalist and genealogical researcher who has written a dozen books and given more than 700 presentations at conferences and seminars in Canada, the United States and Australia since 1997.  He is Editor and Publisher of the Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia.  

In 2012, the University of Victoria presented Dave with an honourary doctorate of laws for his work as a journalist, historian and genealogist.  He has received several other national and provincial awards. Read more about Dave. 

Dave also runs CanGenealogy, a link site that is selective and sorted for ease of use, and Volhynia.com, a website dedicated to the old German colonies in the northwest corner of Ukraine.

Everyone is welcome.  Kindly pre-register at the following link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtd–rrj4vGt319WIcXInzLvxBRd7mstRz

Canadian Resources Review - April 5th Durham Branch Meeting

Come and join Durham Region Branch on Tues., Apr. 5th @7:30 pm when we host Sher Leetooze as she takes us on a tour of online Canadian Resources.

Sometimes, when we are researching our families, one of them goes missing. Before you jump to conclusions and check death records, why not check out other provincial archives. Here in Ontario land was taken up at a rapid rate by the first wave of incomers, so when the sons and daughters were ready to take up land, there was precious little left. In order to make a life for themselves they went farther afield. Sher has found many Ontario people out west in the later 1800's. Manitoba has a wonderful online BMD site for researching the whereabouts of relatives. And if you are researching in Quebec, Quebec Genealogy/Drouin is one of the best genealogy sites Sher has ever used.

From coast to coast, we have great archives - provincial archives, university archives, county / regional / district archives, libraries who specialize in genealogical material, historical societies, genealogical societies - the list goes on and on and she will try to present a good cross-section to you - giving you url's &/or e-mail addresses.

Sher Leetooze started her genealogy when her children were small, so you can imagine that she didn’t find much time to put into it in those days. But nearly 50 years on she is still digging into the family’s past and finding great material that just wasn’t available 50 years ago. 

In 1994, Sher decided to write about the township in which she lives for the bicentennial celebrations. She went on to write the history of all the townships in the old Durham County. While doing her genealogy she discovered her ancestors were staunch Bible Christians, and so wrote a trilogy about the Bible Christians - the people, the chapels and the preachers.  From WW1 Nurses and Clarington Home Children, to gardening and the study of wild plants, and now a foray into fiction, Sher has continued to produce books about the things that interest her,

Today’s presentation is a culmination of her research experiences, both genealogical and historical.

Everyone is welcome!  Kindly pre-register at:

 https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtcOihrz0oEtXZVcRaa3-5x_e6RImJ1czp

Dave Obee Speaking About Migration in Canada at our January 4th Meeting

 

Speaker: Dave Obee

Topic: In Search of Home: Migration Into, Out of, and Within Canada

Date & Time: January 4th, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.

Virtually via Zoom

Noted genealogist, newspaper man, and storyteller Dave Obee will be our speaker in January.

Understanding the flow of people will help you understand how your family fits in the history of the country. In some cases, records are available in Canada and in other countries, but in other cases researchers will need to consider social history and traditional migration routes to understand the lives of their ancestors. Includes a look at the social history of the arrival of the railway, which helped bring massive development to the four western provinces. The railways brought settlers, and helped them get their goods to markets. The railway companies had a keen interest in bringing settlers, and ran colonization schemes designed to entice people to the West. Dave is the author of the book Destination Canada.

Dave Obee is a journalist and genealogical researcher who has written a dozen books and given more than 600 presentations at conferences and seminars in Canada, the United States and Australia since 1997. He is Editor and Publisher of the Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia. He has worked as a journalist in British Columbia and Alberta since 1972.

Dave’s extensive biography is at his website: http://daveobee.com/bio.html

Kindly pre-register for this event at the following Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtf-yoqzsrEtz1SiupO2ei7rpSNT46jX4r

The Census War is now over!

Check out John D. Reid's information and comments at:

Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections: The Census War is now over!

So relieved that future censuses will NOT have the dreadful question of whether to permit access after 92 years! Genealogists and historians must celebrate.