Call For Speakers - Durham Region Branch's "Day of Learning"

Durham Region Branch will be holding their annual Day of Learning from 9 – 4 on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at Faith United Church, Courtice.

The theme is “Fresh Approaches to Thorny Problems”

The Call for Proposals is now open, under the following sub-themes:

·      Oral Histories: interviewing, cold calls, that crucial first email

·      Going Forward with Your DNA Test Results: Next Steps – analyzing & contacting your matches, new tools, websites

·      Advanced Irish Research – what’s new, using DNA, possibly with a case study

·      Planning a Research Trip – what works, what doesn’t, case study?

Speakers who wish to submit lecture proposals may submit up to three proposals electronically at the e-mail address below. The speaker compensation is at the usual OGS conference rate, but travel compensation is minimal. Please include the following information for each submitted proposal: speaker's full name, address, telephone, and e-mail address; presentation title; and a brief, but comprehensive outline. 

The deadline is March 6^th. Please send your submissions to:  durhamevents@ogs.on.ca

British Isles Research - A Day of Learning

The registration for the British Isles Workshop on October 29th is now open at durham.ogs.on.ca/workshops 

1. On the left is a downloadable print form to (snail)mail to us with a cheque or money order.

or

2. You can click on the PayPal symbol in the middle of the page & follow our instructions on how to access that service. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to successfully programme a 1-click button, so we have to do a 2-step procedure. Once you sent us your information by e-mail to durhamevents@ogs.on.ca, we will generate a PayPal invoice back to your e-mail. Once you click on the Pay Now button in that invoice, choose the "Don't have a PayPal Account?" button at the bottom in order to use your credit card directly.

Toronto Branch Courses for the Fall now Open for Registration

Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society

A great way to improve your research skills is to take courses, attend lectures and conferences.

Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has many members who are great lecturers and teachers. The Branch's education committee is a dedicated, knowledgeable group of people who put on great courses. In fact, the Toronto Branch has just hosted one of the best OGS Conferences to occur in many years.

Many courses are intended for beginners or those still learning the basic techniques of genealogy while some courses are aimed at people who have many years of experience who are looking to fine-tune a specific skill, enhance an area of knowledge, or just keep up-to-date. Each year Toronto Branch’s education committee plans a mixture of courses that will enable everyone to find something of interest.

The Fall courses have just been posted online and include:

Hands-on Ancestry.ca Library Edition
Hands-on Early Ontario Land Records
Introduction to Genetic Genealogy
Basic Genealogy and Family History
Putting Your Family Tree Online


I recommend you register early, since the courses fill up fast. For more information, or to sign up for a course, go to:

http://torontofamilyhistory.org/learn/courses/

Registration for the OGS Conference 2016 in Toronto is Now Open!

I suspect many in the OGS community have already heard the good news through e-mail promotion or social media that general registration for Conference 2016 is now open. But if you haven't...

http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference/registration/

You can register now to take advantage of the early-bird rate which ends on March 15th.

Also, don't forget to book your hotel rooms by following the link from the Conference Accomodations page (http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference/accommodation/). That way you earn the OGS group rate, and the Conference gets credited with generating the room nights (which in turn brings down the costs of our lecture rooms).

We look forward to seeing you at OGS Conference 2016!

Paul Jones

Chair, OGS Conference 2016

Durham Region Branch to form a DNA Special Interest Group

Listening to our members, we have identified a need to form a Special Interest Group focussed on Using DNA in Our Genealogical Research.

Our first [organizational] meeting will be held on Wed. Jan 20th at the Durham Branch office at the NavCan building on the south side of the Oshawa Airport at 7:30 p.m.

Here is the map for getting to the office. Remember to go north on Stevenson Rd. from Rossland Rd. (NOT Taunton Rd.).

Agenda

1. the best day to meet
2. what each of us wants to get out of learning about using DNA in genealogy
3. appointing a chairman
4. decide if we want to have a secretary to record our meetings
5. topics arising from the group

If you can't make the meeting, please e-mail Nancy Trimble, Chair of the Durham Region Branch with the best day of the month for you, so your wishes can take that into consideration when we set up our meetings.

Genealogy Education on the Internet

Here are the links from last night's Mini-presentation on "Genealogy Education - Videos"

Family Search Learning Center

https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com

Key Words: Ancestry, WDYTYA, Genealogy Gems, Maurice Gleeson, Genetic Genealogy, DearMyrtle, Legacy Family Tree, Roots Magic, any other interests you have.

Webinars

Southern California Genealogical Society

http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/webinar/jes-index.html

Legacy Family Tree Webinars

http://www.familytreewebinars.com

Recorded Webinars for OGS Members only (best if signed in first)

http://www.ogs.on.ca/membersonly/mem_webinar_recorded3.php

Branch Genealogical Research Courses - Clarington Library

"Who Do You Think You Are?" -  Clarington Library, at the corner of Church and Temperance Streets in Bowmanville - " November 11, 18 and 25 - 7 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. The final topic, "Census Records", was presented by Nancy Trimble on Monday, November 25th. LINK for more...