Durham's June 4th Hybrid Meeting - Untangling Township Papers with Jane MacNamara

Please join Durham Branch on Tuesday, June 4th @ 7:30 pm as we welcome one of our favourite speakers, Jane MacNamara. She will be joining us virtually.

Jane will be talking about “Untangling Township Records”.

Township Papers are a highly-organized series of records—resulting from the very hectic and disorganized activities of the Crown Lands Department. Consider some 72 metres of “orphaned” land-related records, often submitted or pulled from their original files because of a dispute or enquiry. Before being sent to the Archives of Ontario, these records were sorted by township and lot to make them accessible. Not quite comprehensive, but covering a large percentage of Ontario properties, these files may contain everything from warrants, location tickets, and settlement duty certificates, to assignments and transfers, explanatory notes and diagrams, letters from neighbours and other witnesses—anything that might prove ownership or occupancy and settle disputes. This session will show you how to check your ancestor’s property and neighbouring properties, understand the documentation you find and to follow the clues to untangle the full story.

BIO:

Jane E. MacNamara, Toronto, genealogy lecturer, instructor, and author of Inheritance in Ontario: Wills and other Records for Family Historians. She writes about genealogy at wherethestorytakesme.ca. A long-time member of OGS, Jane lectures about research methodology, Ontario, and English family history to genealogical and historical groups throughout southern Ontario. She teaches courses for the OGS Toronto Branch, most notably hands-on courses about Ontario records.

This will be a hybrid meeting. Everyone is welcome.  

In-person will be in our Branch library on the 3rd floor at Northminster United Church, 676 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa, ON. Parking can be limited.

For virtual attendees, please pre-register at the following Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrfu-vqjsuE9QM46HVlxRwSrKKiedXg_54

"Show & Tell" (and Treats) - Durham Branch's Dec. 5th Meeting

 

There’s Still Time! “Show&Tell” at Durham Branch’s December Meeting

via Zoom/Hybrid on Tues., Dec. 5th at 7:30 pm.

Come and join Durham Region Branch as we celebrate, with a hybrid meeting, our end-of-year Christmas social.  For decades, our end-of-year highlight event has brought us together – in a real room – to enjoy personal family history stories, along with tasty seasonal treats, hot apple cider, and a very unstructured sharing evening. Anything can be shown: photos, medals, heirlooms, a tricky piece of research or even a plea for help! 

The last 2 years’ virtual events were great successes followed by wonderful sharing sessions. 

The hybrid meeting drawback is that holding items up to a web camera is often not clear enough for all participants.  So, please send your images to Chair Nancy Trimble ahead of time. Her email is durhamchair@ogs.on.ca     Please include your name. 

Nancy will put your images or links into her PowerPoint presentation, so that she can call on you, either in person or on Zoom, to tell us all about your wonderful treasures or finds.

Kindly pre-register at the following Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrdu2srD8jE9KDFk7mBmGvOK5BsE7UdZGP 

In-person will be in our Branch library on the 3rd floor at Northminster United Church, 676 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa, ON (NW corner of Simcoe Street North and Rossland Road West). Parking can be limited. 

If attending in person, bring a few treats. Drinks will be provided.

Get your hot cider and treats ready! We will have a great open session afterwards.

Durham Branch’s November Meeting - DNA Clustering: Using the Leeds Method to Sort Your Matches – Ben Dawson

 The meeting will be held at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 7th via Zoom & In-Person. Our AGM will be held at the beginning of the meeting and will be brief.

DNA Clustering: Using the Leeds Method to Sort Your Matches 

– Ben Dawson of “Family Tree Project” (Ben will join us via Zoom)

After getting your DNA results, you were likely overwhelmed with the number of DNA matches and information presented. What should be your first steps? How do you get organized? What ancestral lines are each of the matches related to you? One of the most valuable tools that you can utilize to organize your DNA matches is called the Leeds Method. It is a systematic approach to sort your DNA matches into groups that usually result in clusters of matches that belong to each of your 4 grandparent lines. This talk explains the methodology behind the Leeds Method and how you can use it to narrow down your DNA match relationships so that when you reach out to them, you are more confident about the relationship. This will allow you to narrow your focus and limit the possible surnames involved. It also explains when the Leeds method is best applied and situations where it may not be suitable.

Ben Dawson is a life-time resident of London and has deep ancestral roots in the London & Westminster Township area as well as Huron and Bruce Counties dating back to the early 1800s.

Ben took up genealogy in his 20s and has been a member of Ontario Ancestors for the last 8 years. He is currently the Co-Chair for the London & Middlesex Branch and has spoken at Ontario Ancestors branch meetings on topics such as cemetery transcription, genealogical software and genetic genealogy. Ben has been very involved in the social media side of Ontario Ancestors and helps run the Facebook page as well administrating two additional genetic genealogy Facebook groups. Ben serves as a director-at-large on the Board and several committees for the Ontario Genealogical Society.

Ben also has a professional genealogy business called “Family Tree Project”. It includes a blog which offers tips, tricks, and news for the avid genealogist which can be found at www.familytreeproject.ca.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 7th via Zoom & In-Person. Our AGM will be held at the beginning of the meeting and will be brief.

Kindly register for the Zoom programme via the following link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sf-isqjIpEt2kggzsncsf0hKVun6YixVC

In-person will be in our Branch library on the 3rd floor at Northminster United Church, 676 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa, ON (NW corner of Simcoe Street North and Rossland Road West). Parking can be limited.

Durham Branch May 2nd Meeting - Old Brock Township: Origin and Key Events with Larry Doble

Topic: Old Brock Township: Origin and Key Events

Speaker: Larry Doble

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023 @ 7:30 pm : Hybrid Meeting (details below)

Were your ancestors from Brock Township? 

The presentation will describe the history behind the creation of the original Brock Township in historic Ontario County and the wars, battles, and events which determined who settled there.  

Larry Doble has been the chairman of the Sunderland and District Historical Society for almost 20 years. His ancestors came to Brock Township from Mayo County, Ireland in 1822 and the Doble family has been here for 7 generations.  His family tree computer data base has 62,000 names and it links many of the early families who settled in Brock Township which opened up in 1818. 

The Handout will provide links to several sites and resources about the history of Old Brock Township.

This will be a hybrid meeting – both in-person and via Zoom. Everyone is welcome.

In-person will be at Northminster United Church, 676 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa, ON (NW corner of Simcoe Street North and Rossland Road West). Parking can be limited.

On-line will be via Zoom – please pre-register for the event at the following link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvdOqsrD0jHdR3uzUDXVsIIWQUPjm8vWT2

Christmas Show & Tell/ Bring & Brag for Durham Region Branch on Tuesday Dec. 6th at 7:30 pm

There’s Still Time! “Show & Tell/ Bring & Brag”

Via Zoom on Tues., Dec. 6th at 7:30 pm.

OR In-Person at Northminster United Church (corner of Rossland Rd. W. & Simcoe St. N.)

Parking is off Rossland Rd. W.

Come and join Durham Region Branch as we celebrate with a hybrid meeting for our end-of-year Christmas social.  For decades, our end-of-year highlight event has brought us together – in a real room – to enjoy personal family history stories, along with tasty seasonal treats, hot apple cider, and a very unstructured sharing evening.

Last year’s virtual event was a great success followed by a wonderful sharing session.  

This year’s event will be hybrid, so this is an opportunity to gather together in person or keep our distance using Zoom. If you attend in person, please bring a few treats (drinks will be provided).

Anything can be shown: photos, medals, heirlooms, a tricky piece of research or even a plea for help!

The hybrid meeting drawback is that holding items up to a web camera is often not clear enough for all participants.  So, please send your images to Chair Nancy Trimble ahead of time. Her email is durhamchair@ogs.on.ca     Please include your name. 

Nancy will put your images or links into her PowerPoint presentation, so that she can call on you, either in person or on Zoom, to tell us all about your wonderful treasures or finds.

Kindly pre-register at the following Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtcu2sqz4pGN2Qo7N9XsGXNNtT3ZWD3xQK

Everyone is welcome!

Get your hot cider and treats ready! We will have a great open session afterwards.

Stop the Presses: Historic Newspaper Collections in and Around Durham Region - Durham's October 4th Meeting

(Jennifer Weymark)

Newspapers are a treasure trove of information for all sorts of researchers. There are vital statistics such as births and deaths, there are articles highlighting the current events of the days and there are stories and advertisements that showcase social issues and community focus. Archives and libraries have worked to preserve their local newspapers so that they are available for researchers. This talk will focus on where to access newspapers from collections in and around Durham Region, the challenges faced by those preserving these collections and by researchers accessing them and some of the interesting ways local newspapers have been used to help tell local history.

Jennifer Weymark has been with the Oshawa Historical Society for 23 years, 22 of those years spent as the Archivist. This role has given Jennifer the opportunity to put to good use her undergraduate work in history and cultural anthropology, while also putting into practice the theories and skills learned while earning her Masters Degree in Museum Studies. In this position, Jennifer has not only devoted time to digitizing and reorganizing the archival collection, while maintaining the day-to-day collections management work, but she has also been focused on filling in gaps in the archival collection through focused collecting practices and original research. She has had the pleasure of sharing her work through presenting at conferences, developing and leading workshops for local students and speaking to various community groups.

Join Durham Region Branch on Tuesday, October 4th at 7:30 pm. This will be a hybrid meeting, that is, both in-person and via Zoom. It will be held in the basement meeting room of the Northminster United Church, 676 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa, Ontario (NW corner of Simcoe St. N. and Rossland Rd. W.)

For those joining via Zoom, kindly pre-register at the following link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrduGprT4vGNExhuS1nstq0vT4mSpjkZGa