Durham's October 3rd Meeting: "Proudly She Served: Canadian Women in Uniform, 1885-1945"

 

"Proudly She Served: Canadian Women in Uniform, 1885-1945" – Glenn Wright

Durham Branch invites you to join us on Tuesday, Oct. 3rd at 7:30 pm as we celebrate “Canadian Women’s History Month”. Our speaker, Glenn Wright, will be joining us via Zoom.

During the 1885 Northwest Rebellion, a small group of nurses and nuns provided medical care for the wounded and sick. It was the beginning of a tradition that would see women serve in the South African War, 1898-1902, and the First and Second World Wars. In this presentation, we will look at the history of this contribution and explore the records that we can use to document Canadian women in uniform.

Glenn Wright is one of our favourite speakers. He was born and educated in Toronto, Ontario. Following graduation from the University of Toronto, he worked as a researcher for Pierre Berton before joining the Public Archives of Canada in 1975. During his public service career that spanned more than 30 years, Glenn worked as an archivist, historical research officer and, for many years, assistant historian with the RCMP. 

Retired since 2006, he is a frequent speaker at family history and genealogical events, especially the OGS, with a special interest in Canada’s military history and the men and women who have served in uniform. Glenn has also been associated with television programs such as “Who Do You Think You Are?”, “Ancestors in the Attic” and “Engraved on a Nation”.

He has published widely in family history, genealogical and historical magazines and journals. Glenn is also the author of Canadians at War, 1914-1919: A Research Guide to World War I Service Records (Global Genealogy, 2010) and Controversy, Compromise and Celebration: The History of Canada’s National Flag (Historical Society of Ottawa, 2017).

Glenn has been actively involved with the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa and served as the Society’s President from 2010 to 2014. 

This will be a Zoom only meeting. 

Kindly register at the following Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEudO2gpzgjGd30k5UU3bviLskgV339lXFY

 

Military Records Free at FindMyPast

 

FindMyPast has announced free access to their military records until Nov. 12th.

Please go to their website for details.

findmypast.co.uk  

findmypast.com

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.

A World War I Journal Featured at our November Meeting

Tues., November 6th, at 7:30 p.m. at Northminster United Church Basement Auditorium (enter off Rossland)

Featuring Bryan Davies telling the tale of the World War 1 Soldier, Pte. Manuel, who kept a journal of all his experiences.

For more details, see our website.

This meeting will also include our Annual General Elections, also, details of the OGS 50% off membership and Early Bird renewal prizes.

Everyone is welcome.

World War 1 Medal Index Cards on Ancestry Free Until November

Ancestry.co.uk's Medal Index Cards Free until November

As posted by Chris Paton on his "The Genes Blog", Ancestry.co.uk is opening up their record set

British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920

It will be free till November. This is to mark the centenary of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line. See more information here.

The collection is accessible at https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1262&o_xid=91999&o_lid=91999

Free Access to FindMyPast's Military and Census Records This Week

On the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, Findmypast want to give you the chance to remember the military heroes in your family. This week, all of their world military records plus all their UK and Irish censuses are free to search, so you can track your ancestor's journey both before, and during the war.

Explore FREE military & census records

FindMyPast Free Weekend!

It's time to explore British, Irish, US records on FindMyPast! Also includes newspapers and military records!

As announced on the FindMyPast newsletter:

If you are not a subscriber to FindMyPast, they have announced a free weekend 18 - 21 September. If you are a subscriber, they will extend your subscription by 3 days!

For more information, go to FindMyPast Free Weekend.