Durham Branch June 6th Meeting - Four Proven Strategies for Overcoming Research Obstacles - Janice Nickerson

Four Proven Strategies for Overcoming Research Obstacles – Janice Nickerson, M.A., U.E.

Are you stuck? Have you tried everything to solve your genealogical puzzle? Professional genealogist Janice Nickerson will share 4 proven strategies she uses every day to overcome her clients’ research obstacles. These strategies apply to any family history problem, whether you’re seeking living relatives or long-dead ancestors, in Whitby or Wuhan.

Professional genealogist Janice Nickerson loves a good challenge – whether it's identifying elusive ancestors, tracking disappearing descendants or telling richer family stories. Her specialties include early Ontario research, criminal justice records and fur trade history. 

Janice’s website is http://www.uppercanadagenealogy.com/

This will be a hybrid meeting – both in-person and via Zoom - Tuesday, June 6th @ 7:30 pm. 

In-person will be in our library on the upper 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. 

Those requiring use of the lift need to arrange 1 day ahead of time to durhamchair@ogs.on.ca

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

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAsceGtqj0oEtD5mhYQl0BiaKxYZAd-0lM8

Everyone is welcome!

Durham Region Branch Hosts Thomas MacEntee June 1st

 

Successful Collateral and Cluster Searching on Tuesday, June 1st at 7:30pm

While you may think you’ve hit a brick wall with your research, have you tried using cluster and collateral search strategies to look for an opening? Researching non-direct relations as well as those friends and neighbours in your ancestors’ network can pay off in ways you might not imagine.

Learn why researching those in-laws, “shirt-tail cousins” and others who may not be a direct-line ancestor as well as “friends, neighbours and associates” can help you break down your genealogy research brick walls.

Durham Region Branch, Ontario Ancestors is pleased to host professional genealogist and presenter extraordinaire Thomas MacEntee. He specializes in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research and as a means of interacting with others in the family history community.

Please register at the link below:

Tuesday, June 1 at 7:30pm: Thomas MacEntee - Successful Collateral & Cluster Searching

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtdu6gpzkiGdz-Y_y-8nH1Kv_kxaZOqTEW

Join us and bring a genealogy friend! All are welcome.

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 . 

Research Experiences - On The Road Again

Durham Region Branch welcomes Sher Leetooze, a favourite speaker at our meetings, to our April 2nd meeting.

Join us at Northminster United Church (corner of Rossland and Simcoe St., Oshawa) at 7:30 pm.

Research experiences - On The Road Again.

Sher Leetooze has been researching her family for just over 40 years, but still has a long way to go.  In the process of doing research, Sher has gone right to the source in Great Britain and found some GREAT stuff!  Some of these things she will share with you on April 2nd.

Mini-Presentation: Stephen Wood will update us on one of our Brick Wall discoveries from our January meeting.

All are welcome (and bring a friend!)

Durham Region Branch’s January Meeting this Tues. Jan 8th

Durham Region Branch will be starting 2019 off in our newly renovated office and library! 

We’re not totally unpacked yet, but on Tuesday January 8th at 7:30 pm, we will be holding our meeting in our new location on the 3rd floor of Northminster United Church, Oshawa, for the very first time! 

Our topic will be “Busting Down Brick Walls” through the brainstorming and crowd sourcing of our members.

Northminster United Church,
3rd Floor Boardroom,
676 Simcoe St.N.,
Oshawa, ON

Come early at 7 pm and browse the library section. The meeting will be held in the same room, starting at 7:30. Everyone is welcome.

Check our website https://www.durham.ogs.on.ca/ for parking information. Please save the spots in the church parking lot for those who have permits.

Breaking Down Brick Walls - January Meeting

January meeting is tonight, January 2nd, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

Our NEW general meeting location has changed, to the Bobby Orr Room of the Oshawa Civic Centre (99 Thornton Road South). Parking is free.

Overcoming Brick Walls  
We will be exploring strategies and anecdotes for overcoming research dead-ends.
DON'T GIVE UP!! Join us tonight as we brainstorm solutions or at least make suggestions on how to overcome those blocked avenues of research.

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

All are WELCOME! See you there!

Breaking Down Brick Walls

Come and join us at our first meeting of 2016!

On Tuesday, January 5th at the Oshawa Public Library Auditorium, Bagot Street just south of City Hall. Parking is free after 6 pm.

Searching for family history becomes frustrating if you can't locate an essential record, or the records may be from another country (in another language), or a person's maiden name may elude you. Our moderators (and the audience at large) will provide advice, relate personal anecdotes, and point attendees in the right direction to resolve such dilemmas.

This meeting will be streamed on YouTube at 7:30 p.m. (https://youtu.be/TF7fIAZUhWQ) Streaming of last month's meeting was successful, except for retention of the streamed file beyond the 4 hour replay limit. (This time, a back-up recording will be made.)

Durham Region Branch September Meeting - September 8th

NOTE CHANGE OF DATE: 
 Tues., September 8th (2nd Tuesday this month only)

Topic: Solve Genealogical Problems by Creating a Timeline (recorded webinar)
Timelines are very useful ways of visualizing data. Timelines give you an order of and context for events, or to show what kinds of events were happening around your ancestors. Using Excel spreadsheets, this webinar will show how to solve different types of genealogical problems by using timelines.

Beth Foulk

Beth was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, and currently lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. She has been interested in family history since grade school. Her dad, who built a small family tree that Beth found fascinating, is credited with infecting her with the genealogy bug. Without the exposure to his interests and work, she would never have started down the genealogy road. Beth’s ascent into full-blown “junkie-dom” occurred in 1998 when she learned that genealogy software could build a family tree database.

Beth Foulk maintains a website, Genealogy Decoded.

Sample Timeline

Supercharging Your Genealogy with DNA

Tuesday, June 2nd 7:30 p.m. in the Oshawa Public Library Auditorium, 65 Bagot St., Oshawa (just South of City Hall)  Location Map  Everyone is welcome! Parking is free. Plan to arrive after 7 p.m. since there is a parade starting from this location at 6 p.m. on that evening.

This meeting will be live-streamed as well. Join by clicking here at 7:30 p.m.

DNA testing is really easy to do, costs about $125 Canadian dollars, and is helping family history researchers break through Brick Walls that they never thought would come down. The technology behind DNA testing has been given a real boost by the Adoption Community who have developed tools and methodologies to facilitate the use of DNA to reconnect adoptees with their birth families. These same technologies have proven to be of real benefit to ordinary everyday genealogists too. Maurice will explain how DNA testing (and autosomal DNA in particular) can help you connect with genetic cousins and solve your own family mysteries. He will also explain how to focus the attack on your Brick Walls by testing several targeted family members. He will illustrate his talk with real life examples, including an adoption success story from his own family.

Brief Biography 

Dr Maurice Gleeson is a psychiatrist, pharmaceutical physician, some time actor, and genetic genealogy convert. He runs several DNA projects at FamilyTreeDNA, has several blogs, and has a YouTube channel devoted to videos on genetic genealogy with the aim of making the subject understandable and accessible to the widest audience possible. He was born and grew up in Dublin, is based in London (UK), and lectures on genetic genealogy worldwide. 

Dr. Gleeson has just given very successful and popular lectures and workshop at the OGS 2015 Conference in Barrie.

Branch Meeting Tonight - WW1 Nurses

The February meeting of the Durham Region Branch will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Oshawa Public Library (Main Branch) on Bagot Street (just south of the City Hall)

Topic: WW1 Nurses of Durham County and Oshawa  

Presenter: Sher Leetooze

Sher Leetooze names 36 WWI Nursing  Sisters who hailed from Old Durham County. Through her research Sher has discovered fascinating accounts of the difficult working conditions nurses found themselves having to deal with near battlefields, and the resultant hair-raising experiences foisted upon some nurses while performing their duties. Sher will likely bring copies of her book to the meeting. An alternate source is - Global Genealogy

Mini-talk: Brick Wall Follow-Up - The Graham Family

Created by: Stephen Wood & Presented by: Nancy Trimble 

NEW! to our meetings:

TONI Tidbit - showcasing findings in The Ontario Name Index, which now has over 3 million entries!

    &

Brickwall Bomb - a 15-minute brainstorming session on a problem from the audience.