My presentations portfolio

Are you looking for a speaker for a genealogy event? Perhaps one or more of the presentations in my portfolio will be of interest. For further information contact me at: john dot d dot reid at gmail dot com.

Researching Early 20th Century British Immigrants to Canada

Many Canadians have only a vague idea of where their ancestors came from, perhaps just "they were English." Now easily accessible records are often sufficient to allow us to trace our origins back to an ancestral village. Using case studies, and focusing on 20th century immigrants, pre-WW1, the period of greatest English emigration, this presentation shows how to use Canadian and British records together to track down your ancestral families and discover long-forgotten aspects of their lives.

Finding London Burials

Nearly one in five of the population of England and Wales live in London. A much larger fraction of people with British origin have ancestors who at some time lived, and perhaps died, in London. Finding a burial record for Londoners is a challenge, one that is gradually becoming easier as more records become digitized and indexed. Find out how.

Researching Second World War British Child Evacuees to Canada

With bombing of British cities a long anticipated threat, and later reality, 1,532 children were evacuated to Canada in 1940 under a program operated by the government Children's Overseas Reception Board. At least twice as many were evacuated under private schemes. They found temporary homes across Canada. Learn about there experiences, and the records available to research them and those who hosted them.

Family Secrets Revealed by DNA Analysis

How can genetic information help the genealogist? Our DNA is a natural family history record. Encoded in the chromosomes we all carry, and which we inherit from our parents, is genetic information which provides insight into our origins well before written records, and that may help resolve uncertainties in our recorded history.

DNA Testing for Genealogy: not Just for Men 
In ten years since commercial DNA testing for genealogy became available it got the reputation of being just for men. The bulk of tests performed were on the Y-chromosome which is only carried by men. A new generation of tests using the autosomal DNA is now established with the promise of identifying cousins from all branches of you family tree. The presentation explains how the tests offered by 23andMe and Family Tree DNA can assist your genealogical research.

Find Your British Family History in Newspapers
Chances are there is information about your family history recorded in a newspaper that, when discovered, will be news to even the most diligent researcher. That information is usually carefully preserved on microfilm and difficult to access. It may be necessary to visit a British library in person, which can itself be an adventure, or seek assistance from someone local. We explore sources to determine what’s available, and where to find it. However, digital and optical character recognition technology, still imperfect, are now making millions of frames of newspaper microfilm searchable online. Learn how to make best use of digitized newspapers to help your family history search.

The above talk is also available with a Canada-focus

Some Lesser-known Websites for British family history

In five years of writing my blog, Anglo-Celtic Connections, and even longer working on my British family history, I’ve seen an explosion of British family history websites. While many are commercial, accessed by subscription or pay per view, with relatively familiar offerings from the census and civil registration indexes, others are hidden gems. Are you missing out?