OGS Approve Fee Increase

At Saturday morning's Ontario Genealogical Society AGM the membership present voted in favour of the OGS Council motion to increase the annual fee from $45 to $60 in 2010. An amendment to stage the increase over five years failed. My amendment to institute a rebate for members who opted to receive regular publications electronically was ruled out of order.

Most speakers from the floor who addressed the motion supported the the increase, although some expressed a concern that the increase would result in fewer branch memberships.

At 11:15am I attended a presentation "Tracing Your Foremothers" by Shirley Gage Hodges, president of the Genealogical Speakers Guild. She suggested you look at what roles your ancestors have filled, friend, employee, church member, teacher, student, neighbour, and the type of records that might be available.

The presentation was well done, even though much of it was presented from a text.

The talk was interspersed with humour, such as this quote "It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have time" by Tallulah Bankhead 1903-1968.

She ended by expressing the opinion that the most important mistake we make is spending more time in tracing back our families rather than recording our own biography.

The talk was illustrated by clear colourful slides fully legible from the back row where I was sitting.