Presentations at BCGS on September 18

Plans are now set for my September visit to British Columbia. It's years since I've been to BC, and even longer since I lectured there in life before family history. My first stop is to give three presentations to a BC Genealogical Society all day seminar in Burnaby on Saturday, September 18, 2010. They're all talks I've given before, and with special BC content.

"Researching Early 20th Century British Immigrants to Canada" The talk is motivated by the huge immigration to Canada from the UK, and elsewhere, that peaked in 1912. The talk, suitable for all levels, shows how to use Canadian and British records together to track down that elusive ancestral family. One of the case studies is of a BC woman celebrity of days gone by. Can you guess who? If so please don't tell.

"Find Your Family History in Newspapers Online" Chances are there's information about your family history recorded in a newspaper that, when discovered, will be news to even the most diligent researcher. Digital and optical character recognition technology, still imperfect, is now making millions of frames of newspaper microfilm searchable online. Learn how digitized newspapers can help your family history search.

"DNA Testing for Genealogy: NOT Just for Men" For most of the ten years that commercial services for genetic genealogy have been available the major successes have been achieved using the male Y-chromosome passed from father to son. Tests with mitrochrondrial DNA, passed from mother to child, have proven less interesting. Now a new generation of tests of autosomal DNA is providing equal opportunity for women and men. Learn how they are being used for confirming or disproving close family relationships and, sometimes, finding more distant cousins.

The meeting is being held at the Scandinavian Community Centre, 6540 Thomas St. in Burnaby. Take the Kensington Ave exit off the Trans-Canada Highway. The event starts at 9am with on site registration at 8:30am.

You can save $10 by registering before Sept 8th.

According to the information at the BCGS website "To register, please contact Susan Snalam at 604-273-8209, email domers4@shaw.ca OR Eunice Robinson at 604-596-2811, email eunice@dccnet.com, and then send your cheque, made out to the BCGS, at PO Box 88054, Lansdowne Mall, Richmond, BC V6X 3T6 or pay at BCGS meetings. We will also accept payment by Visa."