BIFHSGO June Meeting and AGM

Saturday sees the Annual General Meeting of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa and another helping of Great Moments in Genealogy.

The AGM features election of new directors. This year two long time directors, Brian Glenn and Lesley Anderson are not running. They leave a big hole, one position of which I expect to be filled immediately. Other directors with terms expiring are expected to offer to continue.

There is also presentation of awards and certificates of recognition. Sorry, no advance information on who they will be, we`ll have to wait to find out.

Presentations in the Great Moments in Genealogy session are:

Boom and Bust in Saskatoon
by Andrew Frowd
Andrew Frowd's English grandparents tied the nuptial knot in Montreal in 1912 and embarked on a whirlwind voyage to settle in booming Saskatoon. After starting a family, their fortunes were reversed in the Saskatoon "bust" of 1913 and they returned to the U.K. only a month before the outbreak of World War I. The why-and-wherefore of their reappearance in a small town in the English county of Suffolk provides ongoing fascination.

Trailed Rich Man to Italy
by Susan Davis
When Waymer S. Laberee recorded facts about his uncle Oscar in the Laberee Family History, he quoted from an article in The New York Tribune which highlighted Oscar’s successful business career as a capitalist and railroad president. What he didn’t record was the fact that his uncle had married twice and a Los Angeles Times article published in 1920 probably explains why.

The Henderson Boys: They all Died at Sea
By Duncan Monkhouse
John Henderson Junior (1840-1906) had a family of 8 children. Each one represented a set of challenges to determine the lives that they lived. There were six boys and two girls in this Henderson Family. A granddaughter of one of the girls was told by her grandmother that “All her brothers had died at sea”. Not so, as I am descended from one of those brothers. By looking at the stories of the Henderson family children, Duncan will highlight the brickwalls that he encountered and the great moments that cracked them.

They Weren’t All Heroes
By Myra Conway
While researching her cousin’s family, Myra Conway came across unusually complete documentation in the Burnt Records of WW1 British servicemen. Two brothers joined up to serve their country but then their paths took very different routes. One died in the trenches of Flanders and the other never left the British shores. One is memorialized and the other was found in dereliction of duty. Rabbits, bastard children and farmers all form part of this story of two brothers.

Events get underway at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa at 9am.