This Saturday: rare back-to-back BIFHSGO and OGS Ottawa monthly meetings

It's time to reconnect with friends, and learn about building out your family tree, as both major Ottawa societies hold their first monthly meeting of the new genealogical year.

The BIFHSGO meetings start on Saturday, 14 September at 9:00 am at Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, Ontario

Early Immigrants, Co-Lab and Collection Search: New and Updated Tools at Library and Archives Canada 

Emily Potter, a Genealogy Consultant at Library and Archives Canada (LAC), will discuss recent improvements to the help page of the Immigrants Before 1865 database, and discuss other upcoming changes to the immigration section of LAC’s website. As well, she will offer a brief introduction to the new Collections Search and Co-Lab tools.

Emily Potter has been a Genealogy Consultant at Library and Archives Canada for over four years and enjoys helping clients uncover family mysteries. Emily’s genealogy includes Scottish, Romanian, Acadian and Indigenous ancestry. She holds a bachelor of arts in Art history and History from Mount Allison University, as well as an Advanced Diploma in Museum Studies from Algonquin College.

At 9:30 am - BREAK - reconnect.

At 10:00 am
25 Years of Storytelling 

When Wayne Walker hit a brick wall, it was a voice in his head that led him to a special find. “Go see Uncle Ted,” said the voice. He listened and flew to Halifax. From there, he and his father drove three hours to the old family home to see Uncle Ted. “Go look in the writing desk,” said the voice. Uncle Ted had cleaned it out. “Look in the box,” said the voice. Wayne found the box, but it was empty. “Lift the tray,” said the voice. There he found a piece of paper that had been tucked away since 1884.

During her talk, Susan Davis will reveal what Wayne found written on the paper. She will also share some other memorable stories written by our members over the past 25 years; stories that can be found in our the Anglo-Celtic Roots (ACR) archive.

Susan Davis is BIFHSO’s communications director, when she is not digging through the ACR archives. Her day job is leading a team of web and social media advisors for Environment and Climate Change Canada. Some day she might even get around to submitting stories to the ACR about her Irish, Scottish and British ancestors.

At 11:30 am
End of BIFHSGO meeting. Make way toward the Ottawa City Archives building at 100 Tallwood for Ottawa Branch OGS events.

Genealogy Lunch Bunch
Heather Oakley will talk about some of the FREE ways to upgrade your knowledge about genealogy and the various aspects of research. If you are new to family history research or need a refresher, come out and join us! Sessions are free and open to all.
You are invited to bring a “brown bag” lunch to eat while we hold a presentation or a Research Workshop. Coffee and tea will be available throughout the sessions.

At 1:00 pm
Normal monthly presentation social time, with cookies.

At 1:30 pm
Quebec Notarial Records-An Underused Resource
Gloria Tubman & Brian Glenn will discuss what the notarial records are, some examples of different records one can find - land sales, will, inventories (estate), donations, bankruptcy; how one can use these records in genealogical and family history research & how to access these records using BANQ.
All Ottawa Branch monthly presentations are open to the public at no charge. Regrettably, due to ongoing technical difficulties broadcasting the Ottawa Branch presentations, webcasting has been discontinued.

At 3:00 pm
Computer Special Interest Group