Ottawa Branch OGS January Meetings

There's a distinctly Scottish theme to meetings at the City Archives, 100 Talwood Drive, on Saturday 25 January.

At 9:30 AM the Scottish Genealogy Group will meet. It will morph into the regular Ottawa Branch 11:30am lunch bunch presentation and discussion when Ken McKinlay will talk about using Family Search, Ancestry and Findmypast in conjunction with Scotland’s People to reduce the costs of researching your Scottish ancestors. 

At 1 PM the social period will be followed by a presentation McNab: Conflict and Settlement in the British Colony of Upper Canada by David Mulholland.

McNab, a novel of dramatized history, portrays the lives of 19th-century immigrants struggling with personal, political and social challenges in their new home. Entrusted with the settlement of a township in 1825, Chief ArchibaldMcNab brings crofters (farmers) over from the Highlands. He tells them he owns the land, and tries to impose the Scottish feudal system. Led by Donald Cameron, the story depicts the settlers’ sixteen-year fight against the tyranny of their Chief.

David Mulholland began his writing career as an advertising copywriter in private radio. He went on to work as a researcher, story editor and interviewer for CBC Public Affairs television, a general-assignment reporter and music reviewer for the Ottawa Citizen, a syndicated country-music columnist, a part-time stand-up comic with Yuk Yuk’s, and a speechwriter for a number of departments in the federal government.

At 3 PM Jason Porteous will hold the first of a regular DNA Tools workshop in this timeslot. Genome Mate Pro is a key tool for DNA research but he will also share how to do both visual phasing (chromosome mapping) as well as actual phasing of your raw DNA files into maternal/paternal kits etc. to use in reconstructing common ancestors etc. Bring your laptop.