BIFHSGO March Monthly Meeting

MEETING CANCELLED

This Saturday, 14 March at The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

SHOULD I ATTEND?
"At this time, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has assessed the public health risk associated with COVID-19 as low for the general population in Canada but this could change rapidly. There is an increased risk of more severe outcomes for Canadians:
- aged 65 and over
- with compromised immune systems
- with underlying medical conditions.

As regards meetings, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) advises there is an increased risk associated with COVID-19 at international conferences and other large gatherings in enclosed spaces. Otherwise "the public health risk associated with COVID-19 is low for the general population in Canada but this could change rapidly. There is an increased risk of more severe outcomes for Canadians:

- aged 65 and over
- with compromised immune systems
- with underlying medical conditions

The source of that information is www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/prevention-risks.html#p as of 10:15 pm on Wednesday 11 March.

Advice from Ottawa Public Health as of 11 March makes no mention of meetings.

If in doubt err on the side of caution.

Here's Saturday's BIFHSGO program.

9:00 am to 9:30 am
Resources for Family History Research in Wales

Pre-Internet it was essential to travel to Wales, which David Jeanes did many times visiting record offices, libraries, churches and cemeteries throughout South Wales as well as the National Library at Aberystwyth. Welsh birth, marriage and death records were included with the English records in London. Welsh genealogy research has become much easier with so much online information, including a huge searchable collection of Welsh newspapers. Many useful "how to" genealogy books are now available. However, the biggest challenge is still the prevalence of very common first and last names, particularly derived from the patronymic system.

About the speaker

David Jeanes, whose father was born in Wales, became interested in genealogy through his grandmother's writings and pictures about her early life (downstairs) at a mansion near Cardiff. David has been a member of BIFHSGO since its inception and has spoken at meetings, Great Moments, and the conferences. He is a retired telecommunications engineer with long-standing interests in historic architecture and railway history, as well as genealogy. He is a member of the executive of the Ottawa Welsh Society, was president of Heritage Ottawa for four years, and before that was president of Transport Action Canada for twelve years.

10:00 am to 11:30 am
Maud Lampman: First Woman to Work on Parliament Hill  

As a descendant of one of Toronto’s earliest settlers, Emma Maud (Playter) Lampman came from a privileged background, and she married young.  By the age of 32 she had suffered the loss of a baby and her husband, and she was forced to find employment to support her remaining two children.  The daughter of a prominent doctor, and the widow of a “Confederation Poet”, her story is a textbook example of an educated, genteel woman who entered the Canadian Civil Service around the turn of the 20th century, mirroring the experience of women in Britain and the US.

About the speaker

Maud Lampman was one of the faceless women captured in Dianne Brydon’s M.A. Thesis “Claiming the Rights of Men and the Privileges of Their Sex as Well”: Women in the Canadian Civil Service 1895-1907.  Little did Dianne know that she, herself, would one day work for the Library of Parliament, nor that she would be asked to tell Maud’s story 110 years after her historic appointment.  Dianne’s talk will highlight the rich information that can be found in the Civil Service List, which annually published personal information about Canadian civil servants from 1872 to 1918.

If you are not able to attend the meeting in person the BIFHSGO members-only area will add the meeting videos and any handouts pages.