|
|
2018 Branch
News
|
|
Quinte Branch November Meeting:
Presentation: Annual General Meeting 2018 (AGM)
& Great Moments in Genealogy
by Quinte Branch
Article by John
Carew, Photos by Georgette Green
|
|
November 17, 2018 was our last meeting
for the calendar year. The November session has become a tradition
of sorts, combining the Branch Council elections part of the Annual
General Meeting (AGM) with an opportunity to explore and share
important research events with each other.
On this occasion, we added something else of significance which also
needs to be shared. Shortly after the 25th Anniversary of Quinte
Branch in 2005, it became obvious that our cohabitation with 7th
Town at the Marilyn Adams Centre in Ameliasburgh needed a fresh
approach for something more practical. For close to 12 years, 1994
until 2006, 7th Town and Quinte Branch shared quarters in the MAGRC,
both organizations growing their membership and libraries, and
attempting to achieve their respective visions for success. To have
effectively juggled collocation, cooperation and competitive spirit
for 12 years together was a masterful achievement in itself, but
that ever challenging scenario was alleviated to everyone�s benefit
in the fall of 2005. Discussions between the Quinte West Public
Library (QWPL) and Quinte Branch were entered into with a view to
Quinte Branch taking up residency in Trenton. Over several months
the move was considered, an arrangement was agreed to, and with the
full support of the QWPL CEO and Chief Librarian Rita Turtle, Quinte
Branch settled into its current accommodations here at 7 Creswell
Drive, in the Quinte Genealogy Centre. Rita was invited to attend
our deliberations on the 17th and we were pleased that she was
available. Earlier this year we learned that Rita was going to
retire at the end of 2018. So, armed with a great deal of respect
and appreciation for Rita�s foresight and willingness to carve out a
spot for Quinte Branch at 7 Creswell, 12 years� worth of pride in
our comfortable accommodations, and a wonderful working relation
with QWPL, our Chairperson, Terry Buttler, acknowledged Rita�s
kindness to Quinte Branch and for her service to our community, and
presented her with a bouquet of flowers and a Certificate of
Appreciation from Quinte Branch OGS.
Following this, the AGM commenced, and the Election of Officers and
the appointment of Committee Members proceeded. Minutes of this
successful meeting have been written and released. The full text and
import of those minutes will be published separately. Most of the
Branch Council cadre remains as published for 2018. Significant
changes for 2019 include: Angela Johnson UE has taken over as Chair
from Vice Chair, Terry Buttler completed his term as Chair, and now
holds the esteemed and highly sought-after title of Past Chair. Of
further note, we had one volunteer step forward to be appointed as
the new Webmaster for Quinte Branch. Wayne Wickson will take over
that role in 2019 from Cheryl Levy. Wayne brings considerable
experience in genealogy, training and IT to our group. A warm
welcome to Wayne from all of us! Cheryl will continue with her
ongoing support in Social Media and with her presentation skills. In
addition, subsequent to the meeting, Heather Semper has volunteered
to take on the Branch Membership responsibilities from Lynn Heale.
Details of this late and very welcome update are being published
separately.
After the AGM, we proceeded to Great Moments. This session of Great
Moments was partly planned and partly spontaneous, and some focused
spontaneity was what we were hoping for. No disappointment there!
Prior to the meeting, in a couple of different discussions, I had
mentioned that I had been helping out with adopted sibling family
history research and was finding the whole process a little more
challenging (perhaps just a little different) than what I was used
to. As expected, I was asked to say a few words on the topic, in
hopes that there might be one or two other members at the meeting
willing to add to this topic. So, we started with my personal input
on the subject. As it turned out, there were three of us at the
meeting who have had some experience dealing with the additional
challenges of tracing birth families of adoptees and ancestors of
those birth families. Collectively, over the course of an hour, we
heard about research on behalf of siblings, direct research
experience by an adoptee, and additional cases of research for
cousins, all for connection to birth families and those relevant
ancestors. The objective at the outset was not to revel in the
emotional issues and associated brick walls. Those realties were,
nonetheless, significant and self-evident in the telling of the
three stories. Rather, it was intended that we explore and
acknowledge the research challenges, where they would be more
difficult to achieve success, and perhaps would be more unique to
the circumstances.
In a brief examination like this, it is impossible to be
academically exact in our findings, given the small sample of
participants involved. However, I think a few anecdotal opinions are
worth noting for future reference. If this was the 1950s, we would
not have benefit of the internet, national and international online
genealogical databases, more open government regulations with which
to facilitate research to find biological parents and extended
family members. At least equally important, and perhaps even most
important, is the achievement and availability of DNA testing for
genealogical purposes. It is not the 1950s, and we do have all these
items in our research toolboxes, and that is a good thing! It makes
productive and accurate research possible, and in a compressed
period of time compared to the 1950s. Despite all these good things,
we are still hampered in our endeavours for all forms of
genealogical research by privacy laws which, in addition to
providing protection in matters of privacy for some, also serve to
delay the finding of significant facts for others. In any event, the
opportunities for success in this type of research are considerably
faster and less cumbersome than in the past. That should be
encouraging to all of us.
Completely unrelated (pun) to genealogical research, the final
contribution to this edition of Great Moments was provided by Alex
McNaught. The local author of A Place Called Walbridge informed us
that he is closing in on a new book, soon to be released. This new
book is predicated on personal letters and notes of a Canadian
soldier from WW1 about his experiences and the trials and
tribulations of �the war to end all wars�. We will likely want to
get Alex back for a book release presentation when the opportunity
strikes!
Merry Christmas to All and best wishes for 2019!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quinte Branch October Meeting:
Presentation: Postponed
Venue unavailable
due to Municipal Elections
|
|
|
|
Quinte Branch September Meeting:
Presentation: All About OGS
(The Ontario Genealogical Society)
by Steve Fulton
UE, OGS President
Article by John
Carew, Photos by Georgette Green
|
|
At mid-day, our Branch Chairperson and
others had to break-off from the Doors Open festivities (see summary
below) to set up for our afternoon meeting and host our guest
speaker, Steve Fulton UE, the OGS President.
By 1 pm, the meeting commenced
with a variety of announcements about upcoming events and items of
genealogical interest, followed by introduction of the speaker.
Steve Fulton is a member in good standing of OGS, has recently been
elected as President of OGS, remains the Chairperson of Niagara
Branch, and is also serving as the IT Coordinator for OGS. Steve
offered earlier this summer to come to Trenton to speak with our
members about OGS in general, and to expound on his vision of OGS
going forward. We were pleased that Steve agreed to make this
September the timing for his visit, so as to be able to speak to and
pass along his views as our new President to the benefit of Quinte
Branch members, visitors and Doors Open guests alike.
|
|
Quinte Branch OGS September
Meeting
|
Steve Fulton UE, OGS
President
|
|
The tone and subject matter of Steve�s
address to our gathering was representative of the major points
brought forward in the President�s official and publicly available
words of
welcome on the OGS website. For that reason and for economy of
effort on my part, I have repeated his website welcome remarks
below. In addition to these themes of organizational purpose, vision
and mission objectives, resources and fellowship as family
historians, I should add the following supplementary remarks. As
long as I have known Steve, it has been clear that he was far more
interested in developing the Society for future effectiveness in its
roles supporting family history research, rather than simply
fine-tuning the status quo. Further, his perspective on the Board of
Directors for OGS primary role being that of supporting and serving
the needs of the Branches and SIGs, is not only right-headed, but is
the most effective way ahead and confidence builder for �the boots
on the ground�. Thanks Steve!
|
|
Steve Fulton UE, OGS
President
at Quinte Branch
|
Terry Buttler, Chair, and
Steve Fulton UE, OGS President
|
|
The Ontario
Genealogical Society:
A Half-Century of Service
to the
Genealogical Community |
Steve Fulton UE, OGS President
|
|
As President of Canada�s largest
genealogical society, I want to welcome you to drop in on our
genealogy family through our website. The
Ontario Genealogical Society is a
vibrant, active community of family historians, operating at both
the provincial level and at the grass roots local level through our
34 Branches and Special Interest Groups.
What do we do? We educate � through presentations,
webinars, technical support, creation of publications and teaching
materials, delivery of workshops and conferences; we advocate
� through discussions with governing bodies at all levels of
government, speaking out when cemeteries or heritage buildings are
threatened, advising lawmakers about the importance of protecting
our shared heritage; we preserve � by collecting the
stories of Ontario families, by protecting fragile materials from
harm, by digitizing documents to make them available to current and
future researchers.
But mostly, we offer an opportunity for people pursuing the
genealogy hobby to meet their peers, talk about their successes and
challenges, learn from each other�s mistakes, and build on the
successes of past generations of family historians to make the hobby
easier and more rewarding for future generations. We get together in
small groups in locations around the province; we get together once
a year in a larger forum called �Conference�
where the noise level in the hallways is equal to the enthusiasm of
eager genealogists, and we get together using the internet � on
Facebook groups,
delivering webinars and presentations, and talking to our peers
about our discoveries.
Our hundreds of volunteers devote tens of thousands of hours to
projects such as The
Ontario Name Index (�TONI�), cemetery recording and
registration, writing articles for countless newsletters, speaking
to organizations about how to begin recording their family history,
teaching classes and groups about the finer points of genealogical
research and Standards of Evidence, and in many, many more ways!
So, I invite you to drop in to our OGS
website and discover the fascinating story behind your family,
and how The Ontario Genealogical Society can help you discover
yourself. If along the way you want to get in touch with someone,
and you can�t find the right link on the website or have a simple
question, please feel free to drop me a line at
[email protected]. I love
hearing from people who are excited by uncovering their roots.
Steve Fulton, UE, President
The Ontario Genealogical Society
|
|
|
|
Quinte Branch September:
Doors Open Quinte West 2018 Open House
Article by John
Carew, Photos by Cheryl Levy PLCGS
|
|
The annual Doors Open event in Quinte
West is designed to showcase for residents and visitors a taste of
what the Quinte area business, cultural and heritage community has
to offer. As in past years, Quinte Branch welcomed guests to our
Quinte Research Library throughout the day until QWPL closing at 4
pm. We focused our efforts on what our visitors came for:
information about what our library has to offer to support family
history research, advice on how to conduct research, and how to take
full advantage of our resources to trace, document and learn about
our ancestors. In a handful of cases during the day, some of our
visitors who are active family historians were able to discover
ancestors who had escaped their attention for several years. Others
expressed interest in finally starting their research and perhaps
even membership with Quinte Branch. It was a good day all round!
But wait. There�s more! The day also featured our September
presentation in the afternoon. (See summary above)
|
|
Quinte West Public Library
|
Doors Open Quinte West 2018
|
|
Quinte Branch OGS
|
Angela Johnson UE, Vice-Chair; Lynn
Heale, Membership; Lois Duggan, Social Hostess; guest
|
|
Quinte Genealogical Research
Library
|
Using Research Resources on
Computers
|
|
|
|
Quinte Branch June Meeting:
Genealogy Workshop: Getting Ready for
Summer
by Quinte Branch
Article by John
Carew, Photos by Georgette Green
Slides by Cheryl Levy, PLCGS
|
|
For our final meeting before summer
break, we decided on an Open Forum for our June meeting to provide
opportunities to ask questions and share basic tips to sharpen our
research skills. With summer just around the corner, we chose to
examine a research trip to explore what could be involved in
planning for such an event.
Cheryl Levy and Terry
Buttler led the discussion, and just about
everyone present participated with questions, suggestions or both.
First, we confirmed the benefits of planning for any research
activity so as to maximize the value of your time spent and the
overall success of the undertaking. In particular, if the event
requires significant travel time and cost, getting the best value
for your time and money is paramount. As to the research activities,
we discussed the three most common research events: a family visit,
cemetery visits, and a visit to a repository of various types.
Recognizing credit where credit is due, Cheryl prepared a set of
slides and research items to represent the main issues to consider,
in order to cover as much ground as possible in the time available.
The slides were invaluable in generating ideas, dialogue and a very
active learning session. Thanks Cheryl!
You can review the slides below, and apply the topics to any and all
of your future research trips.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Genealogy Workshop lead by Terry
Buttler, Chair and Cheryl Levy, Social Media Coordinator
|
|
|
|
Quinte Branch May Meeting:
Digital Presentation: Introduction to
GEDmatch Workshop
Presented by:
Blaine Bettinger
Article by John
Carew, Photos by Georgette Green
|
|
Beginning around the mid-1990s, online
genealogical research and genealogical DNA testing entered the realm
of family history research. They were not intended to outright
replace existing tools and methodologies. There was however, a high
level of expectation of early adoption of these new realities which
would be a boost to the family history phenomenon. Call that a good
guess! As the opportunity to get DNA testing accomplished became a
reality, the initial assault and effort was on testing, by several
different companies, with limited concern or thought for cross
platform analysis for the different customer cadres. Eventually,
steps have been taken to address this shortcoming, and regardless of
platform all autosomal test results can be analyzed in one location
regardless of test company: Ancestry, 23 and Me, (Family tree DNA,
etc.). A big step forward! In the current term, the DNA website
GEDmatch is a go-to sight, in order to compare your Raw DNA data for
matches determined at most if not all test sites.
The GEDMatch website can be intimidating, so this lecture was
designed as a primer, with a look at some of its basic but very
important tools that genealogists can utilize in their research. The
presenter provided a look at the ethnicity tools, the One-to-Many
tool, the One-to-One tool, and the X One-to-One tool, basically to
equate what researchers would expect to see on their test results,
repeated in the larger integrated database on GEDMatch.
Blaine stepped us through the above tools, with results variably
equating to the test results offered in your DNA test scenario, but
with the added value of the cross platform database (a bigger cousin
pool). At the moment, I am enjoying a slower learning curve, still
working with the tried and true research methods plus the insights
to be gleaned from DNA test results, ethnicity reporting and DNA
matching. I�ll likely venture into GEDMatch opportunities at some
point when the need arrises, but for now, I have enough on my plate
to keep me busy. See you in the big database eventually!
|
|
DNA Questions following the
presentation were answered by:
Terry Buttler, Chair and Bob Dawes, IT & Databases
|
|
|
|
Quinte Branch April 21 Meeting:
UEL Workshop: The Loyalists:
Recent Application Changes and Looking Beyond the Loyalist Ancestor
Presented by:
Peter Johnson UE & Angela Johnson UE
Article by John
Carew, Photos by Georgette Green
|
|
On Saturday, April 21, 2018, Peter
Johnson UE and Angela Johnson UE led a workshop on the general
subject of United Empire Loyalists. If one had been considering
applying for UEL standing and wanted to hear about, and learn more
about, the research universe and collegial enterprise that Loyalists
reside in, you would have wanted to be present as part of this group
of Loyalist enthusiasts for the afternoon with Peter and Angela
Johnson.
Peter and Angela are both long service members of the United Empire
Loyalists� Association of Canada (UELAC), and the Q&A provided lots
of opportunity for questions about the presentation and more general
issues in the UEL realm.
|
|
2018 Ontario Service Awards: John
Carew (Past-Chair) - 5 year pin; Lynn Heale (Membership) - 15 year
pin; and Debb Walker (Publicity) - 5 year pin. Missing from photo:
Debbie McDonald (Secretary) - 5 year pin; Richard Hughes (Research)
- 10 year pin; and Carole Foshay - 10 year pin.
|
|
Prior to the presentation, Angela took
the opportunity as Vice Chair to congratulate members of Quinte
Branch Council on their recent Ontario Volunteer Service Awards. The
recipients were Richard Hughes, Lynn Heale, Carole Foshay, Debb
Walker, Debbie McDonald and John Carew.
|
|
Peter Johnson UE in New Jersey
Volunteers uniform
|
|
It was made clear during the
presentation that the application process was not a simple
fill-in-the-form exercise, then wait for your UE Certificate to
arrive in the mail. No, this process is intended to be exacting in
the matter of genealogical proof for each generation, requiring a
primary record of birth, marriage or death for each person/ancestor
involved in the proof requirement. Where primary records might be
lacking, several other types of documents could be invoked in
support of the genealogical proof requirement and be
presented for consideration. Such
documents as Wills, church records of birth, marriage or
burial/death, military records, and others could be considered. It
is equally important to know that this road to UE recognition, as
tedious and challenging as it might seem, is not intended to be
travelled alone. In addition to the application, there is also the
matter of joining a branch of the UELAC at the outset of your
journey either near your place of residence or that of the ancestor
whose Loyalist status you intend to claim. This accomplishes two
things: a valuable measure of assistance in achieving a successful
outcome, and in establishing a bond with the members of your branch
and the UELAC itself. All of the genealogical nitty-gritty will seem
so much less challenging as a result of embracing the help and
guidance that is willingly available.
Besides being careful to establish the thorough but friendly and
helpful nature of the UE application, Peter and Angela spent a
considerable amount of time, showing several of the
period military unit uniforms from the
Revolutionary War and afterwards, including the New Jersey
Volunteers which Peter wore for the occasion.
|
|
Old Hay Bay Church
|
|
They also included a striking
photograph of the Old Hay Bay Church, 1792. The mere thought of a
building still standing, and so closely connected to the Loyalist
migration to Canada prior to 1800 is inspiring, whether you have UEL
connections or not.
|
|
Our Loyalist Workshop presenters:
Peter Johnson UE (Cemeteries) and Angela Johnson UE (Vice-Chair).
Thank you by Patrick Goodmurphy (Treasurer).
|
|
Peter and Angela, thanks for the
historical and genealogical tour of the UE application process, and
the very visible and sincere encouragement to those eligible to join
who needed a little nudge.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quinte Branch March 17 Meeting:
Presentation Topic:
Using Census Clues to Build a
Blended Family
by Cheryl Levy, PLCGS
Article by John Carew, Photos by Lynn Heale
|
Census records provide
many clues to further our research. Each column in each
Census return contains valuable and specific
information. This is especially important to remember
when endeavoring to identify all the members listed in a
specific household on census night. However, it is worth
asking the question, �do all the members actually belong
to the same family?� �Are the recorded relationships
accurate?� �Can we trust the surnames given for each
person?� �Who are the additional people listed?� These
are some of the reality checks necessary to investigate
if we really want to conclude our research with
reasonably factual information to record in our family
trees. The fact is, even with the best of intentions in
completing census returns, like many other forms of
research records, there are mistakes in spelling and
numerical representation, incomplete facts, false
information which spawns false assumptions, and poor
handwriting by the enumerator and frequently, shoddy
recollections by the inhabitants of each domicile.
To demonstrate, Cheryl employed an interesting blended
family case study through the period 1861 to 1911 to
help us learn how to uncover the details needed to
explore additional documents to confirm accurate
identities and related facts. The process, as usual,
started out by examining census records, questioning
returns that appeared to be �doubtful� or in conflict
with known facts. Then use of alternative methods and
clues to interrogate census databases was employed to
unearth more useful and supportable information from
other record sets to complete each problem area. After a
series of efforts aimed at solving each mystery one at a
time, Cheryl completed the steps that were required to
build this blended family, successfully placing the many
household members in the �shown to be correct� family
groups. By gleaning census clues, following leads in
various databases, and remaining focused on the
objective, we were soon able to understand the family
history stories behind how and why certain family
members came to be in particular households together on
various census nights, but were in fact, as individuals,
members of different family groups in the larger blended
family.
For the novice researcher, this was a very valuable
learning experience which will save lots of anguish and
unforeseen errors. For the experienced researcher,
Cheryl�s talk was welcome confirmation that the lessons
learned over the years were right and game savers.
Cheryl is a graduate of the National Institute for
Genealogical Studies, with a focus on genealogical
research and education. She is a member of Quinte
Branch, OGS, where she holds the executive position of
Social Media Coordinator.
|
Cheryl Levy, PLCGS and
Terry Buttler, Quinte Branch Chair
|
|
|
Quinte Branch February 17 Meeting:
Presentation Topic:
All About Quinte Branch
by Quinte Branch
Council Members
Article by John Carew, Photos by Georgette Green
|
Prior to the presentation,
the Chair made some administrative announcements
including a reminder of the early bird registration
deadline of February 28 for
OGS
Conference 2018 at Guelph, and the treasurer
introduced and explained the budget for 2018 and
successfully sought budget approval from the members
present. The
membership coordinator advised the assembly that the
membership thus far for 2018 was 231 including family
members. Our OGS
President,
Patti Mordasewicz, arrived just in time for the
presentation, a visit to Quinte Branch that she had been
looking forward to for some time. In a thank you email
to our Chair, Patti said she appreciated the warm
welcome and the opportunity to share ideas and the
afternoon with us.
|
OGS President, Patti
Mordasewicz and Terry Buttler, Quinte Branch Chair
|
The presentation was
emceed by Terry Buttler, and the speakers were Cheryl
Levy, Bob Dawes, Lynn Heale and John Carew. Having got
our Quinte Branch
website back up and running after almost 2 months of
downtime, we decided to focus our attention on the
website menu and its myriad parts as a useful refresher.
That turned out to be a good decision and many thanks to
Steve Fulton for standing up the website on the OGS
server. Our new URL is:
https://quinte.ogs.on.ca.
Cheryl provided an excellent overview of the Branch
Information,
Library
and
Research, Publications, and
Genealogy 101 subsections. She also covered the
Branch�s very successful
Facebook page and the benefits of
Pinterest and how it can be used in genealogy
research to keep track of websites for future use. Bob
provided a practical live demonstration of the
Names Index
Database, both the online version and the
computer-based version in the library. He also
demonstrated the new
OGS membership
signup system for
joining and renewing membership. Lynn explained the
purpose of the online
Surname Interest List service, how to make a
request, and how to determine who to contact, using the
Provider and Surname PDF files. John reviewed the
Library Catalogue and discussed its use as both a
library management document and a research tool.
The website menu on the
homepage is
available always, and it is recommended to all to scroll
through the menu occasionally to check for new services
and features, and to remind ourselves of the wealth of
information available behind the Quinte Branch OGS
website.
|
Cheryl Levy, Webmaster
& Social Media Coordinator; Terry Buttler, Chair; Lynn
Heale, Membership Coordinator; Bob Dawes, IT &
Databases; and John Carew, Past Chair
|
|
|
Quinte Branch January 20 Meeting:
Crouse-Wanamaker
Lecture:
Presentation Topic: Making English Connections
by Bob Dawes, Quinte Branch
Article by John Carew, Photos by Georgette Green
|
For several years now, Quinte
Branch has taken the opportunity to pay homage to the 1980 Charter
members of the Branch and, in particular, the early leadership and
mentoring of the Branch by Gordon Crouse, and Laurel and Mildred
Wanamaker. This year was no exception, and the chosen Crouse
Wanamaker lecturer was Bob Dawes. Bob is our Database and IT
coordinator, an integral member of the Quinte Branch Library
Committee, an accomplished researcher and a well-recognized and
appreciated speaker on the genealogy circuit.
Making English Connections is the second such lecture on this theme,
following a previous and similar undertaking by Bob on the topic of
researching Scottish Ancestors. The presentation was comprised of
five elements including: English County and Parish structure,
Parish, Civil, Census and other pertinent records, Societies and the
many ways that they can help with research objectives, a review of
close to 20 different paid and free websites which be used to
conduct research into these various records and a case study to
demonstrate methodology and results.
It was evident that there were many choices of websites available to
accomplish the task of fleshing out one woman born in 1905 in
Doncaster, Yorkshire, England and findings vital records for her,
her husband, their son and his wife. However, Bob was successful in
stepping us through this process, using only free websites with very
good results.
As a much-appreciated bonus for those of us who attended the
lecture, Bob provided a copy of his website list complete with a
summary of the record types which could be discovered. It will be
put to good use.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quinte Branch
Council 2018 News:
Welcome New Treasurer: Patrick
Goodmurphy
Photo by Georgette Green
|
January Presenter: Bob Dawes, IT & Databases;
Welcome to Patrick Goodmurphy, Treasurer;
and Terry Buttler, Chair
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contact
Us
Copyright � 2006-2018, Quinte Branch,
Ontario Genealogical Society
Page updated .
Privacy Notice
|