Meetings

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Leeds & Grenville Branch – March 2024 Presentation: Loyal They Remained – With Jean Rae Baxter

Meetings

Join us on Monday, March 4^th at 7:00 pm via Zoom for our presentation entitled Loyal They Remained delivered by author Jean Rae Baxter.

This presentation tells the story of the American War of Independence from a “Canadian” point of view. Covering the period from 1777 to the settlement of the Loyalist refugees in what is now Canada, it will examine the effect of the conflict on those who opposed the Revolution. It wasn’t just white colonists who became Loyalists! The native people, especially Iroquois (Haudenosaunee), and thousands of enslaved black people, earned their freedom through their service to the British military. All these became Loyalists, too. Join us as Jean ties it all together!

Jean Rae Baxter UE holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Toronto and a B.Ed. from Queen’s. Before becoming a fulltime writer, she taught Secondary School English in Lennox & Addington County. Although she was born in Toronto and grew up in Hamilton, “down home” was Essex and Kent Counties, where her ancestors had settled, some as Loyalists in the 1780s following the American Revolution, and some a century earlier, in the days of New France.

To register for this presentation, click here.

Leeds & Grenville Branch – February 2024 – Presentation: History of Slavery along the St. Lawrence River

Meetings

Join us on Monday, February 5^th at 7:00 pm via Zoom for our first presentation of 2024! February is Black History Month, and we have scheduled a timely presentation. Author and speaker Jennifer de Bruin will provide a History of Slavery along the St. Lawrence River.

This presentation explores the connection of this region to the history of slavery in North America. While information on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and a brief history of slavery in Canada and the US will provide an understanding of the magnitude of this tragic institution, it most importantly gives a voice to those who were enslaved. Together we’ll journey through time to discover the harrowing experiences of the thousands of enslaved men, women and children who fought for freedom in the courts, fled from enslavement on the Underground Railroad (routes that crossed through Quebec/Eastern Ontario), and eventually settled in Ontario. An environment of learning and openness, this presentation provides an excellent opportunity to ask questions and get answers or more resources for learning. To register for this presentation, click here or visit our Branch website [email protected] for more details.

Leeds & Grenville Branch – December 2023 – Presentation: Managing Photos

Meetings

Are you dealing with the proverbial shoebox of photos? Would you like to bring some organization to your photo collections? Join us on Monday, December 4^th at 7:00 pm via Zoom when Rob Donald, President of the Lanark County Camera Club, will share his knowledge of scanning and managing photos and importing images into a genealogy program. Rob has found a way to bring his passion for photography to his latest pastime, family history. The presentation will last about 40-45 minutes.

So join us on Monday, December 4^th at 7:00 pm on Zoom and learn some tricks for managing the shoebox! To register for this presentation, click here.

Leeds & Grenville Branch – November 2023 Presentation – Informal Discussion

Meetings

The Leeds & Grenville Branch will host an informal discussion on Monday, November 6^th at 7:00 pm online using Zoom. This is a chance to ask questions about genealogy, to brag about recent family history discoveries or to tell the story of a veteran in your ancestry. If you are new to genealogy, or are interested in getting started, join us to talk about the hobby. If you’re a veteran genealogist, give us some tips on research strategies for success. To register for our discussion, click here or visit our Branch website [email protected] for more details.

Leeds & Grenville Branch – October 2023 Presentation: Brockville Schools

Meetings

Join us on Monday, October 2^nd at 7:00 pm via Zoom when Alice McMurtry, Community Program Coordinator at the Brockville Museum will educate us on Brockville Schools. This presentation will focus on the history of some of Brockville’s schools, the historic and the more recent. These stories are all gathered from the Brockville Museum’s research files and archival collection, providing insight into the educational landscape of historic Brockville. The presentation will last about 35-40 minutes. So join us on Monday, October 2^nd at 7:00 pm on Zoom and learn about some of the schools your ancestors may have attended in Brockville! To register for this presentation, click here.

Leeds & Grenville Branch – September 2023 Presentation: Back to School – For Genealogists!

Meetings

After a summer of research, visiting cemeteries and villages where our ancestors lived, or just relaxing, it’s time to get back to “family history”. Learn how to use Google Maps to track your family as they moved across town or around the world!

Well-known Canadian genealogist Lianne Krüger will take us through finding locations from letters and documents, using addresses and clicking on a map! We’ll explore Google Maps using its many tools to help us navigate latitudes and longitudes, use views from satellites to discover the properties owned by our ancestors, and create our own maps!

So join us on Labour Day (September 4^th) at 7:00 pm on Zoom and kick ‘back to school’ into high gear! To register for this presentation, click here.

Google Maps

Leeds & Grenville Branch – June 2023 Presentation – Cornwall Community Museum with Brent Whitford

Meetings

Join us on Monday, June 5th at 7 PM as we welcome Brent Whitford, Senior Curator from the Cornwall Community Museum. He will give us a presentation about the resources of the Museum, and their recent involvement with the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada in housing the UELAC Archives.

To register for this presentation, click here.

Leeds & Grenville Branch – May 2023 Presentation – Finding Them on the Ground – by Ken McKinlay

Meetings

Join us on Monday, May 1^st at 7:00 PM on Zoom as we host a presentation called Finding Them on the Ground.

Records such as censuses and maps can often give us the lot, concession, and township information for where our rural Ontario kin resided. However, finding those details can sometimes be a challenge. In this presentation, genealogist Ken McKinlay will be diving into those various online resources and showing us how to find those nuggets with the records. With that information we have a much better chance of finding the various Ontario land records related to their property.

Ken McKinlay is a genealogy researcher with over 20 years of trial and error experience in researching his own family’s history in Canada, United States, England, Scotland and Ireland. Ken has a genealogy related blog at Family Tree Knots, where he shares the methodologies that he uses in his own research. To register for this presentation, click here.

Leeds & Grenville Branch – Change of Presentation Date to April 10th 2023 – Getting Ready for the 1931 Census, and Beyond the Online Basics

Meetings

Due to illness Dave Obee was unable to deliver his presentation as planned on April 3rd. We have rescheduled the presentation for Monday, April 10^th at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome but registration is required. Please register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvcu2qrzMuE9MeM0HIIurjGyS_trIBL3zm

After registration you will receive a confirmation with a link to join the presentation. Registrations from April 3^rd DO NOT carry over, so please register with the new link if you wish to attend.

Leeds & Grenville Branch Presentation – April 2023 – Getting Ready for the 1931 Census, and Beyond the Online Basics

Meetings

Join us on Monday, April 3rd at 7:00 pm on Zoom for a special presentation from well-known Canadian genealogist Dave Obee. Dave will give us a two-fer evening – two short presentations on different topics.

The first topic is a timely one – Getting Ready for the 1931 Census! The 1931 national census is due to be released in June, 2023 — and since it will probably not be indexed right away, we need to get ready. Pick your priority people and get to work! This session offers ideas for identifying the census divisions and subdivisions where you will find your relatives. Using digitized census reports and mapping tools, you will be able to narrow your search options.

In the second presentation, Dave will take us Beyond the Online Basics: A Genealogical Guide to Digital Collections. There are billions of scanned pages on the Internet — a collection that few physical libraries could match. The problem is that many pages relevant to your research can be difficult to track down, since they are not on the usual genealogy websites. This session provides ideas on how to find the documents that will help you learn more about your families, or the local histories of the areas where they lived.

To join us for this presentation, visit our website leedsandgrenville.ogs.on.ca for the link to register or click this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvc-2urz4qH9MlJAslt_6cNC2S0wPFfvD6

Everyone is welcome!