Author Archives: Charles Godwin

September 2017 Meeting

Date: September 11, 2017
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Brockville Museum

George Neville will be speaking on Monday, September 11th about Joseph Jessup, his land and Mill sites at Lyn Falls off the Lyn-Yonge Mills Road.  George’s talk will be introduced through an early map (1810) of the St. Lawrence Front Royal townships extending from Edwardsburg Twp. in the east to Leeds Twp. in the west, wherein Jessup’s Mill sites are indicated in Lots 24-26 and E.½ Lot 27 of Elizabeth Town Twp., a location better known now as ‘Lyn Falls’.  This map depicts the early route of the King’s Highway, pathways, creeks and waterways and emerging settlement communities.

Little personal information is known of Capt. Joseph Jessup, but insight will be shared from obscure documents of Jessup’s dilemma in later sale of parcels of his holdings to different purchasers only to learn before ‘the ink was dry’ that he was committed to greater total acreage than to which he held title by Crown Deed, and the efforts he invoked with the Survey General’s Department in York for favourable resolution.

Brockville Museum and Branch Archives Closed Sundays

Archives

Our host facility, the Brockville Museum, will no longer be open on Sundays, and so we must reduce our schedule of access to the Branch Archives.  We will be open Monday – Saturday from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm from Victoria Day until Labour Day.  After Labour Day we will be open Monday – Friday 1:00 to 4:00 pm.  We may be able to make arrangements for visits outside those hours, as long as the Museum is open and we have a volunteer available.

May 2017 Meeting

Date: May 8, 2017
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Brockville Museum

On May 8th Brent Collett, local land surveyor and mapper, will give a presentation about Willis Chipman, an early surveyor of Leeds & Grenville counties and the founder in 1881 of the company that Brent runs today.  Brent has a library of old records from several Ontario land surveyors as well as surveying tools and documents over 150 years old.

April 2017 Meeting

Joyce Fingland

Joyce Fingland

Date: April 10, 2017
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Brockville Museum

Our April 10th meeting will feature Kingston’s Joyce Fingland, with a presentation entitled “DNA: Which Test and Why“.

Joyce will explain the differences between the types of tests and the different testing companies, and why you might want to choose one over another. She has lots of examples about the kind of information you get from Ancestry and from Family Tree DNA and will use those to illustrate the differences. She will also attempt to explain how matches decrease as relationships become more distant.

March 2017 Meeting

Credit: LAC R112 2008-0377 box 265 PL-39933

Date: March 13, 2017
Time: 7:30 pm
Place: Brockville Museum
Speaker: Pascale Guindon

On March 13th, Pascale Guindon, a Parks Canada historian, will tell us the remarkable story of Lieutenant William Sharpe of Prescott, and his career as an aviator during the First World War.  The talk looks at his early life and training, Canada’s first attempt at an aviation corps, his overseas service and concludes with some thoughts on his aviation legacy.

From 2014 until 2018, Canada is commemorating the centennial of the First World War, a global event that left lasting effects on generations of Canadians. During this commemorative period, Parks Canada has been recognizing and honouring the memory of Hometown Heroes across the country who contributed each in their own way to the war effort.  Lt. Sharpe is one such hero.

Pascale Guindon is an historian with Parks Canada. With a passion for history since childhood, she studied in architectural history and Canadian Studies and began her career in heritage conservation as a student interpreter at Fort Wellington National Historic Site in Prescott. She is currently in the role of National Programs Coordinator for Parks Canada’s National Celebrations Branch helping to commemorate and celebrate with Canadians significant anniversaries of people, places and events that have helped shape the Canada of today.

Please join us at the Brockville Museum at 7:30 pm to hear this presentation and learn more about genealogy in Leeds & Grenville.  Refreshments and an opportunity for discussion will follow the presentation.

Books Notice
If you have any books hanging around your house that others might like to read, the Brockville Museum is accepting donations for its upcoming annual Book Sale.  There will be a cart in the Museum lobby where you can drop off donations.

Updated – February 2017 Meeting

Update: The speaker for the February 13th meeting of the Leeds & Grenville Branch of The Ontario Genealogical Society has had to cancel her appearance due to family illness. Instead, the meeting will feature a Show and Tell of genealogy stories. If you would like to tell us one of your stories, please come prepared to speak for about five minutes. If you have photos or books to illustrate your story, please bring them along. Refreshments will follow the presentations.

North Elmsley Township - Doorway to the Past

North Elmsley Township – Doorway to the Past

The Leeds & Grenville Branch, OGS will meet on Monday February 13th in the Brockville Museum beginning at 7:30 p.m.  Guest speaker will be Shirley Jones-Wellman, co-author of the book North Elmsley Township Doorway to the Past.  Shirley, a retired librarian, is one of four volunteers with a love of history who banded together to research and write a history of early Elmsley Township north of the Rideau.  She will speak about the hardy settlers and their families who took up land and made it their home.  Refreshments will follow, with a chance to speak with local genealogists about your research.

2017 OGS Conference in Ottawa

2017 OGS conference is in OttawaA reminder that the Ontario Genealogical Society’s annual conference is being held in Ottawa, June 16 -18, 2017. Registration is now open! Read all about the conference

And, while you’re in Ottawa, attend some of the events celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday!