Come Speak in Ottawa in 2017!

My blog doesn't get a whole heck of a lot of traffic YET!!! but I wanted to share this call for presentations so that some of my international genea-friends* might apply to COME VISIT ME!!! 

The Ontario Genealogical Society's 2017 conference is helping to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday. It will be held from 16-18 June in my current, beautiful hometown and our nation's capital city: Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA!

In my estimation, OGS conferences are attended by around 500 people. Compared to my experience at RootsTech 2015, this is a much more relaxed, intimate experience. Please consider presenting and submit A FEW ;-) proposals to help create the most EPIC genea-con Canada has ever seen in honour of our patriot ancestors! I have highlighted the portions below that are suited to not-as-Canadian-specific presentations. C'mon!! USE YER IMAGINATIONS!!

So sayeth Tim Gunn.

Call for Presentations OGS Conference 2017

The annual Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2017 will be held in Ottawa on June 16-18, 2017 at Algonquin College. The theme of the conference is Our Canada – Your Family: Building a Nation. As 2017 will be the 150th anniversary of the birth of Canada, Ottawa Branch OGS will host the annual OGS conference and give the Conference a national flair, bringing together genealogists and family historians from all over Canada. We are looking for speakers and talks of interest to genealogists from all provinces.

In keeping with this theme, we invite proposals for presentations on: family history from every region and territory of Canada (e.g. Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia); migration to and from Canada and also within Canada and how this helped to not only build our families, but also Canada; pre- and post-1867 research in Upper Canada; religious associations; military connections; the latest updates on computer, social media and genealogy database technology; the ever growing use of DNA testing for genealogy; and skill-building for family historians (e.g. use of the genealogy proof standard, getting more out of online resources).

Speakers from other related disciplines are welcome! Statisticians, demographers, archaeologists, researchers, archivists, librarians, geographers, cartographers, scientists, theologians, doctors, PhD candidates, software gurus, internet intellectuals, social media mavens, and historians of all kinds have information of interest to family historians and we would like to hear from you!

Most sessions will be one hour long. Sessions may be streamed in or out of the Conference venue. Topics for interactive, hands-on workshops are also welcome (typically half-day sessions). Speakers will receive an honorarium, plus appropriate expenses and complimentary Conference registration. In early 2017, speakers will submit content for inclusion in a syllabus.

Please submit your proposals by e-mail. Include your full name, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address, website address (if applicable) and biographical information including recent speaking credits. For each proposal, please provide a unique title, a summary of your presentation (250 words maximum), the intended audience (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and your A/V requirements. Multiple proposals are encouraged.

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS IS: 15 FEBRUARY, 2016

To submit proposals or ask questions, please contact the Conference 2017 Program Committee at: program.conference2017@ogs.on.ca.

For more information about OGS or Ottawa Branch respectively, please visit: www.ogs.on.ca or www.ogsottawa.on.ca.

Keep in mind, with the Canadian dollar at a crap-tastic low, our beautiful country should be considered prime territory for your genea-tourism!

CA-NA-DA!

Yes, The Asterisks Mean Something

* I'm hinting at YOU: Gena Philibert-Ortega, Alona Tester, Helen V. Smith, Jen Baldwin, Caitlin Gow, J. Paul Hawthorne, Marie Cappart, Cheryl Hudson Passey and the rest of you crazy lot!

PS. If you're not on this little list and you think you should be, chances are I still consider you too big a genea-celeb and I'm too shy to name you as a friend. LOL

Tombstone Tuesday: Roy Clement Stanton

BEHOLD!
The tombstone of my biological* maternal grandfather, Roy Clement Stanton:

Photograph taken 16 May 2010 by LDC.

Transcription:

ROY CLEMENT

STANTON

5 JUNE 1919
26 MARCH 1993
AT REST

This stone can be found standing in St. Michael's Cemetery which lies at 166 Kedey Street on the outskirts of the small village of Fitzroy Harbour within the greater city limits of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada.

I would say Roy rests in the Stanton family plot but, frankly, there are so many Stantons in this cemetery that the whole shebang could (almost) be considered the family cemetery.** Case in point, this stone stands in a line with three other Stanton stones towards the front and center of the cemetery while his father's sits in a far corner with still others. And there are at least two other stones specific to this surname AND my particular tree that I can recall off the top of my (admittedly rotten) noggin.

Photograph taken 16 May 2010 by LDC.

Photograph taken 16 May 2010 by LDC

Suffice to say Roy's will be the first of many, many, MANY headstones I will feature from this Catholic cemetery. 

Yes, The Asterisks Mean Something

* I'm mindful to point out that Roy was my biological grandfather because I never met him in person and, for all non-genetic intents and purposes, I have always considered another man my "Papa". Nevertheless, without Roy I would not exist and he is therefore automatically deserving of a certain deference. 

** In fact, I have already found such an overwhelming number of connections to my tree that I'm quite interested to, one day, prove whether or not I am related to everyone buried in this cemetery.

Preparing for my First Trip to the Archives of Ontario

I'm crazy excited to be in Toronto this August for not one but TWO genealogy conferences before hubby drags me along to four days of geekery and shenanigans at FanExpo!* IMO, that much of a trip alone is cause for some serious SQUEE but imagine my surprise when I realized we're going to be staying at a hotel not 10 minutes from the Archives of Ontario.

*blink*
O.O
WHAAAAAAT?????

Let the preparations begin!!! HUZZAH!!!

First on the list: reorganize trip schedule so that visit to the zoo takes place on the only day the Archives is CLOSED, rendering all free and clear to drag hubby to a FULL day of research on a day on which it is OPEN! [Shhh!! Don't tell hubby!! lol]**

Next, determine what records they have that A) I want to see in person, B) I can't get anywhere else and C) I'm ready to look up and, frankly, understand. After all, there's much info out there, lying in wait beneath the surface of the "regular" sea of records, that I still have no clue about -- and I only have 1.5 months to be organized enough to make this one, lonely little day [sigh, I always wish there could be more TIME! ...more hours in the day, more money in the bank... ] as productive as humanly possible.

Thus began the Spreadsheet of Death -

DUHN-DUHN-DUHHHHNNNNNNN

otherwise known as a comprehensive list of all the estate files and wills in the province that I still require. Which is a lot. I think I have my father's, both my grandmothers' and that someone in my family has a copy of my biological grandfather's and hubby's great grandfather's... but that's it. So my list is pretty long.

Then I have to go through the list and, according to county at time of death and date, discern whether or not the record of each person will be available to me at the archives. For many of them - those less than 40 years old - I have to contact the local courthouse. [P.I.T.A.]. For the rest... there's a mess of microfilm indices and inter-library loans to work through so that I can obtain the correct file numbers for each record. I'm not sure if I can view the indices at the archives AND see the stuff I want to look at on the same day. It's all kinda complicated... at least for someone relatively new to it all and especially for a zombie, like me, whose brain is akin to mush at times.

So, in the interim, as I make additions to the Spreadsheet of Death [DUHN-DUHN-DUHHHHNN!] and further investigate the AO website I have a plan. I'm going to start going through the printed materials for the course on Canadian Archival Centres for which I'm registered through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies (NIGS). It will likely help me as I prepare for this EPIC JOURNEY in August.




Yes, The Asterisks Mean Something

*Technically, he's not dragging me. I even brought it all on myself when I bought him the Premium tix for Christmas (what a good spouse I am, eh?). I'm actually looking forward to going - though I'm not so thrilled with the lineup so far... but that's another post for different blog.

**Actually, I've already told him and he's fine with it. Really! For now anyway. LOL His tune may well change around the fourth hour of forced labour as my little zombie research gopher... [ha!] But, in all honesty, he is very supportive and didn't bat one eyelash at my exclamation of glee upon discovering our pending proximity to the repository into which I've been dying to dig my grubby little- erm, I mean, my gentle and cautious white-gloved paws.