January 16, 2010 — Barbara Monk spoke on “Dating Pictures by Clothing Style”. She was able to illustrate shifts in style from about 1730 to 1930. Her list of suggested sources will be helpful to us all.
Barbara’s attire (right) dates from about 1892, while her friend Eva Barnes (left) models a 1912 fashion.
photo courtesy Carol Ruttle-Abbey
February 20, 2010 — Bob Thomas spoke on “230 Years: The Thomas Family in Montreal”. He outlined the various sources that were of use to him in his research. In particular, the Montreal Insurance Maps (available at Library and Archives Canada) showed him the exact houses occupied by his ancestors, by name.
March 20, 2010 — Helen Coffey and Joyce Fingland spoke about “Publishing My Family History”, describing two different approaches to publishing. See the May-June 2010 Kingston Relations for details.
April 17, 2010 — We heard from Rodney Carter, Archivist for the St. Joseph Region of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, based in Kingston; Lorna Knight, Archivist for Kingston General Hospital; Megan Kerrigan, Archivist for Providence Care and Alison Browne, assistant archivist for Providence Care, speaking on “What Hospital Records Have to Offer Genealogists”. Details in newsletter.
May 29, 2010 — John Fielding spoke about “Home Children: Who are they? A personal and a Canadian story”. He grew up hearing that his Home Child ancestor was an only child — but found siblings who remained in England, and he has met the descendants.
June 19, 2010 — Outing to Wolfe Island – A group of branch members gathered on the Kingston side of the ferry dock in time to take the 9:30 a.m. ferry to Wolfe Island. We walked about 1/3 kilometre) through Marysville to Trinity Anglican Church. There we viewed the recently restored vault. A relief map on the wall illustrates the location of the tombstones, and the branch publication of the cemetery provides the transcriptions.
We also walked through the small cemetery to view the stones. A highlight was helping a branch member who had travelled with her family to Kingston for the day just to take in this outing, find the stone of her 5th-great grandmother, Elizabeth Davis.
We then walked back past the ferry dock to the Museum. There Brian MacDonald, chair of the Wolfe Island Historical Society, gave us a short history of Wolfe Island and the house in which the museum. We toured the Museum, and people with Wolfe Island ancestors could check for them in the database on Mr. MacDonald’s laptop. We then enjoyed lunch on the waterside deck at the Island Grill and left for Kingston on the 1:15 p.m. ferry. The rain held off, making for a very nice outing, and everyone had an enjoyable time.
September 18, 2010 — Don Dulmage, a member of Quinte Branch OGS, spoke about going to Germany in search of his Palatine roots. He described the several variations of his surname, some tips for doing family history research, and the pleasure of finding family in a far-away country.
October 16, 2010 — 
photo courtesy Joyce Fingland
Kingston Branch member Ron Mann gave us an intriguing talk on “The Story Told by a Friendship Quilt.” This Victorian crazy quilt had been given to Ron by an aunt from his Riddell family, who had grown up near London, Ontario. But the names embroidered in the squares, and the reason for its creation, were unknown. Ron started with information stitched into one square — the name and birthdate of his great-grandmother — and used a variety of records to determine the names and relationships of the other names on the quilt. His conclusion? That the quilt had been prepared for and presented to his great-grandmother in honour of her 50th birthday in 1888.
November 20, 2010 — “Life in the Trenches.” David Dossett, a local computer programmer and artist, gave an animated and insightful presentation about life as a World War I soldier during the filming of The Great War and Passchendaele. For The Great War, a CBC docudrama starring Justin Trudeau, David was one of 150 people picked from about 65,000 applicants, all descendants or relatives of WWI soldiers. For two hot weeks in July 2006, he lived on the set in St. Bruno, Quebec, in his woolen uniform, slept in a crowded tent and ate rather miserable food. He played the part of a war artist and produced a number of sketches and oils of the soldiers and the war-torn landscape.
The filming of Passchendaele, produced by Paul Gross, took place in September 2007 on a First Nations reserve outside Calgary, Alberta. To look authentic, the soldiers had to get themselves, in full uniform, completely wet and muddy. For many of the scenes, they had to run up inclines in the pouring rain, ensuring that they fell “dead” without harming themselves or anyone else with their bayonets. The weather was often cold, and it even snowed. While the experience mimicked life in WWI, the food was much better.
Full write-ups of the talks can be found in the newsletters which follow each meeting date, available in the Members Only section of this website. Some handouts ncluding clickable web links are also available there.
