January 18, 2020 – Gord Sly spoke on “Aye, Your Roots; What is ‘Behind’ Your Name?” Gord gave a very interesting study of English-language surnames that arose over time, and the meaning of parts of surnames. During the short educational session, Geoffrey Allen presented an informative Short History of the English Working Class.
February 15, 2020 – Ron Mann‘s mini-talk was on how he used DNA Matches to find Distant Cousins. The main presentation by Nancy Cutway, Jane Miller and Paul Woodrow was a demonstration of many features on the OGS Website which are sometimes underused by members.
March 21, 2020 – meeting postponed to June due to declaration of pandemic.
April 18, 2020 – by Zoom. *Recording available in Members Only. Deb McAuslan discussed “When New York Was New Netherlands”. Records exist so that Deb can pinpoint on a map where her 10th-great-grandparents were living in 1642.
May 16, 2020 – by Zoom. Bob Dawes, “The Family History Reno Project.” Some genealogists talk about a complete “do-over” of their research. Bob preferred to systematically review his information on each family line, and found new relatives in the process.
June 20, 2020 – by Zoom. *Recording available in Members Only. Susan Warren, “The Rideau Canal Workers”. Over 4,000 people contributed (1826-1832) to the building of this important transportation link, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
September 19, 2020 – by Zoom. *Recording available in Members Only. Jennifer DeBruin, “Discovering the Humanity in the History”. Jennifer’s rule when researcing has been People + Time and Place + Experience (trying to understand their emotions and feelings).
October 17, 2020 – by Zoom. Patti Mordasewicz, “Using Ontario Land Records”. Patti provided a step-by-step way to navigate through the records online, particularly important now that county record offices have closed to the public for good.
November 21, 2020 – by Zoom. Michael Onesi, “The Ultimate Black Sheep: What Happens When You Discover a Serial Killer in Your Family Tree”. A fascinating story about discovering a murderous relative. Nancy Cutway followed with a short description of the sensational murder of a distant relative of her husband in 1819.
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 meeting recordings and handouts are also available there, as indicated above.
