January 17, 2015 — Joyce Fingland spoke about “The Rathbun Family and the Town of Deseronto”–she described the growth and demise of the Rathbun Company and its effect on the lives of other families in Deseronto and area. . .a genealogical perspective.
February 21, 2015 — The branch’s Annual General Meeting was followed by a large Silent Auction stocked with many interesting items.
March 21, 2015 Shirley-Ann Pyefinch, gave a talk about Genealogical Information Resources in the National Capital Region. Shirley-Ann has served since 2005 as the Director of the Ottawa Ontario Stake Family History Centre for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She co-hosts the Pyefinch family history website with her husband, and is the blogger of Finding Our Roots.
April 18, 2015 Janet Connor presented “Social Media and Internet Sites for Genealogy – for Beginner to Advanced.” She demonstrated how to use different types of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, blogs etc. for genealogy research.
May 16, 2015 Jessica Dunkin holds an MA and PhD in History, and is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University, and author of the blog The Home Archivist. She discussed her experiences with a private collection of 19th century letters, sharing the steps she took to preserve and organize these fragile documents.
September 19, 2015 Patti Mordasewicz, OGS Vice President and Chair of the Leeds & Grenville Branch, gave an interesting talk and slideshow called Getting to Know the Neighbours: Resources at the Leeds & Grenville Archives.
October 17, 2015 Linda Reid, from Toronto, presented Hunting and Fishing: Different Approaches to Genetic Genealogy. She described briefly the different DNA tests available and the various companies that offer the tests. She gave suggestions for using DNA tests to connect with others who are researching the same family lines.
November 21, 2015 Nancy Cutway, member and newsletter editor for the Kingston Branch, gave an interesting talk entitled What is a United Empire Loyalist and How Can I Claim One? She described how to research, document and apply for U.E.L. certification of ancestors who meet the U.E.L.A.C. criteria.
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.
