Victoria Genealogical Society
GENERAL MONTHLY MEETINGS
VGS Meetings are held at
7:30 pm on the
2nd Thursday of the month (except Jul and Aug)
at the Gordon Head United
Church Hall
4201 Tyndall Ave,
Victoria, BC ~ View Map
NOTICE: Our new membership year starts on July 1.
Membership dues can be paid at
our monthly general meetings, or at our Resource Centre.
VGS Next Meeting: March 8, 2012
Topic:
PEOPLE, HOMES & SPACES IN VICTORIA BC, 1871-1911:
Creating a geographical
information system [GIS] for family historians
Speaker: Patrick A. Dunae
Date: March 8, 2012 (Thursday)
Patrick A. Dunae is a writer, historian and former archivist with an interest in regional history and heritage. He is the editor of viHistory.ca, a digital archive of Vancouver Island that includes an extensive and searchable database of nominal census records from 1871 to 1911. Using Victoria City as an example, he will describe how family historians can use census data, historical maps and other records to locate and reconstitute census households in Canada.
Doors open at 7pm at Gordon Head United Church, 4201 Tyndall
Avenue.
Admission is free for VGS members and by donation for visitors.
Come early to view the displays and the sales table,
and to network with other genealogy enthusiasts.
We hope to see you there! ~ View Map
A Glance Ahead
Speakers at upcoming Victoria Genealogical Society general
meetings
encompass a wide variety of topics that will appeal to
those interested in genealogy, heritage and history.
Further details will be posted as soon as available.
Do you have any ideas for guest speakers?
Please contact Melanie Arscott -
VGS Past Meetings
FEBRUARY 9, 2012 - "BLACK PIONEERS OF VICTORIA" - KAREN ALEXANDER HOSHAL
In honour of Black History Month, we are very pleased to welcome Karen Alexander Hoshal as our speaker this month. Karen is an experience speaker on BC Black History, and is the Past President of the BC Black History Awareness Society, having been president for about 8 years.
Karen is a direct descendent of a prominent Black pioneering family of the area. If it wasn't for the Black migration, they would be Americans now instead of Canadians. Hear her family's story and view her display to gain further insight into into their contributions to our community.
For further information on other Black History Month events, please visit the
BC Black History
Awareness Society of Victoria website,
or download these PDF posters:
Feb 1-25, 2012 -
Black History Month Events
Feb 25, 2012 - NFB documentary film presentation:
Mighty Jerome: The Greatest
Comeback Ever
January 12, 2012 - TALES FROM THE INFIRMARY - DR. JANICE MASON
For the past 20 years Janice has been working as a physician with interest in Sports Medicine including on the Southern Gulf Islands, Vancouver and Victoria. She pushes physical activity as a way of staying young (or escaping the aging process).
Escape your medical genealogy and join in on a discussion of how your genealogy health history affects you in "Tales from the Infirmary" – A little information can go a long way to alleviating your fears … or aggravating them!
December 8, 2011 - Christmas potluck with Emily Carr
Our December meeting will be our traditional pot luck mix and mingle, but
this year we'll hold it at our regular meeting time (doors open at 7:00pm).
Everyone is requested to bring finger food - appies, desserts etc. - for the
goodies table,
A special visitation by Emily Carr has been arranged, so you're in for a treat!
Molly Raher Newman has been playing the role of Emily Carr since the last century - August, 1999 - and in the twelve years since she has introduced this famous Canadian to school children and their teachers, tourists, convention visitors, historians, writers and readers, art gallery patrons and museum members, and a host of many other people from all parts of the world.
In this light, Emily Carr will be visiting the Geneological Society this Thursday in a Christmas spirit, reading a selection of her writings about Christmas in Victoria - downtown Shoppes on Wharf and Government Streets, Victorian decorations and fresh firs, family holiday traditions, ending with the delightful story from her House of AllSorts Book - "John's Pudding".
"Emily" also brought her ukulele along (instead of her mandolin) and sang a song for us. Molly is certainly a talented and entertaining actress and musician.
November 10, 2011 - A Vacation Adventure in Search of English Roots - Susan Webb
Susan Webb is our new VGS Vice President, and this summer she traveled on a odyssey to England to further her genealogy research. She now wants to share her journey with you, complete with stories and pictures. Here's how Susan describes her upcoming presentation:
"With previous expertise in studying her family tree, Susan decided it was time
to research her roots. So after several phone calls and emails back and forth to
the relatives, she ventured out on a well-organized holiday/adventure.
Knowing that there needed to be time for fun as well as research, a trip to
England was planned to accommodate a holiday for her and the relatives. Who says
research can’t be fun!!"
Susan looks forward to sharing with you how she planned her trip, the adventure
itself, as well as the results.
October 13, 2011 - Amazing Women in Canada's History - Merna Forster
Our speaker for October is coming back by popular demand. In recognition of Women's History Month in Canada, historian, author and VGS member Merna Forster will be joining us again to share more stories of some of the amazing women in Canada's history. She'll also have some of her books available.
Last year Merna shared stories about some of the women featured in her book 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces. This book truly is one of the ultimate guides to cool Canadian women from every corner of the country, featuring famous and forgotten faces in science, sport, politics, war and peace, arts and entertainment, and many other fields. We say "one of" because due to popular demand, a second volume is now available. 100 More Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces features more great Canadians who should be celebrated.
To learn more about Merna, our Canadian heroines and Women's History Month in
Canada visit www.heroines.ca, and join us on October 13.
September 8, 2011 - Melanie Arscott - The Mystery of David Stark's Photo Album
On February 23, 2011, The Inn at Laurel Point asked for the public's help to identify the owner of a photo album that had been left behind by a guest more than 30 years ago. The album contained over 200 photos dating from the turn of the last century to the Second World War. There were families from Scotland, England and Canada - but very few names. Most of the family members were only identified by their initials, if at all.
Join us to learn how the album's secrets were unlocked and the genealogical tools that helped to identify the members of the Stark family, their homes and their friends.
Visit The Inn at Laurel Point's blog for some of the background on how this album was lost, and found again earlier this year. http://blog.laurelpoint.com/
June 9, 2011 - AGM & Elections
We hope to see as many members as possible attend our Annual General Meeting on June 9. It is your chance to vote in our election of executive members.
May 12, 2011 - Members Night and Silent Auction
In keeping with tradition, this is the night our members got to tell their stories. Any format was accepted: show and tell, overheads or Powerpoint, or just a quick chat. Presentations are usually less than 10 minutes, allowing for a number of members to present. Thanks to Linda Boon and Gael Huntley for their very interesting presentations.
Hats off as well to our Director at Large, Layne Mikoda, who spent countless hours organizing and soliciting donations for our annual silent auction - she out did herself! Thanks also to all the generous members who bid on items and to those whose top bid allowed them to take home their selected prize. Your support is greatly appreciated!
April 14, 2011 - Mountjoy: A Piece of Lost Victoria
Presented by Peter Grant, Local Author
 |
| VGS President Melanie Arscott presents speaker Peter Grant with a small thank you gift after his presentation at the VGS April meeting. |
The family and local history of the Pemberton family provides reference to the era when the children of Joseph and Theresa Grautoff Pemberton built manorial properties in and around Oak Bay. Mountjoy, the 10-acre estate of Frederick Bernard Pemberton and Mary Ann Dupont Pemberton and their five children, was built in 1893, and saw many triumphs and a few tragedies before being abandoned in 1947 and destroyed by fire in 1952.
 |
| Author Peter Grant (on the far right) brought friends to our April VGS meeting. At least one of them is a Pemberton descendant. |
Thanks for joining us on Apr 14, 2011 for an illustrated talk by Peter Grant, who lived -- and lives -- "just around the corner" and regrets having no ancestors on Vancouver Island, so has adopted the Pembertons in a kind of Mormon Manoeuvre. He writes books of both local interest (Victoria from Sidney to Sooke, an Altitude SuperGuide 1994, Victoria a History in Photographs 1995, The Story of Sidney 1997) and regional (Wish You Were Here, Life on Vancouver Island in Historical Postcards 2002, Vancouver Island Book of Everything 2008, Vancouver Island Book of Musts 2010).
Although his website is =sigh= far from up and running, you may be able to link to Peter Grant's facebook page (you may need a Facebook account to fully access it) -- more of a fun thing, he says. Or check out his publisher's page with a link to a PDF chapter of his latest book: Vancouver Island Book of Musts. You can also view this YouTube post of an interview with Peter about the book on Radio Long Beach.
Thanks to those who attended our VGS meeting on April 14, 2011 for this entertaining taste of Victoria history.
March 10, 2011 - Canada Census, Past and Present
Presented by Dr. Eric Sager
Our speaker for March 10 was Dr. Eric Sager, a professor in the History Department at the University of Victoria.
Dr Sager is going to talk about the Census, with a conversation around two streams:
- The campaigns to make historical census information available, the changes implemented in the 2005 Statistics Act, and the effect of the “consent question”
- The prime minister’s decision last year to replace the long form census with a voluntary household survey.
Dr. Sager wrote an informative article on the long form census for the Times Colonist last month.
February 10, 2011 - Black History Month - Ron Nicholson
February is Black History Month. Ron Nicholson, vice president of the BC Black History Awareness Society, presented the documentary film "Go do Some Great Thing". Based on historian Crawford Kilian's book of the same name, the film follows the 1858 migration of blacks from San Francisco to British Columbia.
More information on the BC Black History Awareness Society - www.islandnet.com/~bcbhas/
More information on Anthony Brown, the producer of "Go do Some Great Thing" - www.brownieworldproductions.com
January 13, 2011 -
Out of the Mouths of Babes: Researching the lives of historical children in
BC and Alberta
Presented by: Kathryn Bridge, Manager of the BC Story
Project
at the Royal BC Museum and Archives.
This will be an overview of Ms. Bridge’s research project which uses the archival records created by children - their diaries and letters - to provide the primary documentation about their lives. Child-created records are just that, the voices of children. These records have been under-utilized in historical research. The talk will include examples of individual children and their diaries and letters and explain how we can see layers of information within their writings that provide important insights into sibling and family relationships, child friendships, and the child's own views of growing up.
Join us on January 13, 2011 at the Gordon Head United Church Hall, 4201 Tyndall Ave, Victoria, BC to learn from this intriguing speaker.
December 9, 2010 -
Christmas Potluck - Rev. Robert MacRae
VGS Members Christmas Potluck
Thursday, December 9 - as in past years we'll be starting the evening off a
little earlier so we can enjoy dinner before our speaker.
* Doors open at 6:30 pm
* Dinner starts at 7 pm
* Guest speaker begins at approximately 8 pm.
Bring something to share (sorry, no cooking onsite but microwaves are
available for warming).
Also, please bring your own dishes, cutlery and cup for dinner.
Enjoy a relaxed evening with good friends, great food and an interesting presentation from VGS member Bob MacRae.
In addition to our annual Christmas potluck dinner, our guest speaker will be VGS member and author, Rev. Robert MacRae. Celebrating the season of giving, his talk will be about his book on H.R. Macmillan - The Man Who Gave Back.
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| Our speaker was Gord Hutchings, shown here with his parents and girlfriend. |
November 11, 2010
A Journey through a BC Ghost Town - Gord Hutchings
The speaker for our November 11 meeting was Mr. Gord Hutchings who presented A Journey through a BC Ghost Town - Anyox, BC.
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| Gord Hutchings' parents visit with VGS member Ron Nicholson. |
Gord recently returned from a kayak trip to Anyox, the ghost town from the 1920's where his father was born, and where his grandfather and two great-grandfathers worked, Anyox was the largest copper smelter in the British Empire from 1910-1935. One of Mr. Hutchings' great grandfathers was the BC Provincial policeman, the other the dam keeper, and his grandfather worked in the machine shop and power station.
 |
| Following the meeting, many eager VGS members stayed to talk to Gord and his family, and to view their displayed artifacts and photos . |
Gord's grandfather's hobby was keeping a diary and photography, of which all his stories and photos were submitted to the BC archives. In the 1970's, this grandfather wrote extensively for the Colonist "Weekender" about his stories in the north.
One famous connection was his knowing Simon Gunnanoot (The Runaway Indian) and Albert Johnson (Mad Trapper), mainly because when he moved to Stewart, he became the BC liquor vendor, a handy position to be in when you're living in an isolated mining town. When he came to Victoria, he started the liquor store at the corner of Admirals and Esquimalt, just down the road from where our speaker now lives.
October 14, 2010 - Great Women in Canadian History - Merna Forster
To tie in with Canada's Women's History month, VGS member Merna Forster will be speaking to us about some of the great women in Canadian History.
Her website, heroines,ca - A Guide to Women in Canadian HIstory, is an excellent resource, and also contains information on Merna's book: 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces.
Merna currently works at the University of Victoria as Executive Director of the Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History Project.
Sept 9, 2010 - Mr. Nicholas Russell
Thanks to those who joined us at 7:30 pm on Thursday, September 9, 2010 at Gordon Head United Church for the first meeting of our 32nd year!
We also be talked about the October 16, 2010 Seminar (registration table was open).
The Past is Present
The Story of Victoria Told Through its Buildings
Our guest speaker was Mr. Nicholas Russell of the Hallmark Society - www.hallmarksociety.ca.
So often in genealogy we get hung up on who our ancestors were and don't take enough time to consider how they lived and what their homes were like. Mr. Russell's presentation looked at the history of Victoria through the eyes of the buildings. Starting from the First Nations Longhouses, to the Hudson Bay Company's settlement and winding up with 150 years of Victoria's building, this presentation will offer an overview of the development of our city through history.
About Nicholas Russell - Nick has spent much of his spare time over the last 20 years doing heritage research, including documenting three houses that he has lived in / now lives in. He has written heritage walking tours here and in Regina (where he was president of the heritage society for several years) and has led walking tours, bicycle tours and "ghostbustours". For about the last seven years he has also been part of a team recording a century of house plans filed at City Hall, and transcribing building records at City Hall and from the Colonist.
June 10, 2010 - Annual General Meeting
Guest Speaker - Ann ten Cate, Archivist, B.C.
Archives.
Topic - Violent and Unnatural Death: A Look at Coroner's Records at the
B.C. Archives"
Archivist Ann ten Cate gave an illustrated talk about some of B.C.'s more famous incidents and accidents, and the historical role of the coroner in British Columbia. The B.C. Archives holds all of the coroner's records relating to inquests and inquiries in B.C. between 1858 and 1970, which in the case of inquest records, are remarkably detailed, providing information about the full circumstances of a death and all of the events leading up to, it in the actual words of the witnesses. The depositions and transcripts give fascinating descriptions of criminal activity, workplace habits, living conditions, family life, safety standards, medical treatments - and the full range of human tragedy. The records give “voice” to the men and women whose lives and deaths are examined in minute detail in these records, and whose passing may not be noted in any other way. Taken as a whole, the records document society’s attempts to improve living and working conditions, and safeguard its citizens. They are also useful for family historians, who may find some surprising answers to long-standing family mysteries.
Ann has a particular interest in genealogy and records relating to social history. She has worked at the City of Toronto Archives, the Anglican Church of Canada General Synod Archives, the Region of Peel Archives and for the last 19 years has assisted researchers at the B.C. Archives.
