VGS Genealogy News & Events
Victoria Genealogical Society
No. 185 - August 3, 2025 |
Distributed free of charge to interested subscribers and former members. |
In this newsletter:
- Upcoming VGS Workshops, Seminars, Heritage History Hours and more
- VGS fundraiser reaches goal for memorial marker at Ross Bay Cemetery for historical pioneer
- Heritage History Hour; all presentation dates now fully booked
- 2025/26 Membership Drive underway: enjoy event discounts, free SIG discussion groups, Genie Buddies and resources at the VGS Genealogy Learning and Research Centre, bi-weekly Members Update e-newsletter, and more
- New to genealogy research? 3 Steps for beginners
- VGS Social Media channels
Scroll down to read these articles.
VGS is a non-profit and you can help us by forwarding this newsletter to your friends | | Dates: August 13 and 27, 2025 |
FREE - Genealogical Coffee Chats are back
These popular and informal get togethers are a great opportunity to talk genealogy with like minded individuals. The setting is relaxed, hosted by experienced VGS members and always accompanied by a few laughs.
The Genealogical Coffee Chats are open to the general public. There is no set format or agenda. It's a great opportunity to raise some research questions, share some successes or just sit back and enjoy the discussion. There is no fee and registration is not required.
Mark you calendar with these upcoming dates. We hope to see you there.
Dates: Wednesday, August 13th and 27th
Time: 1:00 to 3:00 pm
Hosts: Kathie Ross, Bev Harvey, Lois Chamberlain Thompson
| Date: Thursday, September 11, 2025
| FREE HERITAGE HISTORY HOUR -
Greater Victoria Public Library Genealogy Resources - Caitlin Ottenbreit
| | Presented by Caitlin Ottenbreit, Greater Victoria Public Library
Your local public library is a rich source of research and storytelling resources to help you in your genealogical practice. Learn more about the practical resources available here in Victoria at the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL), as well as what other hidden gems you might be able to find by contacting local libraries around the world.
Caitlin Ottenbreit is a public services librarian on the Arts, Culture & Heritage portfolio at the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL).
| | | Her academic work has focussed on microhistories and personal stories in Greater Victoria, which serves her well now in her professional life. Her favourite library questions lead her down fun research rabbit holes in the search for answers to questions about our heritage.
Date: Thursday, September 11, 2025
Time: 7 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: This is a Zoom only event
Cost: Heritage History Hour (HHH) events are FREE to all
Note: Video recordings of this event will be available online for 30 days to registered attendees only
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE | NEW WORKSHOP ADDED -
Live from Aberdeen, Scotland, with Dr. Bruce Durie
| | To kick off our 2025/26 season of workshops we have a very special presenter in Dr. Bruce Durie.
Bruce is considered one of Scotland’s top genealogists and Heraldists, with an international reputation. He is perhaps best known for his eight-year BBC radio series, “Digging Up Your Roots” and “A House with A Past”. He has authored over 30 books, including the best-selling “Scottish Genealogy” (now in its 4th edition). For more about his very extensive biography view Dr Bruce Durie. | | | Clans and Families of Scotland
Seeking your Scottish ancestry and engaging with all aspects of Scottish history and culture is to be encouraged, but it must be done in the full knowledge that much of the mythology about clans, surnames, tartans and the like is just that.
During this workshop Bruce will cover:
• Who are “The Scots”? – ancient ethnicities and Y-DNA
• What is a clan or Family?
• The nonsense of ”Septs”
• Does our Clan or Family have a Chief, and if not, can we have one?
• Tartans and Heraldry
• Authenticity in Scottish culture
There will be ample opportunity for Qs & As.
Date: Saturday, September 25, 2025
Time: 10 am - 12 noon PT
Location: This is a Zoom only event.
Note: Video recordings of this event will be available online for 30 days to registered attendees only
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
| NEW WORKSHOP ADDED -
An Archivist's Best Practices for the Family Historian - Kaetlen Bursey
| Here's a workshop for every level of genealogy research experience. From how to best store photos, to keeping track of who's who in your family tree, this workshop will discuss some archival best practices you can implement at home to preserve your family history. We will cover storage, preservation, and organization options to make sure your family history records last for years to come. We will also highlight some of the challenges faced by people who manage their family memorabilia and some of the most useful, effective, and cost-efficient approaches for caring for these collections. You will be able to immediately apply what you learn in this session to improve how you care for and manage your personal family collections.
We will also discuss what records or materials can be donated to public institutions for care and preservation in perpetuity and how to prepare your donation. | | | Included in this discussion will be an overview of how to locate items in an archive, how to view items in an archive, why archives differ significantly from libraries, and what genealogical resources might be available in the Saanich Archives.
Kaetlen Bursey has a master's degree in Museum Studies, where she specialized in collection management, particularly of archival materials. With over 15 years of experience in information management, organization, and project management, as well as hands-on collections care and archival work at the Royal Ontario Museum, she is now in her dream job as Archives Supervisor with the District of Saanich.
Date: Thursday, October 4, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM PT
Note: Video recordings of this event will be available online for 30 days to registered attendees only
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE | FREE HERITAGE HISTORY HOUR -
Psychics, Seances, and Spiritualism - Kate Humble
| | Presented by Kate Humble, Parks Canada
During the 19th century, the religious landscape was swept by a spiritualist movement which claimed to channel the dead, through the mouths of living psychic mediums. Victoria was quick to embrace the new movement and a spiritualist society was founded here in the 1860s. The Society counted some of the most prominent members of the local community amongst its members. Far from being dismissed as a fringe idea, spiritualism became wildly popular in the English-speaking world, with an estimated 8 million followers by the 1890s. | | | Kate Humble is an historian who is currently the Superintendent of National Historic Sites for Coastal British Columbia with Parks Canada. She did her graduate work at the University of Toronto, and has held public history and historic site positions such as the Curator of Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse, the Operations Manager at Craigdarroch Castle, Education Curator at the Maritime Museum of BC and Manager of Visitor Experience at the Royal Armouries Museum, UK. Born and raised in Victoria BC, she has also worked with Discover the Past as a tour guide on matters both historical and ghostly since 2004.
Date: October 9, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada) (UTC-08:00)
Location: This is a Zoom only event. Registration is required to receive the ZOOM access information
Cost: Heritage History Hour (HHH) events are FREE to all
Note: Video recordings of this event will be available online for 30 days to registered attendees only | NEW SEMINAR ADDED -
Family History 101
| This seminar is designed specifically for people new to family history and for people returning to family history after a break from their research. No prior experience is required.
Get your family history journey off to a great start! Join four experienced family historians on an engaging half-day journey through the most important topics and tools in family history. They will help you build good habits early that will set you up for success for years to come.
This is an in-person only event with a maximum of 15 registered attendees. No recordings will be made of this event. Registration is required.
This seminar includes four 1-hour sessions, with 10-minute breaks and a 45-minute lunch break between sessions. Session-specific handouts, prepared by each speaker, will be provided at the beginning of the seminar as a handout.
Session Descriptions
Session 1: Start Your Family History Research Off Right – Melanie Arscott - 9:10 am
Session 2: Find and Use the Most Important Genealogy Records – Gerry Poulton - 10:20 am
Session 3: Organize Your Genealogy Information for Success – Sarah Hamster - 12:05 pm
Session 4: Use DNA To Help Build Your Family Tree - Mark Thompson - 1:15 pm
Speaker Bios
Melanie Arscott - Melanie is a long-time VGS member and an accomplished family history researcher. Melanie created the VGS "CSI" Special Interest Group (Crowd Sourced Intelligence) to help SIG members learn to identify clues by careful observation of a found family treasure, and search for answers in the many sources we have available.
Gerry Poulton - Gerry began genealogy research over thirty years ago in the days of microfilm. Gerry is now a member of several genealogical societies and volunteers at the Victoria Genealogical Society’s Learning and Research Centre. Gerry has presented workshops on a variety of genealogy topics for more than fifteen years. Gerry’s research specialties are the lands where his own ancestors hailed from: England, Ireland, Germany, and Ontario. Gerry was born and raised in Saskatchewan and taught Chemistry at the University of Victoria for nearly 40 years.
Sarah Hamster - Sarah is a veteran genealogist with over 30 years of experience. She has been an active member of the Victoria Genealogical Society for over 20 years. Sarah is recognized for her expertise in organizing genealogical records, helping bring order to the often-chaotic pursuit of family history. Currently, Sarah is elevating her skills by pursuing a certification in Eastern European genealogy from the International Institute of Genealogical Studies.
Mark Thompson - Mark is a professional genealogist, the President of the Victoria Genealogical Society (VGS), and the chair of the VGS DNA Special Interest Group. He is also a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Mark uses genetic and traditional genealogical research methods, combined with a deep understanding of information technology and analysis, to help his clients shed light on their family histories and mysteries. Mark speaks regularly on a variety of genealogy-related topics. Mark’s blog can be found at MakingFamilyHistory.com.
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM until 2:30 PM Pacific Time
Special Discount: Attending non-members, who also register as VGS members on the day of the seminar, will be given a one-time $20 discount off their annual membership.
| FULLY BOOKED - Our HERITAGE HISTORY HOUR was introduced only last month and we already have a full slate of speakers for the 2025/26 program year
|
Genealogy societies believe there is power in storytelling and we at the Victoria Genealogical Society (VGS) want you to share your stories with our audience. We have invested in technology over the past couple of years and are very proud of the attention and attendance our online events are now garnering. We’ve also enjoyed a growth in membership recently and now feel well positioned to begin looking for collaborations with other like-minded organizations.
As a start we are inviting other organizations the opportunity to deliver a presentation on our webinar platform, Heritage History Hour, at no cost to them. They simply present a story with heritage/history content and VGS volunteers will look after the rest. VGS will: promote the event on our website and social media; manage online registration; send event reminders to registrants; manage attendees for appropriate online behaviour; host the event; our trained volunteers will operate our video conferencing equipment and assist presenters; and we will manage a post event survey to provide you (and us) with feedback on the presentation.
FREE: VGS will not charge the organization a fee for utilizing our equipment and services; the event will be open to members and non members of the VGS and they will not be charged a fee to register for the Heritage History Hour presentations.
Why is VGS offering this service? Now that we have the technology in place we want to assist other like-minded, not-for-profit associations to get their message out. By working together, we feel we can better engage with a broader segment of the population to share stories of their communities in order to foster a sense of community pride and identity, with appreciation for the past.
The Heritage History Hour will be held on the 2nd Thursday of each month, from September through May, from 7pm to 8:00pm. Presenters do not have to be local as this is a zoom based video conference format.
ALL TIME SLOTS HAVE NOW BEEN FULLY BOOKED FOR 2025/2026 SEASON.
For more information email events@victoriags.net.
| VGS FUNDRAISER REACHES GOAL! New Memorial Marker at Ross Bay Cemetery for historical Victoria pioneer, Eliza Norman Morison Wishart (Lyall)
|
Mike Woodcock, Vice President of the Victoria Genealogical Society (VGS), led an Old Cemeteries Society sponsored tour on April 6, 2025 at Ross Bay Cemetery entitled Norman Morison: Victoria’s Mayflower. The event description was:
“The Hudson Bay Company-owned ship Norman Morison made three voyages (1850, 1851, 1853) from Great Britain to Victoria. The third voyage was the HBC’s first attempt to introduce settlers. It included many families who entered five-year indentured commitments to the HBC in return for their own land. As these settlers became the early core of the Capital Region, the Norman Morison can be considered our Mayflower."
| | | After a brief description of Robert and Jessie Anderson, third voyage Scottish passengers, at their headstone, Mike mentioned that their daughter Eliza was born enroute and they named her Eliza Norman Morison Wishart in honour of the ship and its captain. He noted that Eliza and her husband George Lyall were buried in a minimally marked grave in the T section. Mike concluded that, given the critical historical significance of the Norman Morison voyages and passengers to early Victoria and area, there should be a fundraising campaign to put a marker on Eliza’s grave.
At the end of the tour, one of the guests offered a cash donation to start the fundraising campaign and Mike accepted the challenge. With the support of the VGS board and an exceptional partnership with the Old Cemeteries Society, VGS launched the Eliza Norman Morison Wishart (Anderson) Lyall memorial marker campaign at the June 12th VGS AGM to raise the remaining $500 for their share.
Breaking news - due to our members exceptional generosity, we have already reached the fundraising goal. Therefore, the Lyall Memorial Marker Campaign page has already been deactivated. You can always donate to the VGS General Donation. Any financial support will be gratefully appreciated. You will be issued a tax deduction receipt.
- Mike Woodcock, VGS Board Member | 2025/2026 MEMBERSHIP DRIVE UNDERWAY -
Enjoy event discounts, free SIG discussion groups and much more
| The 2025-2026 Memberships are effective from June 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026. The VGS has just completed a very successful year therefore membership prices are not being increased this year.
The following annual membership types are now available: Single Membership $65 (for a person over the age of 25 years); Family Membership $90 (two or more annual memberships for people living at the same address); Youth Membership $35 (25 years or younger).
This great membership value includes:
- Price discounts for our popular workshops and seminars - Approximately 1/3 reduced cost for workshop and seminars. For the 2024/25 year just ended, VGS held 3 one day seminars and 13 two-hour workshops targeted at improving and enriching your family history research. While our workshops and seminars are not expensive, the $65 Canadian annual cost for being a VGS member can be recovered through membership savings by attending these events.
- Free bi-weekly VGS Members Update e-newsletter to be informed of upcoming VGS events as well as events hosted by other societies, Members Tips and Tricks, genealogy news, VGS business updates and much more.
- Free Heritage History Hour – our free monthly on-line video conference evening presentation on a heritage and history topic.
- Free Special Interest Groups – SIGs are one of the most valuable resources available to VGS members and are free as a benefit of membership. SIG meetings are an opportunity to discuss your genealogy experiences and challenges with members who are interested in the same kind of research that you are. Our SIG leaders have genealogical expertise on the specific SIG focus area. SIG members help point you in the right direction and give you new ways to think about your family history challenges. With your membership you can join any number of the 10 SIG's available: CSI (Crowd Sourced Intelligence); DNA; Eastern Europe; England; Family History 101; Ireland; Netherlands / Belgium / New Netherland; Ontario; Scotland; Sweden.
- Free access to the VGS Genealogy Learning and Research Centre stocked with a unique collection of paper-based resources, searchable using our VGS online Library Catalogue.
- Benefits of being part of a community of common interests include volunteering opportunities and more.
- Voting rights at the VGS Annual General Meeting (AGM).
| New to genealogy research?
3 Steps for Beginners
The VGS offers several benefits of membership for those new to genealogy research and for those who would like to brush up on their skills. Check these 3 easy steps below:
Step 1 - The Centre. If you haven't already visited our Genealogy Learning & Research Centre, we recommend you do. It's a great place to start and our friendly and experienced volunteers are available to help you with your questions and show you the basic research tools, techniques and resources. For a modest fee volunteers can provide various personal research services which can be viewed at RESEARCH SERVICES. The Centre is located in Royal Oak Shopping Centre and is free for members. Non-members are welcome and their first visit is free with a nominal fee of $5 for subsequent visits. Free parking, free wifi, free computers, a large library collection, and access to Ancestry library edition. Check our LOCATION page for open hours. *** New: we have updated our online library catalogue which can be searched HERE.
Step 2 - Family History 101 and CSI SIGs are a great place to start. After becoming oriented to genealogy research at the Centre, members often find it a smooth transition to join a discussion group that focuses on their area of research. We call these Special Interest Groups or SIGs for short. Currently there are 10 SIGs that meet regularly either by zoom, in person or in combination. The Family History 101 SIG is designed for those who are new to genealogy. Our CSI SIG (Crowd Sourced Information) is a chance to do research with others, hands on. Once you get basics in the Family History 101 and CSI SIGs you may want to start signing up for one or more of the other SIGs. They are all free to members. Click on SIGs to learn more about them.
Step 3 - Workshops, Seminars and Heritage History Hour. Another benefit of membership is the price breaks for our regular workshops and seminars, and access to our monthly Heritage History Hour presentations. These events not only offer the opportunity to learn about a topic, but they also provide members the opportunity to meet other members who may be researching in the same geographic area or the same surname. These are important networking opportunities and often prove useful in breaking down research brick walls. To learn more, go to our Events Calendar
Never mind surfing the web - follow these 3 steps to learn genealogy research tools and techniques. For membership details, please go to Membership Options | VGS social media channels
VGS FaceBook private group with over 470 members to help you with your genealogy related questions; join the discussion at VGS Facebook Group
VGS FaceBook public page: click Follow (over 500 followers) for event notices and other VGS news at: vicgs
Free accounts with these social media sites may be required.
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Home Page: Victoria Genealogical Society | | | Visit our VGS Website often to get updated information about us and our upcoming events.
| Copyright © 2024 Victoria Genealogical Society, All rights reserved.
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