VGS Genealogy News & Events
No. 148 - November 12, 2023 |
Distributed free of charge to interested subscribers and former members.
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| Inside This Edition
Scroll down for more information on each of these topics:
Sharon Oddie Brown: A hands-on and boots-on-the-ground experience
Upcoming Events
Looking Ahead
VGS News
Three Steps for Beginners
| Sharon Oddie Brown: A hands-on and boots-on-the-ground experience
Sharon Oddie Brown will be sharing her extensive expertise and experiences gained when researching her Northern Ireland family history, and telling the world about it in her blog. Her particular focus in this workshop will be:
- The risks and benefits of sharing research - based on 20 years of The Silver Bowl Silver Bowl Website.
- What to do, what not to do, plus the thrill of unexpected successes.
Two decades ago, Sharon Oddie Brown started her Silver Bowl website, an idiosyncratic approach to the research of Irish and family history. So far, she has uploaded more than 5,000 documents. These include hundreds of original transcriptions, family trees and tables of data. Many posts include upwards of 200 pages of hyper-linked, primary research. It is frequently accessed by university students, historians, and genealogists from dozens of countries.
In 2010, Brown began writing informal blog posts on various topics. These have enjoyed more than 300,000 hits so far. Posts such as "Leaving Vancouver" and "Arthur Hamilton Lee and Sir Thomas Jackson" illustrate something of the range of their content.
| Brown continues to visit Ireland, almost every year, to continue her hands-on, and boots-on-the-ground approach to her research. She is often invited to speak to historical societies in the counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Monaghan, and Armagh.
Date and Time: Saturday, 18 Nov. 2023, 10AM till noon
Speaker: Sharon Oddie Brown
Location: offered both via Zoom and in person at the VGS Genealogy Learning & Research Centre
Price: members $14; non-members $21; REGISTRATION REQUIRED
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
| | | Upcoming Events
The following VGS events are now open for registration via our Events Calendar:
Visualizing Complex Family Relationships - Steve Little
Steve Little will focus on how to visualize and understand complex relationships in mildly endogamous communities. Rev. Little will discuss the challenges of conducting DNA analysis in such communities and how to overcome them. He will explain the concepts of pedigree collapse, multiple relationships, and endogamy and provide examples from his personal experience to demonstrate their complexity.
Date and Time: Saturday, 2 Dec. 2023, 10AM till noon
Presenter: Steve Little
Location: offered via Zoom only
Price: members $14; non-members $21; REGISTRATION REQUIRED
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: Analyzing Historic Family Photographs
Old family photographs connect you with your family history, offering invaluable insights into your ancestors' lives. However, identifying and deciphering the clues hidden within them can be frustratingly difficult at times. This session will guide you through a methodical approach to unraveling the mysteries hidden within your vintage family photos.
Date and Time: Saturday, 6 Jan. 2024, 10AM till noon
Presenter: Mark Thompson
Location: offered via Zoom and in person at the VGS Genealogy Learning & Research Centre.
Price: members $14; non-members $21; REGISTRATION REQUIRED
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Speaker Event: Reading the Past in Old Cemeteries
Visiting an old cemetery when looking for an ancestor’s grave can be a fascinating exploration of the past. Besides finding the grave, you might wonder why your family member is in this particular cemetery. Why are they in that part of this cemetery? And why does the cemetery look the way it does — layout, plantings, groupings of markers? Using Victoria’s Ross Bay Cemetery as an example, Yvonne Van Ruskenveld will reveal aspects of old cemeteries that can enrich your family research.
Date and Time: Thursday, 11 Jan. 2024, 7PM until 9PM
Speaker: Yvonne Van Ruskenveld
Location: both via zoom and in-person at Norway House, 1110 Hillside Ave., Victoria, BC V8T 2A7
Price: members free; non-members $10; REGISTRATION REQUIRED
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
| Looking Ahead
The following VGS events are now open for registration via our Events Calendar.
NEW ADDITION - Workshop: A Journey Through Pier 21 and Canadian Immigration History
Date: Saturday, 13 Jan. 2024
Speaker: Steve Schwinghamer
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: Excel for Genealogists: Unleash the Power of Spreadsheets In Your Family Research
Date: Saturday, 27 Jan. 2024
Speaker: Mark Thompson
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: How to Use Notion to Plan and Organize Your Research
Date: Saturday, 3 Feb. 2024
Speaker: Denys Allen
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Speaker Event: Eleanor's Letters - 7,000 pages of Family and Cultural History
Date: Thursday, 8 Feb. 2024
Speaker: Mark Thompson
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
NEW ADDITION - Workshop: Searching Records in Ontario
Date: Saturday, 10 Feb. 2024
Speaker: Gerry Poulton
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: Beyond the Basics of Scottish Research
Date: Saturday, 24 Feb. 2024
Speaker: Heather Shave
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: 10 Steps To Success - An Introduction to Genealogy
Date: Saturday 9 Mar. 2024
Speaker: Merv Scott
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: Researching Historic Letters
Date: Saturday, 16 Mar. 2024
Speaker: Mark Thompson
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
To review more details of these events and more, go to our Events Calendar.
| VGS News
Excerpts and highlights from recent VGS Members Update newsletter distributed approximately biweekly to VGS members only.
Member's Corner- A Ghost Story!
Begbie Hall, Royal Jubilee Hospital
I worked in Begbie Hall, the former Nurses Residence at Royal Jubilee Hospital, for many years and quickly discovered that the building was a source of many great stories. One interesting feature of Begbie Hall is that the two stairways are enclosed with doors separating the stairwells from the hallways.
One hot summer day, I was walking from one floor to another when half way up the stairs I felt I had walked into a freezer. It took my breath away. I continued and walked back into the extreme heat. To say I was startled and confused is an understatement, When I arrived at my destination, I told the ladies my experience and, with a laugh, they said I had walked through the Head Matron, which was not an unusual event.
The story related to me was that the Head Matron was a heavy smoker and one evening fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand. Unfortunately, the cigarette lit her clothes and she died in her room in Begbie Hall. She roamed the building creating havoc and chaos. I was told that cleaners refused to work in Begbie Hall unless they worked in pairs. She would move their carts, slam doors and let her presence known in a variety of ways.
I met an historian who has an interest in ghosts. I said "I think I walked through a ghost" and before I could say anything else, they said "and you felt as if you had walked into a freezer."
Happy Halloween
- Lois Chamberlain Thompson, VGS Member
VGS Speaker Presentation: Wartime Women
The November 9th Speaker evening at Norway House was a wonderful way to honour Remembrance Day. Our thanks to guest presenter Kate Humble, our volunteers, and the 40 people who attended (in person and on-line).
VGS Christmas Open House: Saturday, Dec. 9, 1PM to 3PM
Please join us at our VGS Genealogy Learning & Research Centre between 1 pm and 3 pm on Saturday, December 9th for our Christmas Open House. Meet the friendly folks at VGS and enjoy light refreshments as we celebrate the holiday season.
To help get us in the festive spirit, please submit your digitized historical photos of your family taken around the holidays that we can share at the open house. We'll put them up on the big screen at the Centre for all to enjoy. Your photos should be submitted to events@victoriags.net by Dec 7, 2023.
| 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.
Step 2 - Family History 101 and other SIGs. 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 9 SIGs that meet regularly either by zoom, in person or in combination. Our most recently added SIG was designed for those who are new to genealogy. It's called Family History 101, which was introduced last season and proved to be very popular. Once you get basics in the Family History 101 SIG, 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 Speaker Events. Another benefit of membership is the price breaks for our regular workshops and seminars, and access to our monthly Speaker 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.
We believe that by following these 3 steps you will have the opportunity to learn about the genealogy research tools and techniques more quickly than by reading or surfing the web. For membership details, please go to Membership Options.
| Visit our VGS Website often to get updated information about us and our upcoming events.
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