VGS Genealogy News & Events
No. 150 - December 8, 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:
Seasons Greetings with Open House and Half Price Memberships
Feature Upcoming Workshop: Analyzing Historic Family Photographs
Upcoming Events
Looking Ahead
Book a Genealogy Presentation For Your Group or Club
VGS News
Three Steps for Beginners
Donations Appreciated
| Seasons Greetings from the VGS: Here's Your Invitation to our Open House and Half Price Membership Promotion
VGS Christmas Open House
Please join us at the VGS Genealogy Learning & Research Centre on Saturday, December 9th, between 1PM to 3PM, for our annual Christmas Open House. This is a great time to see the Centre, network with other like minded people who may be able to help your research, and enjoy light refreshments as we celebrate the holiday season.
Please drop in for a visit. Non-members are welcome and registration is not required.
Half Price VGS Memberships Are Now Available
As we come into the holiday season, the VGS is excited to offer all the benefits of membership at half the price!
Do you know someone who is hard to buy for? A VGS membership may be a life changing gift for them. Don't miss out on this amazing deal!
Single memberships can now be purchased for $30, Family memberships for $42.50, and Youth memberships for only $15!
Here are just a few of the amazing benefits of joining the VGS:
>Discounted cost for all VGS workshops and seminars
>Free access to speaker series events
>Free access to Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
>Free access to our VGS Learning & Research Centre and lending privileges for our large collection of books and other research materials
>Free access to the Ancestry library edition at the VGS Learning Centre
These deeply discounted memberships are valid through May 31, 2024, the end of the VGS membership year. Please visit the VGS Membership Options page to take advantage of this limited time holiday offer.
If you have any questions, please contact Monica Sheridan by selecting the Membership Director option in the contact form on our VGS website at Contact Us. | Feature Upcoming 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.
First, you’ll learn how to create research-quality digital copies. Then, to identify the parts of the photograph that provide clues about who is in it, as well as where and when it was taken. You’ll also learn some great approaches for organizing and analyzing your photo collection that will uncover clues your eyes may have missed!
| Mark Thompson is a professional genealogist and the Vice President of the Victoria Genealogical Society (VGS). He is also a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. On top of his lifelong love of photography, Mark has inherited thousands of historic photographs from family members. He loves researching his own photo-collection as well as helping his clients preserve, catalog and research their own photo collections.
Mark consults and speaks regularly on a wide range of genealogy-related topics, although specializes in DNA research and personal family archives.
To see what Mark is working on these days, check out his blog at MakingFamilyHistory.com .
Date and Time: Saturday, January 6, 2024, 10AM until 12 noon PST
Price: members $14, non members $21; REGISTRATION REQUIRED
| | | Upcoming Events
The following VGS events are now open for registration via our Events Calendar:
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.
Workshop: Tracing Your Roots - A Journey Through Pier 21 and Canadian Immigration History
Embark on an historical journey with Steve Schwinghamer, an historian from the Canadian Museum of Immigration, as he uncovers the rich stories of Pier 21, the iconic ocean immigration gateway located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Date and Time: Saturday, 13 Jan. 2024, 10AM untill 12 noon PST
Presenter: Steve Schwinghamer
Location: via zoom ONLY
Price: members $14; non-members $21; 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.
Workshop: Excel for Genealogists: Unleash the Power of Spreadsheets In Your Family Research
Date: Saturday, 27 Jan. 2024
Presenter: 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
Presenter: 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.
Workshop: Searching Records in Ontario
Date: Saturday, 10 Feb. 2024
Presenter: Gerry Poulton
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: Beyond the Basics of Scottish Research
Date: Saturday, 24 Feb. 2024
Presenter: Heather Shave
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: 10 Steps To Success - An Introduction to Genealogy
Date: Saturday 9 Mar. 2024
Presenter: Merv Scott
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Workshop: Researching Historic Letters
Date: Saturday, 16 Mar. 2024
Presenter: Mark Thompson
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
NEW ADDITION - Archives Field Trip: Guided Tour of Archives at Military Museums, Bay St. Armoury
Date: Saturday, April 6, 2024
Presenters: John Azar and Archival Staff
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
Please note there are limited spaces so register early to avoid disappointment.
NEW ADDITION - Speaker Event: Rumrunners in Victoria in the 1920's
Date: Thursday, April 11, 2024
Speaker: Kate Humble
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
NEW ADDITION - Workshop: Tracing Descendants of British Home Children
Date: Saturday, June 8, 2024
Presenter: Lois Chamberlain Thompson
For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE.
To review more details of these events and more, go to our Events Calendar.
| BOOK A GENEALOGY PRESENTATION FOR YOUR GROUP OR CLUB
The VGS Ambassador program provides community outreach to further the VGS mission of promoting family history research.
If your group or club is in need of a speaker for an upcoming meeting, please consider arranging for a genealogy presentation by a VGS Ambassador. Our most popular talks introduce people to the world of genealogy with basic tips to get the audience started on their own family trees. We can provide a variety of presentations, formal or casual, short or long, and in person or via Zoom.
For more information, please email our VGS Ambassador Coordinator at ambassador@victoriags.net
| VGS News
Excerpts and highlights from recent VGS Members Update newsletter distributed approximately biweekly to VGS members only.
VGS Ireland Special Interest Group (Ireland SIG)
On St. Paddy’s day everyone is a little Irish. If your genealogy actually does reach the Emerald Isle, you may be interested in joining our Irish SIG. We meet on the first Tuesday of every month in a hybrid format. So, if you’re feeling social and want to get out, come down to the Centre and join in. If you are travelling, or would simply prefer distance on the day, you can join in with our Teams Link.
Irish genealogy is not the easiest - but really, what brick wall is easy. The biggest myth that genealogists starting their search in Ireland encounter is that “all genealogy records blew up in the 1922 fire. That is not true. Yes, a large number of records were burned. However, a very large number were not stored in Dublin at that time or had copies held elsewhere. So don’t give up on your Irish genealogy!
Whether you are searching in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland we are here to support you. Our group is comprised of a wide range of genealogy backgrounds and we have a little bit of everything. Every meeting includes a roundtable to hear the latest from group members, to brainstorm ideas for brick walls and celebrate success stories. Plus, particularly helpful for those just starting their journey, most months will have a presentation on a topic where you can hopefully learn some tips and tricks.
- Kathie Ross, Ireland SIG leader
| Donations
The Victoria Genealogical Society is a volunteer-run, nonprofit organization, donations are key to helping us provide services to our members and the community.
Your donation to the Society will help support and promote family history research in Victoria, across Canada and around the world.
The VGS is a charity registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Your donation is eligible for an official tax receipt that can be used to offset your federal income tax.
Please see our page at the CRA Charities and Giving website to confirm our charitable status.
Donations may be made on the VGS Website's Donations page.
If you have any questions about donating, please fill in the input form at Contact Us and send to General Information.
| 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.
Get help with your research by accessing the Research menu. | Copyright © 2023 Victoria Genealogical Society, All rights reserved.
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