Family history Research in British Columbia, Canada? Free chat May 27, 2013

 Black and white 'Greetings from British Columbia' postcard; unmailed, private collection. 

Monday night, May 27th, 2013 at 7 pm right at the British Columbia Genealogical Society's (BCGS) website, there will be an on-line chat with the BC Genealogical Society’s Editor, M. Diane Rogers. (Yes, she is also Jane's Your Aunt!)

Do you have a question about the BCGS's BC Pioneer or the BC War Memorial projects, or about British Columbia research in general, or maybe how you can submit an article to the BCGS journal or website? Do join in.

This is an experiment in offering more communication choices for BCGS members and friends, so don’t be shy.

Reminder - BCGS Seminar - Glenn T. Wright and Lesley Anderson - 27 April, 2013

I'm looking forward to this seminar as, since next year will be the anniversary of the beginning of World War I,  many of us are planning our 2014 research goals to include World War I interests.

I highly recommend speaker Glenn Wright's book Canadians at War 1914-1919: A Research Guide to World War I Service Records. This book will be available for sale at the BCGS seminar, and the BCGS Boutique will offer many other useful books and research aids.


The British Columbia Genealogical Society will present Glenn T. Wright and Lesley Anderson in an all day seminar, 27 April, 2013, Burnaby BC at the Danish Lutheran Church.

Glenn T. Wright was formerly with Library and Archives Canada (Public Archives of Canada) and assistant historian of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Lesley Anderson is Director of Education for the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa and is a Content Acquisition Consultant for Ancestry.ca.

Seminar Topics:

The British Army in Canada 1750-1871
Canadians at War – 1885 Rebellion,
South African 1899-1902, First &
Second World Wars
Pre 1865 Immigration
What’s new at Ancestry?

Door Prizes, including a one year subscription to Ancestry.ca

For details and ticket info, see the British Columbia Genealogical Society website: http://www.bcgs.ca/?page_id=2511

Researching in England - free session - VPL Central Branch, Vancouver

Reminder -

The next BCGS/VPL event will be a session on Researching in England with Lorraine Irving & Judith Ueland, Wednesday, April 17, 2013 from 2:00 – 3:30 pm.

Central Branch, Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia St.,
Lower Level. Pre-registration is not required.

See the Vancouver Public Library event calendar:  http://www.vpl.ca/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar.cgi
or call the BCGS at 604 502 9119. 

Watch for news of more BCGS/VPL talks in 2013.

Tracing Your Ancestors in British Columbia - May 5th, 7pm, Vancouver Central Branch Library

The British Columbia Genealogical Society (BCGS) and the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) are co-sponsoring this free genealogy session.

Tracing Your Ancestors in British Columbia with M. Diane Rogers and Wendy Graham - Learn how to find your BC families in vital event records, obituaries, cemeteries, newspapers and more, using the many free resources available on the Internet and in local libraries and archives.

Thursday, May 5 at 7 pm, Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street, Vancouver. Free.

For more info, see the VPL event calendar: http://www.vpl.ca/cgi... or contact the BCGS by e-mail: bcgs @ bcgs.ca or call: 604 502 9119

Vancouver House Historian James Johnstone on CBC Radio One - Jan 15 - Celebrating a Jazz Anniversary

Did you know that jazz great Jelly Roll Morton once lived and played at the Patricia Hotel in Vancouver? CBC Radio One's 'On The Coast' will be broadcasting from the hotel on January 15th, 2010 from 3 to 6 pm to commemorate the 90th anniversary of one of his shows. There's a concert in the evening too.

Vancouver's House Historian, James Johnstone, will be on this special edition of 'On The Coast' talking about the history of the city's East End. He's been researching the East End for years, but wanted to learn more about the Patricia Hotel before the show and now has a very useful, well illustrated post on his blog, When An Old House Whispers..., about the hotel, illustrating, in effect, how to start researching a Vancouver building.

There's a nice comment there about his use of the British Columbia Genealogical Society's book - Vancouver Voters, 1886: A Biographical Dictionary. This was the culmination of the Society's Vancouver Centennial project; society members researched everyone named on the first City of Vancouver Voter's List. It's a massive book, 892 pages of genealogical and historical information. If you're interested in the early history of Vancouver, or of the Lower Mainland, you should have a copy at hand. If you'd like to purchase one, please contact me or see the BCGS website: www.bcgs.ca as there are a limited number of copies still available.

Two Genea-Bloggers Met in Surrey BC Today!

Today two genea-bloggers met at the BC Genealogical Society's Walter Draycott Library in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Serendipity! What fun!

Sue Dombrowski and her mum came along today to have a good look at the Library's collections. Luckily I happened to be right there when they arrived.

Here's the proof for our on-line friends at Genea-Bloggers and at Scrapaholics! (Wish we'd had some Mardi Gras beads handy though. Next time...)

Sue and I met on-line through the Scrapaholics scrapbooking Meetup group and this May, Sue started blogging at Scrap Your Roots. I wrote an article then about her and her blog. Both Sue and I are members of the Genea-Bloggers group and we read each other's blogs regularly.

I was very glad to meet Sue's mother too as she was the family genealogist till she got Sue interested in family history.

Sue's been participating in an on-line scrapbooking workshop - 'The Challenge of Me'. This does sound like something many of us should do. Have a look at her blog to read how Sue's doing with that project.

Sue's also started her own business developing family heritage scrapbooking kits. Great idea! Beginners will love these and they will be a good 'jump start' sometimes too for scrapbooking people like me - long on ideas and short on time.

Annual Free Library Week & Open House - BCGS Walter Draycott Library - Surrey BC

BRITISH COLUMBIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

Walter Draycott Library

Open House & free Library Week
www.bcgs.ca

July 19, 2009 - from 1- 3 pm - British Columbia Genealogical Society
Annual Open House - Walter Draycott Library - Surrey BC
Free; refreshments.
Address: Unit 211, 12837 - 76th Avenue, Surrey, BC
Telephone: 604 502 9119
Website: www.bcgs.ca

July 20-25, 2009 - 10 am to 3 pm daily - British Columbia Genealogical
Society Annual Free Library Week

Walter Draycott Library - Surrey BC

Featuring different research areas each day
of the week; visitors are welcome to come any time the Library is open.

Monday - Scotland; Tuesday - Ireland; Wednesday - England and Wales;
Thursday - Canada; Friday - USA;

Saturday - all others - Europe, including Scandinavia, also Australia and New Zealand.

Over 13,000 publications, microforms, CDs,
etc. for worldwide genealogical research. Check the library catalogues on
our website: www.bcgs.ca

On-line databases available during BCGS Library Week at the Walter Draycott library: FindMyPast (UK research - Explorer edition) www.findmypast.com

and the New England Historic Genealogical Society: www.newenglandancestors.org

BCGS Walter Draycott Library address:
Unit 211, 12837 - 76th Avenue, Surrey, BC
Telephone: 604 502 9119


British Columbia Genealogical Society
Mailing address only - P.O. Box 88054, Lansdowne Mall, Richmond, BC, CANADA, V6X 3T6

THE HAMMOND STORY SO FAR... B.C. Genealogical Society General Meeting - July 8, 2009

The next B.C. Genealogical Society General Meeting -
Wednesday, 8 July, 2009, 7:30 pm

Edmonds Community Centre, 7282 Kingsway (Kingsway & Edmonds), Burnaby V5E 1G3

Our speaker will be Brenda Smith, well known in British Columbia as a genealogical speaker. Her topic will be:

THE HAMMOND STORY SO FAR...

The Hammond Family Project is an ongoing activity of the Family History Committee of Maple Ridge Historical Society.

Since 2002, the project has gathered and compiled information about the family of John and William Hammond, founders of the British Columbia community of Port Hammond.

Hear how this project furthers the community story, contributes to the
history of British Columbia, and helps participants develop and practice
research skills.

BCGS website: www.bcgs.ca

Also coming up at the BC Genealogical Society this month -

BCGS Annual Open House at the Walter Draycott Library,
July 19th, 1 -3 pm. Members, friends and relatives are welcome.

BCGS Annual Library Week at the Walter Draycott Library,
July 20-25, 10am - 3 pm daily. Free to all interested.
Plan now to bring a friend or relative to introduce them to our
genealogical collections and to the BC Genealogical Society.

During Library Week this year, you will be able to use databases for
England and Wales research, etc. at FindmyPast.com for free at our library as well as the on-line databases of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Findmypast: www.findmypast.com
New England Historic Genealogical Society: www.newenglandancestors.org


B.C.G.S. General Meetings: the second Wednesday of every month, 7:30 pm at Edmonds Community Centre, 7282 Kingsway (Kingsway & Edmonds), Burnaby V5E 1G3

BC Genealogical Society - March 2009 Meeting

Just home from the BC Genealogical Society meeting in Burnaby tonight - lots of good information and good news. Tonight we had some extra sweet treats at our refreshment break as a thank you to all the BCGS volunteers who keep our Library open, and our research, education and publishing programmes running.

Some of the good news concerned our own BCGS Library in Surrey, BC. We've had our old lights all replaced with energy efficient ones and we've had a water meter installed so our costs for both light and water will likely decrease. The light's so much better too.

And the Family History Library in Surrey now has access to The Genealogist website. This is very good news for those researching English families. We consider that Surrey has a genealogical research triangle - there's our BCGS Library, now with over 13,000 genealogical publications, the Cloverdale branch of the Surrey Public Library with its extensive collection of Canadian research materials and the Family History Centre with access to the Salt Lake City collections of the Family History Library there.

Some interesting activities coming up - a walking tour of Maillardville in Coquitlam May 3rd and group trips to both Scotland and Salt Lake City in the fall. See the BCGS blog for details of the Maillardville tour.

Tonight three BCGS Special Interest groups met - the Canadian, Scottish and Discussion group. I attended the Scottish session which was a very interesting one about looking for records on those who stayed or died or perhaps worked in a 'lunatic asylum'. This session was sparked by a discussion in a previous meeting.

The National Archives of Scotland holds Mental Welfare Commission records, including a "General Register of Lunatics in Asylum" which is open to access after 75 years.

One person mentioned that he is waiting to see records of the Tayside Health Board held at Dundee University. These aren't allowed to be released for 100 years and even then apparently must be transcribed, not copied.

The Scottish Records Association's Agony Aunt, R K Vyst, had a most useful answer to a question about mental health records. I will be following up on this information as a family connection did die in a private asylum in Scotland. One of his children came to Canada as a 'home child'.

BCGS Walter Draycott Library
Unit 211, 12837 - 76th Avenue, Surrey BC
Telephone: 604 502 9119
www.bcgs.ca
Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays 10-3 pm.
Call before visiting to check. The Library is not open on holiday weekends.

Surrey Public Library, Cloverdale Branch
5642 - 176A Street, Surrey, BC
Telephone 604 - 576-1384

Family History Center
6270 - 126th Street, Surrey, BC
Telephone 604- 597-9695
Call for hours before visiting.

The British Columbia Genealogical Society, Canada

British Columbia Genealogical Society parade group,

2007, St. Patrick's Day Parade, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The British Columbia Genealogical Society (BCGS) is the genealogical group I am most involved with. If you live in British Columbia or if you are researching anyone who lived in British Columbia, you will definitely benefit by joining our society.

The BCGS is 'all volunteer'. We have regular meetings every month in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada - on average 70+ people attend. We sponsor special events throughout the year including at least one trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, our cemetery committee is very active in photographing and recording British Columbia's cemeteries, we publish a quarterly journal and an e-newsletter and we own and manage our own genealogical library.

The monthly meetings feature either speakers or our special interest group sessions - for instance, for the English, Canadian, Scottish, DNA or computer groups. Experienced members lead these groups. Sometimes a group member presents on a topic or talks about their research. Other times, it's a 'roundtable' and we all share information and assist each other. For a full list of the BCGS groups, and contact information, please see our website: http://www.bcgs.ca/

Some groups meet at other times, for example, the Quebec and Scandinavian groups, so check with a facilitator for current meeting plans.

Today we had a very successful event - a Sold Out seminar with Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak. Everyone enjoyed the day. She is a very good speaker - for instance, her DNA session gave those new to the idea the basics, while at the same time, she relayed up to date information to the DNA converts in the room.

The BCGS's Walter Draycott Library in Surrey, British Columbia holds over 13,000 genealogical books, periodicals, microforms and CDS. We have a special research interest in British Columbia, but our members are researching all over the world, so our collections are worldwide. The library is free for members to use but non-members can research at the library for a small fee. Once a year, in July, we host a free Library Week - during those days we have volunteers each day to assist visitors with research in different countries.

We also attend a number of genealogical and heritage events during the year to promote interest in genealogy and in the British Columbia Genealogical Society. And our Boutique which sells genealogical books, research tools and even novelties (you need a new genealogy mug, don't you?) is at most of our regular meetings, almost all BCGS events and attends seminars and events put on by other genealogical and historical groups.

Our next event will be 15 March 2009, a week tomorrow, when our BCGS group will be marching in Vancouver's 6th Annual St. Patrick's Day parade. If you're in the Vancouver area, come to the parade. Be sure to cheer and wave to us!

There is lots of information about our Society and about British Columbia genealogical research on our website.

British Columbia Genealogical Society: www.bcgs.ca/

This post was written for Genea-Bloggers Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #8: Talk about highlights and events from your local genealogy society. Most genealogy bloggers are members of several historical societies and love to hear about the events in other organizations. This is also a great way to attract new members.

Upcoming Genealogy Events - Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada

I've missed blogging lately as have been busy at events, or getting ready for events, or recovering from events. Now I see Blogger is offering to let us 'post-date' entries - that's great!

This weekend, I was with other B.C. Genealogical Society members at the 5th Annual Burnaby Festival of Volunteers at Brentwood Mall. We talked to many, many people interested in tracing their family's roots.

Among the geographical areas we were asked about particularly were:

Burma, Switzerland, Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick), China, Columbia, England, Ireland, Kenya, Scotland, Taiwan and the U.S.A.


Watch for B.C.G.S. members and displays at these upcoming events:

British Research Seminar with Chris Watts, Burnaby, B.C.
May 10, 2008 - all day

Details: www.bcgs.ca

Topics:
- Some Underused Sources for English Genealogy
- Tracing Birth, Deaths & Marriages at Sea
- World War I Army Service Records at The National Archives of the U.K. & Elsewhere

British Columbia Historical Federation conference, New Westminster, B.C.
May 8-11th, 2008

Details & registration: www.bchistory.ca


Historical tours & talks, meet some 'Royal Engineers', tour Fort Langley and New Westminster, Paddlewheeler and cemetery tours.

Book fair open to the public Friday 1-6 pm, at the Inn at Westminster Quay, New Westminster.


European Festival, Burnaby, B.C.
May 31, 2008 - all day - see schedule on-line

Details: www.eurofestbc.ca/index.html

Entertainment, food and more representing these countries: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Metis, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine.

'Beginning Your Family History’ with M. Diane Rogers, Burnaby, B.C.
June 19, 2008, 7-9 pm, Burnaby Village Museum

Info & Registration: www.burnabyvillagemuseum.ca

Learn how to get started and how to organize your family tree. Hear tips about connecting with long-lost relatives and about using on-line websites and databases, all without spending a fortune.


Scandinavian Midsummer Festival, Burnaby, B.C.
June 20-22, 2008

Details: http://www.scandinavianmidsummerfestival.org

Dancing, choirs, musicians, great food, even some Vikings to talk to!



B.C. Highland Games, Coquitlam, B.C.
June 28, 2008 - all day - watch for schedule on-line

Details: http://www.bchighlandgames.com

Bagpipers, fiddlers, dancers, drummers, athletes, and good food, the Scottish clans and societies - oh, and did I mention the pipe bands are parading, my favourites?


That's all for now!

British Research Seminar - Dr Chris Watts - May 10, 2008 - Burnaby, B.C., Canada

10 May 2008, all day - 8:30 am to 3:30 pm

The British Columbia Genealogical Society presents Dr. Chris Watts, International Speaker and Author

in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

at the Eastburn Community Centre, Burnaby, B.C. (7435 Edmonds Street, corner of Edmonds & Humphries)

Dr. Chris Watts is the author of several books on tracing British military people and is The National Archives of the U. K's expert on the merchant navy. He is a well known speaker and a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists.

LECTURE TOPICS

- Some Underused Sources for English Genealogy
- Tracing Birth, Deaths & Marriages at Sea
- World War I Army Service Records at The National Archives of the U.K. & Elsewhere

Special early bird rate for B.C. G.S. & Affiliate Group members.

Lunch & refreshments included.

To register, please contact Susan Snalam at 604-273-8209 or Eunice Robinson: eunice@dccnet.com

For details,see the BC Genealogical Society website: http://www.bcgs.ca/
Click 'What's New' for the seminar brochure.