Anglo-Celtic Roots Arrives!

The spring edition of Anglo-Celtic Roots arrived the other day, and I can see by the advertisement put in the latest issue that plans for the fall conference are well underway.

This year's conference is to be held from Sept 18th to the 20th and will feature a Scottish focus this year. Duncan Macniven, Registrar General for Scotland, will speak on two topics - "Scotland's Demographic History since Victorian Times" and "How to Find Your Own Scottish Ancestors".

Colleen Fitzpatrick from California is the author of Forensic Genealogy. I heard her speak at last year's OGS Conference in London, and she is fantastic.

There will be many other speakers, as well. And on Friday, there will be a special intermediate course given in genealogy, a tour of the Library and Archives of Canada, and a Family Tree Maker workshop.

This will be their 15th Annual Fall Conference, and according to President Mary Ann Sharpe, many are taking advantage of the "on-line" membership and conference registration available at the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa website <www.bifhsgo.ca> - almost 40 percent!

Meanwhile, there are five articles in this issue of Anglo-Celtic Roots and they are -

"The Luck of the Scots" - an article by Carol Annett in which she writes about her husband's grandfather, John Alexander (Jack) MacKinnon, and the finding of his gravemarker besides the ruins of St. Raphael's Church.

"Doors Open and There is My Great-great-grandfather", by Irene Kellow Ip, tells the story of how she discovered the baptismal and marriage record of Patrick Mackin by telling a fellow researcher about him at an "Doors Open" event in Ottawa.

"Simplified Publishing of Military Research" by Norma O'Toole is an article about Norman Johnson of the 405 Pathfinder Squadron of Vancouver and how Norma discovered his war service.

"Don't Believe All You Read" by John Sayers is about an article read by John in the 1922 issue of the Montreal Gazette in which four children were drowned near Grosse Île.

"Secret Secretaries" by Ilana Reimer is an article about Dorothy May Helm about her grandmother who worked as a Secret Secretary for William Stephenson (the man who ran the Second World War Office, called the British Security Coordination, or BSC).