On Saturday, October 12, the British Iles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, will present And a Brother Who Went to Australia? at 10:00 am by Chris MacPhail.

Chris MacPhail’s maternal grandfather was a Home Child who immigrated to Canada from Scotland with an elder brother in the 1880s. A family anecdote suggested that there may have been another brother who went to Australia. Chris will describe his efforts to verify the story, and the new challenges raised by some of the things learned.

You can listen to an interview with Chris at http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=106

Arrive early and take in Before BIFHSGO from 9:00 - 9:30 am to listen to Exploring the Find My Past Website by Judy Thamas, and from 9:30 - 10:00 am there are the Discovery Tables and Lesley Anderson will be there to help you Get Help with Ancestry.ca.


The BIFHSGO is http://www.bifhsgo.ca/

Anglo-Celtic Roots Winter 2012 Edition

A rather hefty issue of the Anglo-Celtic Roots arrived in the mail last week from the British Isles Family History Society of Great Ottawa (BIFHSGO) in Ottawa with the news that the group is going to continue to use the facilities of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) as its monthly meeting place, and where it holds its yearly conference.

Of course this comes with a price (as the LAC is now charging for the use of it’s facility), but at a cost the BIFHSGO is willing to live with, so let’s hope that Public Works and Government Services Canada (the government department that looks after the LAC) keeps the costs at a reasonable rate in the future.

There are three articles in this issue – "Mamie Weir, a Scot" by Carolyn Emblem; "Life in Saskatoon, 1914" by Andrew Frowd; and 'Tracking Great-Uncle Stan' by Brooke Broadbent.

But the article that interested me the most (since my husband was born in Quebec City) was the trip in July that took genealogists from Ottawa to Quebec City and Grosse Ile on a research trip.

The article written by Irene Kellow Ip, is a most descriptive article telling of their time in Quebec City where they visited Artillery Park, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, and Dufferin Terrace. And on to Grosse-Île where they visited the Hospital Sector, the Irish Cemetery, and the Hotel Sector on the quarantine island.

If you wish to check the database of Immigrants at Grosse-Île www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/grosse-ile-immigration/index-e.html, or Quebec City Passenger Lists Index 1865-1900 at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/passengers-quebec-1865-1900/index-e.html

You are invited to go to the website of BIFHSGO at www.bifhsgo.ca. You will find lots to read, and do while you are there.

NOTE: The 2013 conference from September 20 - 22, 2013 will be held at the Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. The focus for 2013 will be on Ireland.