Every December, the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa’s monthly meeting features presentations by three members who each talk about one of their great moments in genealogy. This year will be no different, except it will be via Zoom and you won’t have to drive to Canada’s capital city to attend.
The meeting begins at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, December 12.
To keep with the holiday spirit, there will be time for small group socials between the presentations. It will be interesting to see how that will work out.
In The Purvis Family of Manitoulin Island – Achievement, Tragedy and the Worst Disaster in Great Lakes Maritime History, Jamey Burr will tell the story of his mother’s family, who came from the east coast of Scotland to start a significant family fishing business on Lake Huron. The story includes tales of international travel on the jute trade route, early political activity in Upper Canada, lighthouse keepers, the Klondike, family losses, and a sad role related to the enormous loss of life on the S.S. Eastland in 1915.
Michael MacNeil will share his story in Ellen Murray and the Lady Sherbrooke. Various family accounts tell us that Ellen Murray survived a shipwreck in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on her way to Canada from Ireland sometime between 1830 and 1833, after which she married Mr. MacNeil’s great great grandfather, James Tompkins in Margaree, Cape Breton. A search of shipwreck databases indicates that she was most likely on the Lady Sherbrooke, sailing from Derry, Ireland in June 1831. It ran aground near Cape Ray, Newfoundland on the night of July 19th, with as many as three hundred persons drowning. While researching the various accounts of the shipwreck in contemporary and later newspapers, Mr. MacNeil discovered that false news is not a recent phenomenon, but can be enduring.
Hugh Reekie’s presentation is about Ballinasloe After the Potato Famine. After the Irish famine, Mr. Reekie’s forebear William Maxwell, a civil engineer and architect, was very involved in designing houses, farms and factories. Mr. Reekie will take the audience on a grand tour of Ballinasloe, telling the history of the town and area, finishing up with a family gravestone in a very interesting location.
Register and learn more about the speakers here.
