The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) will host two presentations and an online social during their monthly hybrid meeting on Saturday, March 14. You can attend for free either in person or online.
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. EDT
Tips for Using FamilySearch’s Full Text Search by Ken McKinlay
Ken McKinlay will provide some tips and tricks to help us find those previously overlooked or hard to find records on FamilySearch. The application of AI-driven handwriting recognition technology in FamilySearch’s search has opened up the records to genealogy and family history researchers in ways we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago. In the past, we would consider ourselves fortunate if we came across a collection where the principal names had been indexed. Now, practically all the names and words in many digitized collections have been indexed for us.
10:00 – 11:30 a.m. EDT
Thistles and Cedar, Hearts Entwined in War by Wendy Jocko
Wendy Jocko will tell the story of the marriage between her Scottish-born mother and her Algonquin First Nation father. Williamina Barr McKay, an orphan, had survived childhood trauma when she met the Algonquin soldier Leo Alexander Jocko during WW II, married him and moved to Canada. Their intercultural marriage weathered initial hardships in rural Canada, a decade-long separation, and eventual reconciliation, creating a family that embodied both their rich heritages, a microcosm of Canada’s multicultural tapestry.
Online social
After the presentations, BIFHSGO will invite online attendees to turn on their video and microphone for an online social.
Attend in person at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar & Elgin) in Geneva Hall, Ottawa, and use the Garden Entrance on Elgin Street, or register to watch both presentations online.
