Genealogy à la carte

Ontario Ancestors announced yesterday in its eWeekly newsletter it will hold a virtual conference June 1 to 7, replacing the in-person event that was cancelled because of the pandemic.

Fifteen hours of presentations, including opening and closing keynote addresses, will be available to watch for $50. Registrants will also be able to watch presentation recordings for a week afterward.

Visit the conference website to see the full schedule and register.

You can still watch the Ontario Genealogical Society Toronto Branch’s two April 27 presentations by Lynn Palermo on Habits of a Highly Organized Genealogist and Janice Nickerson on Daily Life 100 Years Ago, as told in a mother’s letters to her son.

The video recording of the meeting and presentations will be posted on the branch’s webinars page until about the end of May, along with the handout. After that, the recording will be available for branch members only.

Ontario Ancestors will host a free webinar, Using Ontario’s Township Papers, presented by Beverly MacCulloch, on Thursday, May 7, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Genealogists today have a wonderful problem – access to more information than they will ever have time to investigate.

If you have Ontario ancestors, you may have heard of Township Papers, and have them on your mental list of “records I should look at someday.”

Learn how the Township Papers are organized, so you can use them efficiently. Learn who is most likely to be found in the Township Papers, so you can decide where to prioritize these records on your “someday” list.

Register to watch the live webinar. A recording of the webinar will be available afterward for Ontario Ancestors members.

To help commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE-Day this week, Ancestry in the United Kingdom is making its UK Second World War records free until May 10.

Among the free featured collections are the 1939 England and Wales Register, UK D‑Day War Diaries and Photographs, UK Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls 1793-1949, British Prisoners of War 1939‑1945, and Civilian Gallantry Records.

Access to the UK records in the featured collections will be free until May 10, 23:59 GMT. To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.co.uk with your name and email address. Ancestry will then send you a username and password to access the records. 

Note that Ancestry’s website says it has made “all its UK historical records free,” but elsewhere the genealogy company says free access is for “WWII record collections.” You’ll discover which description is accurate when you log in with your assigned username and password.

Learn more here.

Legacy Family Tree will host a free webinar, Smarter Search Strategies for Genealogy, presented by Thomas MacEntee, today, May 5, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time, and the recording will likely be available the next day.

The majority of genealogists begin their research online and often become frustrated with the lack of results. The cause might not be a lack of records at the specific site but the manner in which you’re performing the search! While basic search techniques work on all the major genealogy sites, you need to power up your search skills to get the most out of niche genealogy websites and uncover those hidden record sets!

Participants will learn basic online searching for the major genealogy websites. We’ll progress to understanding specific search parameters for specific sites. Next, we’ll discuss whether it is worth the time to track searches as well as how to keep track of all the best ways of searching for a specific site. Finally, we’ll explore different wildcard characters and search methodology to get the most out of a website.

Register to watch the live webinar. Look tomorrow for the recording in Legacy Family Tree’s webinar library. It should be available to watch for free for up to seven days.

The Québec Genealogical eSociety will host a free webinar, Stories from Mount Royal Cemetery, presented by the cemetery’s director of heritage programs, Myriam Cloutier, on Wednesday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.

A virtual guided tour of famous people buried in Mount Royal Cemetery will bring to life many interesting personalities with facts and anecdotes linking them to important historic events. These great Montrealers, who have impressive monuments to commemorate them, played a major role in the rise of steamships, railways, banks, industries and institutions such as hospitals, schools and museums. This is a sequel webinar to the introduction to the cemetery presented in March.

Register to watch the live webinar. The recording will be available afterward to society members.