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2014 Branch
News
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Great Moments in Genealogy
Quinte Branch Presentation
Article by John Carew;
photographs by Georgette Green
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Saturday, November 15, 2014 at the
Quinte West Council Chambers was a different kind of presentation event
than what most of our audiences are used to. Spurred on as a result of a
speaker cancellation, Quinte Branch decided to have an open forum
discussion about genealogy, led by members of our Executive Committee,
but intended to involve everyone in attendance as participants. Guess
what: it worked!
The only planned part of the afternoon involved two short sessions,
starting with opening remarks by the Chair, which included a few brief
announcements, sharing of some photos of a recent event honouring Pte.
John Johnson, a veteran of the War of 1812, a few photographs and
background stories about World War 1 participation by members of the
Carew and Faulkner families, and reference to some salvaged glass plate
negatives of photographs from the pre-war period, Camp Petawawa, 1912.
The Chair then invited the assembly to introduce themselves and offer
highlights and challenges about their research. Following a rather
robust round of introductions and insights to everyone’s research
efforts and priorities, Bob Dawes provided the second planned session, a
short talk on the seven golden rules of genealogical research. The
Golden Rules talk (Start with yourself, Be organized, Interview your
relatives, Stay focused on one family, Learn about surnames and origins,
Join Societies and take courses, and make computers and the internet
part of your tool kit) normally serves as the introduction of a longer
Genealogy 101 presentation, but on its own, was very useful to the
veteran researcher as a reminder as well as to the newer and less
experienced in the crowd. Between Bob’s ideas brought out during his
presentation, and the questions and concerns that were lingering and
festering from the earlier round of introductions, we had a very dynamic
and highly informative Q & A session to end the day, which had to be
halted to allow time for refreshments. Nonetheless, several
conversations continued in the spirit of the afternoon, almost to the
point of making it touch and go for us to clean up and depart the
premises by closing time at 4 PM sharp.
At our Saturday debrief at Tim’s following the Great Moments in
Genealogy presentation, it was decided that we might want to do this
again. The brilliance of that decision could be the coffee talking, but
I suspect it was the coffee and the obviously welcome opportunity to
share ideas and great moments in research. Go figure!!
PS: If you want to get a refresher on the Seven Golden Rules, download
the Genealogy 101 course package on our website.
PPS: Merry Christmas!
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Timelines and Chronologies: Secrets of
Success
Digital Presentation by Geoff Rasmussen
Article by John Carew;
photographs by Georgette Green
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Geoffrey D. Rasmussen graduated with a
degree in Genealogy and Family History from Brigham Young University
and has served as director and vice-president of the Utah
Genealogical Association. He is a dynamic speaker on all forms of
genealogy technology, and hosts the Legacy Family Tree webinar
series. He has authored books, videos, articles, and websites, and
plays a role in the development of the Legacy Family Tree software
program. This seminar was recorded before a live audience in
Anchorage, Alaska, at the 2013 Anchorage Genealogical Society. Using
Legacy Family Tree software, Geoff Rasmussen demonstrated:
- Benefits of using a timeline in your genealogical research
- What a good timeline includes
- Methods of creating a timeline, and
- How to embed historical events into an ancestor's timeline
The value of this presentation
beyond sponsorship and explanation of Legacy and its features can be
easily understood in the context of exposing the researcher to
information which already exists, but in a fashion different from
the standard displays used during the acquisition and assembly of
information into family tree programs which has been found during
the research process. We all tend to suffer from tunnel vision to
some extent and the presentation of facts about a particular
individual using an alternative display such as a timeline display
and a chronology of events can be quite beneficial and can serve
many purposes. In short, it wakes us up to other possibilities when
trying to analyze data. A timeline display is present in most of the
available family tree software programs, but is generally provided
as an alternate presentation format. Anyone using Ancestry is
familiar with the timeline display as it is the standard display for
each person in your Ancestry Tree. Legacy has embedded some
additional features which can be incorporated into a person’s
timeline temporarily to help with analysis of an individual’s
lifespan, their personal and family experiences and significant
world events which may have had an impact on their decision making,
successes and failures.
The best recommendation to be offered to all researchers is to look
at the timeline display in your current software, and try the
additional features which are provided, whether it is Legacy, Roots
Magic, Ancestral Quest, or Family Tree Maker, or any others for that
matter. Timeline is a very useful display, and we all know that each
and every tool which we can master in the conduct of family research
will eventually be of help, sooner or later.
This Legacy webinar presentation is free to view online
here and the handout is free to download as well.
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Executive members: Terry Buttler,
Vice-Chair; John Carew, Chair; Bob Dawes,
Database & IT/Indexing
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Discovering the Lennox and Addington
Archives
Article by John Carew;
photography by Lynn Heale
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On Saturday, September 20, Quinte
Branch kicked off the fall session of general meetings and
presentations at the Quinte West Council Chambers in Trenton with a
visit from a genealogy colleague from Napanee, Shelley Respondek.
Shelley graduated from the University of Toronto in 2005 with a
Masters Degree in Archival Studies, and spent some time working at
the Kingston General Hospital Archives before taking on a three year
appointment with the Red Deer and District Archives. In 2008,
Shelley was selected to replace the retiring archivist at the Lennox
and Addington County Museum and Archives in Napanee, and has been
front and centre and heavily involved in the upgrade and addition to
their facilities in Napanee. The Museum and Archives recently
celebrated its grand reopening 23 August 2014. Her presentation, in
three parts, highlighted and showcased the major components and
equipment in the new facilities, delved into the myriad resources
and publications for genealogical research, and closed with a how to
primer on researching and discovering those hard to find and
oftentimes overlooked nuggets of fact which enhance better
understanding of the lives of our ancestors.
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Shelley took full advantage of her
PowerPoint slide presentation to show just how wonderful the updated
surroundings are for work and research, and included a number of
slides depicting the new and improved storage and display features
of the Archives. Her tips on how to proceed with research, amongst
other things, emphasized the extensive photo and document
collections.
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John Carew, Chair, and Shelley Respondek
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Thanks to Shelley, we all gained a
very special insight to the treasures that await genealogists and
family historians alike at the Lennox and Addington County Museum
and Archives. Do yourself a big favour and explore
their
website
online, and then follow up with a visit in person to more fully enjoy the
new facilities and what they have to offer. You won’t be
disappointed!
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Doors Open 2014 at the Quinte Genealogical Centre
Article by John Carew; photography
by Cheryl Levy
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On Saturday, September 13, Quinte
Branch participated in the Bay of Quinte Region “Doors Open” event
at the Quinte Genealogical Centre. In the form of an open house from
10 am to 4 pm, there was a steady stream of the curious, friends of
OGS members, current members, and some potential new members who
were thinking of starting a family history project, or were in the
early stages of discovering their past. Quinte Branch volunteers
were on hand to answer questions, explain the roles and function of
Quinte Branch and OGS, and show how to use our library research
resources. Of particular note, one individual came from Peterborough
to see our research library and hopefully find some ancestors in the
process. She was not disappointed, and spent a good part of the day
working on the computer databases and perusing our publications to
find numerous ancestral connections and supporting facts. She
promised to return at some future date because there was more to be
found and recorded than she could possibly manage in one visit. Like
our Peterborough visitor, several people took this opportunity to
visit our library to prepare themselves for future family history
research initiatives.
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Using Library resources at the Quinte Genealogy Centre during
Doors Open 2014
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As an added bonus, we had two courtesy
calls at the library during the day. First, the Hon. Hugh P
O’Neil stopped by to say hello and to discuss a number of things
including future donation of the O’Neil family genealogy to our
library. Later in the afternoon, Justice (Ret’d) George Inrig
and his wife Elaine paid us a visit, and George presented Quinte
Branch with a copy of his recently published limited edition
autobiography, “Who Cares”
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Justice (Ret’d) George Inrig and John Carew, Chair of Quinte
Branch OGS
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Everyone who attended went away with
our takeaway bag of pamphlets and tools to encourage and further
interest them in genealogy and family history. I hope our guests
found the day as informative and worthwhile as much as our
volunteers found the time enjoyable and rewarding. Thank you to
volunteers Debb Walker, Terry and Sharron Buttler, Cheryl Levy, Lynn
Heale, Larry McQuoid and yours truly.
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Making the Most of the Canadian Census Records
Article by John Carew; photo
by Cheryl Levy
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On Saturday, 21 June, Quinte Branch
held its final general meeting and genealogy presentation before the
summer break. The digital presentation, made available to Quinte
Branch, courtesy of Millennia Corp and Kathryn Lake Hogan,
focused on the Canadian Census events from 1851 to 1911.
We have all accessed these Census records in the course of doing our
genealogical research, and I suspect that to a certain degree, most
of us are well aware that while all of these records provide a
standard and similar set of facts about respondents, each Census has
its own set of variations based on Government of the Day information
requirements. In her presentation, Kathryn provided us with a clear
dissertation on what is common to all of these Census records, and
what is unique to each. She used three family groups from her own
research to illustrate how these similarities and differences
actually play out in terms of real research. Through the use of
these practical examples, Kathryn ably demonstrated the conundrum we
have all experienced with these types of historical records:
sometimes the Census facts recorded are not what we are expecting to
find. Predictable and expected facts are usually present in good
proportion, but surprises and respondent errors abound! It is what
makes family history research so much fun.
The detailed handout which accompanied the digital presentation is a
wonderful takeaway, and will no doubt prove to be a valuable asset
time and time again. This presentation is highly recommended if you
have a chance to see it. For more information about this
presentation and the link to view a free preview:
click here.
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Membership Update:
Our Membership Coordinator,
Lynn Heale, reminded us about the Partial Year Membership offer by
OGS, which is available June 1 to October 31 for $35.70. This allows
you to join right away rather than waiting for the next calendar
year. Don't forget to join Quinte Branch for $10.
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Membership in OGS runs for the
calendar year (January – December). Individuals joining after
October 31st will receive a membership for the next calendar year.
For more information about memberships,
click here.
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Building Personal Archives
Article by
John Carew; photo by Georgette Green
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On Saturday, May 17, 2014, Quinte
Branch members and guests gathered to hear Stephanie Wright,
manager of Timelines Research, speak on the subject of
building personal archives with a presentation entitled, A Family
Archive: Love Your Ephemera. The premise for and value of this
presentation is the well known fact that far too many amateur
genealogists and family historians (me and a few others I suspect)
become engrossed in the search for information and ultimately the
documentation and populating of family trees, at the expense of
taking proper care of the very documents, artifacts, photographs and
ephemera discovered during the family history journey. The
motivation to be gained from Stephanie’s talk was obvious and
forthright: to continue or begin efforts to identify, organize and
preserve those valuable assets that should be embodied in a personal
family history archive.
Luckily for those who attended the lecture, and for those curious
enough to read this short article, she provided a Do It Yourself (DIY)
handout which explains just how to approach this all important task.
It outlines and provides the salient details on how to proceed and
create your archive in five logical steps: Gather, Sort,
Identify, Store, and Digitize. Her 90 minute presentation, which
kept our attention throughout, basically followed the thrust and
content of the handout, and was enhanced with several non-attributed
anecdotes and examples of client research problem solving. Those of
us already committed to this genealogical undertaking were able to
mentally validate our current practices for archiving and perhaps
learn a few new tricks, and the rest of us got a big leg up on how
to start and proceed in the right direction.
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Stephanie Wright being thanked by John Carew, Chair
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Download
presentation handout
For those who may wish
to further explore the slate of
professional services offered,
visit the Timelines
Research website.
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Researching at Queen’s University
Article by
John Carew; photos by Georgette Green
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If you took in the April 2014 Quinte
Branch Meeting on the 19th, Easter weekend offered a special bonus
for those of us who were present for Nancy Cutway’s lecture
on Researching at Queens’s University. Our decision to ask Nancy to
come and speak to us was embedded in the question, “Does a
university library hold anything of interest to genealogists?”
Because family history transcends inter alia history, geography,
sociology, political studies, religious studies and so much more,
the answer is a big fat YES! After hearing Nancy’s views on the
subject, there was only one conclusion to be had: any University
with library holdings that support these academic fields of study is
a treasure trove for genealogists. So, with that fact in hand, Nancy
went on to give us a few details about what to expect, how to find
it, where to find it, and how to prepare for the experience of
researching at Queen’s.
Of the several libraries at Queen’s, Nancy focused our attention on
three of them, the Joseph S. Stauffer Library which is the main
campus library, the Douglas Library which houses the W. D. Jordan
Special Collections and Music Library, and the Queen’s University
Archives which are housed at Kathleen Ryan Hall. A limited overview
of what these libraries have to offer follows below.
The Stauffer Library holdings include Government documents,
including some complete Censuses of Canada, Newspaper Collections,
vintage and current, early Canadian journals, Fire Insurance Plans
for communities with links to Library and Archives Canada, Ordnance
Survey Maps of Ireland, circa 1835, publications such as Victoria
County History (Counties of England), various and sundry
publications about United Empire Loyalists, and far too many
individual books and publications on topics of significance to
genealogy to be mentioned here.
The Special Collections Library includes rare books, including early
Canadian publications, the Edith and Lorne Pierce Collection of
Canadiana, and much more. The Archives include, notably, the H. C.
Burleigh Papers, covering research into Loyalist families.
If you think this is not enough in the way of specific mention of
documents to peak your interest, there is more. Nancy provided our
Quinte Branch OGS Library with a Catalogue of Newspaper Holdings in
Queen’s University Libraries, prepared by her in 2010. In addition,
she offered as a handout a partial listing of items of genealogical
interest in Queen’s University Libraries, prepared for Quinte Branch
OGS, and provided by her on April 19, 2014. This six page partial
listing which covers all three libraries is available for download
by members as a PDF file. The link will be posted in the June issue
of The Searchlight.
Before you run off to Kingston on a hunch Queen’s may have something
to make your trip worthwhile, Nancy suggested that you do a little
preparation and planning. This link
http://library.queensu.ca/
will enable you to search the libraries for clues about documents of
interest to your field of genealogical search. You will also be able
to find out more about the libraries from this site. In addition,
this link,
http://www.queensu.ca/encyclopedia/index.html provides a
detailed history of Queen’s University, its facilities and
buildings, and equally important, its people, past and present. This
alphabetical listing about Queen’s will give you lots of background
about the University and the Libraries you are going to visit, and
more if you wish.
So, thanks to Nancy, Queen’s University up the road at Kingston,
which we have all known about our whole lives, is no longer just an
excellent university. It is a genealogical research destination! See
you there!
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Cheryl Levy, Webmaster, thanked our April guest speaker: Nancy
Cutway
New computers for Quinte Branch
Research Library
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Researching at the Marilyn Adams
Genealogical Research Centre
by John Carew; photos by
Georgette Green
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Our Ides of March 2014 Genealogy
Meeting at the Quinte West Council Chambers was a very successful
double-header, combining a designated Annual General Meeting
(AGM) for Quinte Branch OGS with a presentation about Ameliasburg’s
very own Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre (MAGRC)
and the 7th Town Historical Society.
The AGM was called to order at 1 pm, the principal objective of
which was to seek Branch approval of 4 Motions covering the 2013
Financials Audit, the proposed Budget for 2014, the 2013 Chair’s
Annual Report to OGS, and the slate for the 2014 Branch Executive
Committee. Each item on the agenda was presented by the Chair in
succession, with each Motion read, moved, seconded and voted on by
the members present. All motions were approved and carried.
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Barbara Dawes, Volunteer;
Larry McQuoid, Treasurer; Lois Duggan, Social Hostess;
Cheryl Levy, Webmaster; Debb Walker, Publicity; Debbie McDonald,
Secretary.
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Following this short AGM for Quinte
Branch, Bob Dawes introduced our guest speaker.
Diane Godbout is the sitting President of the 7th Town
Historical Society, having taken over the reins last April from Ian
Reilly. Diane is a graduate of Queen’s University and she held
various managerial positions with Bell Canada over a 30 year period.
She also served as Governor of Loyalist College for 6 years, and was
a Director of 7th Town from 2000 until her appointment as President
of 7th Town Historical Society in 2013.
In her introductory remarks, Diane offered a short history of the
7th Town Historical Society which was formed in 1969 and the MAGRC
which was established in 1994 at Ameliasburg in the City of Prince
Edward County. The main topic of her presentation focused on the
library holdings at MAGRC and 7th Town which are the treasure sought
by family historians and genealogists who come from far and wide to
conduct research. While she covered all of the major categories and
types of research resources in their library, Diane made special
emphasis on the significance of their 1200 family genealogies which
have been donated over several decades, the value of CemSearch
as a research tool for birth, death and cemetery information in the
form of digital cemetery transcripts for our very large local
community which shares this database, and the unique and very
precious Hastings County Land Records and Abstract Books,
including Deeds and occasional Wills for the lucky researcher.
Diane offered her views on the several particular advantages of
doing research in our own communities, noting that there are many
types of documents and records which have local origins and subject
matter which is not available anywhere else or through internet
sources. She made particular mention of the fact that they are in
the midst of completing a GPS project for their cemetery list
locations, and that they are soon going to tackle indexing of the
Land Records for Belleville and Trenton. Following her talk,
excerpts from the 2013 History Moments DVD were shown,
featuring the Marilyn Adams Centre and the life of Marilyn Adams.
During the Q&A which followed, Diane fielded many questions on her
presentation, the MAGRC and 7th Town. Diane was thanked by the Chair
of Quinte Branch for her very informative presentation about one of
the Bay of Quinte’s local and highly valued historical and
genealogical resources.
Click here for Marilyn
Adams Genealogical Research Centre website
Also check out: 7th
Town Historical Society and
Quinte Kin
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7th Town Historical Society President,
Diane Godbout was thanked by
Quinte Branch Chair, John Carew
for her informative presentation.
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Quinte Branch offers a variety of books
and CDs relevant to local research,
including Quinte cemetery transcriptions
at our Resource Table.
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Digital Images: Scanning, Editing and Preserving Your Photos
Digital Presentation by
Geoff Rasmussen, with permission
by John Carew
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On February 15th at the Quinte West
Council Chambers, our presentation of things genealogical took a bit
of a turn and a twist. For the first time Quinte Branch OGS opted
for a webinar event, partly for a change of pace and partly to
evaluate the trend and effectiveness of this format in our own back
yard.
This premiere digital video and audio lecture was attended by about
45 members and visitors, all of whom either were practicing the
skill sets involved and were looking for some tips to improve their
levels of expertise or were wanting to get involved in the process
and hoping for a leg up before they started. Based on feedback
during and after the presentation, no one went away disappointed!
Geoff Rasmussen graduated with a degree in Genealogy and Family
History from Brigham Young University and has served as director and
vice-president of the Utah Genealogical Association. He is a dynamic
genealogy speaker on all forms of genealogy technology, and as host
of the Legacy Family Tree webinar series, has spoken virtually to
nearly 100 different countries. He recently received the
Distinguished Presenter Award at the prestigious RootsTech
conference in Salt Lake City. His biographical summary is spot on as
evidenced by his presentation which was both very informative and
easy to follow. A handout available to attendees provided a
worthwhile set of notes and reminders of the major elements of
Geoff’s lecture.
The subject matter included the basics of digital imaging, a review
of terminology and the fundamentals of scanning, editing and
preserving old and new photos, including pitfalls to avoid and a
number of sound recommendations on how to approach each task. After
a considerable number of “how to” explanations with lots of graphics
to demonstrate the right, wrong, and better, best possibilities, we
conducted our own Q&A session before calling it a day and finishing
off the event with coffee, cookies and conversation.
If I am any judge of the success of this event, our members should
expect more of this type of high quality presentations in the
future. A sensible balance of webinars and live presentations will
expand our choices of topics and presenters to make the most of our
learning experience. Here’s hoping!!
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Larry McQuoid & Rod Green checking out our Resource table (Photo by
Georgette Green)
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Geoff Rasmussen, host of Legacy Webinars
Check out more webinars
here |
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Crouse-Wanamaker Lecture
What's Beneath Your Feet?
by John Carew, photos by Georgette Green
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Our 2014 series of presentations on
genealogy and its companion interests was kicked off on 18 January
at the Quinte West Council Chambers with the annual Crouse–Wanamaker
Lecture, tying together the history of our very own Quinte Branch of
the Ontario Genealogical Society with the current issues and
revelations of the day.
The Chairperson, John Carew, extended thanks on behalf of the Branch
to Tracey Cuddington, Mary Culloden and Clare Westheuser for their
contributions to our genealogical efforts, and who have recently
withdrawn from their positions as committee coordinators. We wish
them well and look forward to their continuing support and interest
in our activities and undertakings as Branch Members. He also
informed the audience that Marilyn Harry is doing well after her hip
surgery and that she hopes to be back in fighting shape as soon as
possible.
The Chair then turned his attention to the Crouse-Wanamaker Lecture
with a few words of history and reflection. Gordon Crouse was our
first Chairperson in 1980 when the Branch was formed, and
furthermore was the instructor for the initial cadre of 26 Charter
Members whose training he oversaw in the fall of 1979, when 32 local
citizens expressed a desire to get some formal education to enhance
their family history research aspirations. Most of that genealogy
class joined Quinte Branch as Charter Members, and many others
followed. Loral and Mildred Wanamaker were accorded Honorary
Membership in recognition of their longstanding involvement in
genealogy and local history such as their early involvement in the
7th Town Historical Society. From this small group of well motivated
budding genealogists and with the leadership of Gordon Crouse and
the inspiring experience of the Wanamakers, Quinte Branch
flourished. Rodney Green, an original member of the Branch, and
first Treasurer is still serving the Branch today in fine fashion in
our Research department. We owe them all a lot for their foresight,
dedication to the Branch and commitment to genealogy. Bravo!
The Chair then introduced the guest speaker, Orland French,
local author and former journalist with the Kingston Whig Standard,
the Ottawa Citizen and the Globe and Mail, who provided us with some
insights to his recently released book about the geology of Prince
Edward County, entitled Wind, Water, Barley and Wine.
His presentation on this subject, “What’s Beneath Your Feet?” was
accompanied by a reminiscence about his uncle, Pte. Oscar French,
who gave his life during WW1 at Vimy Ridge, and whose story will be
the subject of the next book published from the desk of Orland
French.
Orland devoted the bulk of his presentation to the world history
backdrop of the emergence of Prince Edward County as a glacially
ravaged landscape, rising out of the depths of the Laurentide
Glacial Ice Sheet melt, which occurred approximately 14,000 - 13,000
years ago. Once the melt excess had found its way to the Atlantic
Ocean, and the shores of Lake Ontario’s larger predecessors had
narrowed to relatively current positions, Prince Edward County was
now part of the Ontario landscape. While home to about 25,000
people, “the County” is better known for its unique geology and
visual grandeur, of which there are several features and splendours,
and perhaps less so for excesses of opportunity. Stripped of much of
its topsoil by the glacial rub, the land has been used and continues
to be used in our time to advantage where possible, but “the County”
provides for such a wonderful combination of onshore and offshore
activities, that few of us would fault the Laurentide Glacier for
what it left behind for us to cherish.
The book, Wind, Water, Barley and Wine, offers a
wonderful opportunity to learn about the place we live in or what is
a frequent destination for the rest of us, its birth as present day
land mass instead of aqua sub-structure, and considerable insight as
to what we are able to appreciate and take advantage of as a place
to call home, to play, to work and enjoy. That would be “the
County”!
Check out Orland’s website
here.
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Guest speaker Orland French is thanked by Bob Dawes |
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