William (Bill) Arthurs R. I. P.

Bill passed on Wednesday, 8 March, aged 92. Along with his wife Jeanette, he was a much-respected member of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa.

His obituary in the 18 March Ottawa Citizen records that “He developed an authoritative database of the genealogy of the Titus family (his mother’s line) that extends back 400 years and contains almost 200,000 names. Never one to do anything superficially, he developed expertise in the application of DNA analysis to genealogy and discovered that he is related (by marriage) to James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.”

Small in stature, big in heart, with a wry sense of humour, Bill founded the BIFHSGO DNA Special Interest Group and was named to the Society Hall of Fame in 2015.

One Reply to “William (Bill) Arthurs R. I. P.”

  1. So very sad. He was such a talented and generous soul. I will remember him with great fondness. Our annual bbqs at his place were always a great afternoon.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *