Happy New Year

Here’s a summary of genealogy events for early 2023, focusing on those in Eastern Ontario for the first three months and a few others for the next three months.

14 January: Wesley Johnston presentation Untangling “Family Thickets”: Cornwall to Canada, for BIFHSGO.

21 January: Sherilyn Bell presentation on Unusual Family History– What lies beneath, for Kingston Branch OGS.
21 January: Ken McKinlay presentation on Land Records for Genealogy,  for Quinte Branch OGS
21 January: Sarah Holla presentation Transcribing Goulborn, for Ottawa Branch OGS (OBOGS)

11 February: Dianne Brydon presentation Lust, Lucre and Lybell: An 18th Century Soap Opera, for BIFHSGO
11 February: Ken McKinlay performing Genealogical Miracles, for OBOGS

2-4 March: RootsTech

11 March: Shirley Monkhouse presents “There was a shot, after that everything is confusing.” for BIFHSGO
18 March TBA, for OBOGS

25 March: Gene-o-Rama (OBOGS)
25 March: Ulster Historical Foundation Day (BIFHSGO)

1 May: OPL Genealogy Day 

3-6 May: New England Regional Genealogical Consortium

4 May: Glenn Wright presentation for OGS monthly

31 May – 3 June: NGS Annual Conference

To end the year, an acknowledgement and thanks to the organizations that supported the blog by providing complimentary access to their services during the year. In alphabetical order:

Ancestry for access to full Ancestry.ca, newspapers.com and Fold3 subscriptions.

Findmypast for full access to findmypast.com.

Global Genealogy for review copies of Global Heritage Press publications on request.

Moreshead Magazines for pdf copies of Internet Genealogy.

MyHeritage for full access to MyHeritage.com.

Pen and Sword for review copies of publications in request.

I’m sad to relay the passing of Bob Serré last Tuesday.

He was Secretary and then President of the Gloucester Historical Society from 2009 to 2012. He was also Secretary of the Ottawa Branch of OGS.

Bob’s legacy to the community includes 23 authored publications on local area history listed in the Ottawa Public Library catalogue.

Gary Alan Bagley was one of the 10 founding members of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa  and a 40+ year member of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

In 1995 he compiled the details for Revenue Canada’s grant of BIFHSGO charitable status. He served the Society as Treasurer during the period from September 1994 to December 1996 and as Auditor from 2001 to 2004.

Gary remained an active researcher until later pre-COVID-19 years working on indexing the Orillia Packet and Times newspaper at Library and Archives Canada.

https://ottawacitizen.remembering.ca/obituary/gary-bagley-1086879031

This is an index of 253,123 records that typically include the name of the husband, the name of the wife, the name of the correspondent, and the year of the divorce.

The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 established the principle of “no-fault” divorce in England and Wales, allowing couples to obtain a divorce on the grounds of “irretrievable breakdown.” Prior to this act, couples could only obtain a divorce through private acts of Parliament or by proving adultery, cruelty, or desertion.

Between 1858 and 1937, the divorce rate in England and Wales steadily increased. 

After the Divorce Court (Procedure) Act of 1937 established the Divorce Court and set out the procedures for obtaining a divorce the number jumped dramatically.

Ancestry has these records to 1918 with images of the original court proceedings. Findmypast has an index collection to 1903.

Tom Lehrer Puts His Songs into the Public Domain & Makes Them Free to Download (for a Limited Time)