Are you newer to genealogy, and interested in taking an introductory course to help set you on the right path? If so, and if you're 50+ years old, you may be interested in joining me for a course I'm teaching April 29th to May 17, 2024! Edmonton Lifelong Learners Association (ELLA) is once again having me teach Introduction to Genealogy. This year, it will be from 9:15 am to 10:15 am Monday to Friday for three weeks. Ella runs a whole slate of interesting courses that you can take on the University of Alberta campus. Registration opens April 3, 2024 at 10 AM. You can check out the details on I ..read more

Have you taken a DNA test, but struggle to do anything with your results? Have you sat through other DNA webinars, but failed to apply the lessons to further your own research? Or do you feel like you just need a living, breathing person to look at your results and make sure you’re on the right track? Then this DNA workshop is for you! This beginner DNA course for genealogy is meant for people not necessarily new to genealogy, but those who want to use their DNA results to try to confirm their traditional family tree research.   Our next workshop is running in February 2024, with a parti ..read more

All set for my presentation tonight on using your DNA matches to identify an unknown ancestor. The presentation is for the Strathcona County Public Library. It is a free presentation, but registration is required, and there are spots left. This is my second presentation for the Strathcona County library, but the first one in-person, so I'm looking forward to visiting them for the first time. I'm going to talk about how you can use your DNA to confirm the paper-trail research in your tree, and how you can use it to help identify unknown ancestors, like a great grandparent or a great-great gran ..read more

I’ve been working on my presentation “The Irish in Western Canada” for the upcoming Alberta Genealogical Society Conference. As is often the case when I prepare for a presentation, I’ve learned a lot in the process, and now I’m quite excited about the topic. I’m not just talking about how our Irish ancestors arrived in Western Canada, I’m also talking about how to research them, including using some unique record sets people might not have considered before. If you want to attend the conference, or find out more about the other speakers and topics, you can visit the AGS website. If you can’t a ..read more

As part of their Métis Project, La Société généalogique du Nord-Ouest, Edmonton is hosting a lecture entitled: Finding Indigenous Ancestors: with a historical overview of the Métis Nation. The presentation will highlight documentary and internet resources and Indigenous Languages. The presentation will be in English by Sheila Genaille, Monday April 24 at 7:00 pm Mountain Daylight Saving Time. Membership with the SGNO is not required to attend. To attend via Zoom register at: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIof-yhqDMiEtG1m5MRJrtyZ5hCmgCMQlPB Visit the SGNO website for information on ..read more

A cousin that I recently connected with, thanks to DNA, lead me to some interesting information about my 2X great aunt, Victoria Lepage. I already knew a fair bit about her- as a child, my mother had proudly shown me Bellerose school at Fort Edmonton Park, and told me that Victoria had been an early teacher there. Victoria was born in 1847 and came to Alberta from Rimouski, Québec in 1890.[1] She and some of her brothers settled in Lamoureux, near Fort Saskatchewan. Victoria was the third schoolteacher at Lamoureux, and later taught in various places around Edmonton. She never married, and liv ..read more

Irish research can be difficult, due to record loss or how the records were kept in the first place. When records fail us, sometimes DNA can come to the rescue. This is a case study from my own family, based on my father’s Y-DNA results and how we used them to rule out a hypothesized relationship in his family tree. I have permission to use my dad’s results for these post, but the first names of everyone have been changed for their privacy. I tested my dad’s Y-DNA back in 2014. For the next 5 years, he did not have another match to anyone with his surname. He matched several men with the King ..read more

I received my certificate for completing the Advanced Methodology & Evidence Analysis course from the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research (IGHR). I sure did a lot of continuing ed this year, taking advantage of these Institutes moving online, but it feels great to be done, and applying new skills to my work. I took this course, because it is a prerequisite for a lot of other institute courses, opening up my possibilities wide for future years ..read more

FamilySearch has digitized the Heir & Devisee 2nd Commission Records for Ontario, and some are freely available to view from home. You do need to sign up for a free FamilySearch account in order to be able to view. The link to the collection is here. Oddly, the older records for the 1st Heir & Devisee Commission are also digitized, but can only be viewed from a Family History Center. The link to that collection is here. *Since the older records are the ones not available, it’s not a privacy issue. One of my biggest genealogical wishes is for the Archives of Ontario to choose a wider an ..read more

One of the advantages of everything moving online during the pandemic is that I was able to take three genealogy institute courses. The certificate for the second of these Institute courses arrived yesterday! Forensic Genealogy has a lot of different branches, basically encompassing cases that have legal implications. Despite being an American course, it was still very relevant to me and I learned a lot ..read more