Tuesday 22 January 2013

Migration-themed lectures for Ontario conference

Conveying its theme of migration, Pulling up Stakes – Putting Down Roots is the name of this year's conference organised by the Ontario Genealogical Society.

It'll be taking place in Oshawa, on the Durham College/UOIT campus, from Friday 31 May to Sunday 2 June, and there's a terrific line-up of lectures to help researchers understand hows and whys of their ancestors leaving their homelands.

There are also five Irish-themed lectures, as follows:
  • The Scots-Irish, with Dick Doherty: Will cover origins and reasons for emigration, and 17th and 18th century research sources.
  • Developments in Irish online research, with Dick Doherty: Will explore free and fee websites with an emphasis on those with searchable databases, digital images or original records, or speciality sites.
  • Misconceptions and pitfalls, with Dick Doherty: Will dispel the myths and educate researchers about pitfalls of ten Irish record sets.
  • Free migration to Canada, with Roger Kershaw.: Will examine the push-pull factors for free migrants using sources at the UK National Archives.
  • Irish Palatine loyalists and later arrivals, with Carolyn Heard: Will explore the migration experiences of Irish Palatines from Germany to Ireland to North America.
These are just five lectures of the jam-packed scheduled. As well as workshops focussing on migration from places other than Ireland, the programme includes lectures dealing with migration across Canada and North America, with methodology, skills building, record analysis and problem solving.

Definitely a must-attend conference for Canadian researchers. You can find the full programme and details of how to enrol here. It's worth mentioning that there's an Early Bird discount for those who register before 31 March.