Nanaimo Family History Society

NFHS Executive Meeting
2023-10-02 18:30 - 19:30, 2023-11-06 18:30 - 19:30, 2023-12-04 18:30 - 19:30, 2024-01-08 13:30 - 15:00, 2024-02-05 13:30 - 15:00, 2024-03-04 13:30 - 15:00 (America/Denver)

Stories of My Hawaiian Family
2023-10-05 18:30 - 19:30
Stories of My Hawaiian Family, Susan Garcia

Susan will describe the places in Canada where her Hawaiian ancestors lived and how various gatherings have attempted to keep the Hawaiian descendants celebrating their culture, especially through dance. Similarly various descendants have different stories about their heritage and brick walls & red herrings abound for the few genealogists in the family.

Genealogy Book Club
2023-10-12 18:30 - 19:30
Genealogy Book Club, Terry Hartley

The book club will study “Tracing Your Ancestors Using DNA”, edited by Graham Holt. The group will share questions and ideas which arise from reading the book. Everyone interested in the use of DNA for genealogy will enjoy the discussions, regardless of previous experience. The book will continue to be the focus of several more sessions in the spring of 2024. Register once for all 3 Fall sessions.
Note. The print version of the book is only available to order. Try Chapters or Amazon. The ebook is on Kindle and Google.

NFHS General Meeting
2023-10-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Beban Park Social Centre, Room 7, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo,, BC, V9T 3K7, Canada
Dalys Barney of Nanaimo, BC, Telling My Norwegian Story, will appear in person and will have a booklet to sell, Message on a Bottle: Nanaimo’s Soda History
Dalys Barney is the great granddaughter of Ole and Konstanse (Fyhn) Olsen who came to Canada separately from Norway prior to meeting and marrying in Bella Coola in 1914. Dalys’ talk will cover the story of their individual emigrations from Norway; the life they built together in Hagensborg in the Bella Coola Valley; and their eventual move to Vancouver Island in 1935.
Drawing on her experience working as a library technician at Vancouver Island University, Dalys will also give a brief overview of some of the resources available at VIU that might be of interest to the NFHS.
In addition to her interest in family history, Dalys is also passionate about local history. In 2023, she self-published a booklet, Message on a Bottle: Nanaimo’s Soda History, which is a look at the city’s soda industry, focusing on single-serving glass soda bottles and local manufacturers. She’s a member of the Nanaimo Historical Society, blogs at vanislehistoryexplorer.ca, and can be reached at vihistoryexplorer@gmail.com
(Hybrid Meeting for members to appear in person at Beban Park or by Zoom)

Self-Publishing 101
2023-10-26 18:30 - 19:30
Self-Publishing 101, Mali Bain

An Overview of Publishing Your Family History
This session will give an overview of the steps involved in moving from a draft text to a completed book. It will also compare traditional and self-publishing methods and share some of the options available to have your book printed for family and/or the public.
This how-to session happens one day after a similarly titled session at VIU Elder College. Come to this session with your questions specific to family history publishing. We’ll go through your questions and the options available to you.
Mali is a family historian, facilitator, and certified Guided Autobiography instructor. She holds a B.A. (UBC), B.Ed. (SFU), and an M.A. in Adult Learning and Education (UBC). She has published her family history book and now helps others complete the books they have been dreaming of through NextGen Story: Custom Publishing.

Researching Your Elusive UK Ag Labs
2023-11-02 18:30 - 19:30
Researching Your Elusive UK Ag Labs, Carolyn Kemp
“Ag Lab” is a census abbreviation denoting “Agricultural Labourer”. Carolyn will present a couple of case studies from her research into her own “Ag Labs”.
Carolyn is the editor of our journal, Ancestree.

DNA Book Club
2023-11-09 18:30 - 19:30, 2023-12-14 18:30 - 19:30
DNA Book Club, Terry Hartley
The book club will study “Tracing Your Ancestors Using DNA”, edited by Graham Holt. The group will share questions and ideas which arise from reading the book. Everyone interested in the use of DNA for genealogy will enjoy the discussions, regardless of previous experience. The book will continue to be the focus of several more sessions in the spring of 2024. Register once for all 3 Fall sessions.
Note. The print version of the book is only available to order. Try Chapters or Amazon. The ebook is on Kindle and Google.

How To Use Google Photos
2023-11-16 18:30 - 19:30
How To Use Google Photos, Beth Skala

Google Photos is a free app/program that provides utilities for organizing your photo collections and sharing them with your family. Beth will demonstrate how she has used the program to organize her own photos and describe the benefits of it.

NFHS General Meeting
2023-11-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Beban Park Social Centre, Room 7, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo,, BC, V9T 3K7, Canada
Captain Colin MacGregor Stevens of Richmond, BC – will appear by Zoom.
He has agreed to speak at our “Remembrance Day” meeting on military genealogy. He spoke at the 2021 Remembrance Day meeting of BCGS and was well received.
Zoom only meeting

How and Why to Transfer Your Ancestry DNA to Gedmatch and My Heritage
2023-11-23 18:30 - 19:30
How and Why to Transfer Your Ancestry DNA to Gedmatch and My Heritage, Susan Bates

Ancestry has by far the largest database of persons whose DNA has been tested there. Unfortunately, it does not allow its subscribers to “see” their DNA at the chromosome level. Both Gedmatch and My Heritage allow uploads of DNA data that was obtained in Ancestry testing, and they both have tools that provide analysis of DNA matches at the chromosome level.

Did I Marry My Cousin? …Eww!
2023-11-30 18:30 - 19:30
Did I Marry My Cousin? …Eww!, Ruth Stewart
Ruth p
Did I Marry My Cousin? …Eww!, Ruth Stewart
Ruth proves her relatives are in her husband’s family tree through DNA and paper research.roves her relatives are in her husband’s family tree through DNA and paper research.

DNA Tools in My Heritage
2023-12-07 18:30 - 19:30
DNA Tools in My Heritage, Gina Dingwell

Gina uses the DNA tools available in My Heritage to research her matches. She will demonstrate the tools and talk about how they’ve benefited her research.
Gina’s research into her family history began at the age of 16 in the days of the IGI, handwritten logs and letters with SAS envelopes. As an amateur, the discovery of Ancestry greatly enhanced her research. The tools of My Heritage allowed her to further expand her research and more deeply understand DNA relationships.
Gina had a long career as an educator and researcher in health care (MA Ed).
She completed a Textile Arts degree in 2010.

NFHS Social
2023-12-11 14:00 - 16:00 | Beban Park Social Centre, Room 7, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo,, BC, V9T 3K7, Canada
TBA

Genealogy Book Club, Terry Hartley
2024-01-11 18:30 - 20:00, 2024-02-08 18:30 - 20:00, 2024-03-14 18:30 - 20:00
The book club has been studying “Tracing Your Ancestors Using DNA”, edited by Graham S. Holton. We will continue to focus on this book for 6 more sessions: January – June of 2024. The group shares questions and ideas which arise from reading the book. Everyone interested in the use of DNA for genealogy will enjoy the discussions, regardless of previous experience. The January session will discuss Chapter 4. Note. The print version of the book is only available to order. Try Chapters or Amazon. The ebook is on Kindle and Google.
Register once for all 6 sessions, held on the second Thursday of the month.

NFHS General Meeting
2024-01-15 19:00 - 21:00
Jamie Brown from the Surrey Public Library, Cloverdale Branch
Jamie will be giving us her presentation on “Tips to get the most out of Ancestry and Find My Past”.
by Zoom

Did I Marry My Cousin? …Eww! Ruth Stewart
2024-01-18 18:30 - 20:00
Ruth proves her relatives are in her husband’s family tree through DNA and paper research.

Brick Wall Busting, Donna MacIver
2024-01-25 18:30 - 20:00
Do you have a dead-end on your tree that you’ve been trying to break through? Or are you new to family history research and unsure where to start? Please bring your problems and questions to this session, along with the ideas you’ve already tried. Donna will facilitate a discussion amongst the participants to brainstorm potential solutions and help you on the road to success!
Register once for 3 sessions: January 25, March 28, and May 23.

My Irish Ancestors’ Ever-Changing Religious Affiliations, Penny Bent
2024-02-01 18:30 - 20:00
Penny will follow her family’s religious “explorations” in Ireland in the late 1800’s.

Surprising Findings at Newspapers.com, Aleda Spring
2024-02-15 18:30 - 20:00
Aleda has found this website to be very helpful. She will describe some of her surprising and interesting finds there.

NFHS General Meeting & AGM
2024-02-19 19:00 - 21:00
Annual General Meeting, including Election of Officers, followed by AHA moments by members.

by Zoom only

A Midshipman at Crimea, Tony Green
2024-02-29 18:30 - 20:00
Tony’s story is of his ancestor, Charles William Thomas Cookesley, witness after the fact of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Originally from Boulogne-sur-mer, this privileged doctor’s son started as a midshipman in Crimea but failed on the Australian goldfields.

Searching for British Ancestors Beyond the Census, Carolyn Kemp
2024-03-07 18:30 - 20:00
Carolyn will provide some examples from her research into less common resources such as apprenticeship papers, poor law records, and others.
