Phil Ainsworth is a retired CEO and Director of Education and long-time family historian. As a genealogist he is a member of OGS and of Quinte branch. Since retirement in 2000 he has become a full-time researcher and writer who has authored a number of articles pertaining to the history of Prince Edward County which have been published in a local magazine. He is soon to publish a book entitled: When Milk Came in Glass Bottles…A History of the Dairies of Prince Edward County. He is a member of the board of trustees of Prince Edward County Libraries and Archives and Treasurer of the Prince Edward Historical Society. He researches and writes Prince Edward County house histories. He also teaches genealogy courses using Family Tree Maker software and Ancestry.com. He is also currently writing a historical novel. He is a former
municipal politician. He has been a speaker and presenter at a number of seminars, workshops and conferences. He travels extensively across North America to do genealogical and historical research.
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Lesley Anderson works with Ancestry.ca to develop strategic relationships with archives and societies across Canada and acquire new Canadian historical records. A passionate family history researcher for more than 35 years, she is the Director of Education for the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO).
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Ruth Burkholder has been working in the local history and genealogy fields for the past 28 years. During this time she has seen the emphasis change from printed page and microfilm to microfiche and then to databases on floppy disks to the current online material, and has learned how to make the best use of all the resources available to her. She talks and teaches, writes books and compiles indexes, works for others and volunteers her time with historical and genealogical societies. Her biggest thrill comes, however, when she can help someone find their way through the maze of records to that EUREKA moment when they find the information they have been searching for.
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Sharon Callaghan, author of two books pertaining to Irish Montreal, is an avid researcher and history enthusiast. She has given presentations on Quebec Land Records and Quebec Notary Records. A long time passion for genealogy has led to tracing her Canadian roots back to early 1600s Quebec.
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Lisa Louise Cooke is the owner of Genealogy Gems, a genealogy and family history multi-media company. She is Producer and Host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, the popular online genealogy audio show as well as the Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast, both available at www.GenealogyGems.com, in iTunes, and through the free Genealogy Gems Toolbar. Her podcasts bring genealogy news, research strategies, expert interviews and inspiration to genealogists in 75 countries around the world. In addition to Genealogy Gems, Lisa works closely with Family Tree Magazine as producer and host of the Family Tree Magazine Podcast, a regular article author for the magazine, and curriculum developer and instructor for Family Tree University.
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Jane L. Down, current Program Director for the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO), has been researching her family roots in Ontario and England since 1975. She has won several genealogy contests and awards including the Seminar 2007 OGS Photo Contest, 2006 OCAPG Essay Contest, 2001 OGS Marion Keffer Award (Honourable Mention) for her article on the Richmond Ledger for the Ottawa Branch News, and the 1994 Ottawa Branch OGS Gen-O-Rama Ancestor Exhibit Competition for her book on the Bradfords of Eastbourne. She has given several lectures to the BIFHSGO membership both at their conference and monthly meetings. In real life, Jane is a Senior Conservation Scientist at the Canadian Conservation Institute where, since 1978, she has been carrying out research on adhesives that are used to conserve works of art.
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Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD, consultant to the United States Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, has been recognized in the international press for her work on the crash of Northwest Flight 4422 and on exposing two bestselling Holocaust frauds. She is the author of Forensic Genealogy and an award-winning columnist. Although Colleen works on high-level projects, her techniques are familiar to genealogists researching on their own family histories. You will come to her talk as a genealogist; you will leave as a forensic genealogist.
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David Hemming’s work in family genealogy goes back 45 years. Last year, David retired from writing large government proposals and shifted to his passion for local social history. His first book, Disappearing History of Niagara was published in June 2010. It covers all 30 graveyards in Niagara Township, and the 10,000 documented burials there from 1780 to September 2009. It also has analyses of population, age and gravestone motifs using standard methodologies for assessment. David has also been working with the Niagara Parks Commission and the Laura Secord Homestead Museum in Queenston to complete his latest book (2010), Laura Ingersoll Secord, A Heroine and Her Family. It provides insights into Secord family opportunities and their financial status. The direct descendants of Laura Secord to the eighth generation, or present day, are also listed in the book – with help from most of the living descendants in the Americas and Europe, and from the Friends of Laura Secord. David is also working on the histories of over 200 local families in Niagara Township.
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Evelyn Kolish. Born and raised in Toronto, Evelyn Kolish studied and taught the history of Quebec and its legal system for several years before joining the former Archives nationales du Québec in 1990 as the archivist in charge of court records. Recently retired, Dr. Kolish is an acknowledged expert in her field.
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Jane E. MacNamara, Toronto, is a long time member of the OGS and a member of the Society of Genealogists (London). Jane lectures about research methodology, Ontario, Scottish, and English family history to genealogical and historical groups throughout southern Ontario. She teaches courses for the OGS Toronto Branch, most notably hands-on courses about Ontario records. She leads regular trips to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and is the organizer of Genealogy Summer Camp, an innovative program that brings out-of-town researchers to Toronto for a week of tutorials and hands-on research, now in its 16th year.
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Fran Murphy is self-employed in genealogy research where she specializes in Ontario and New England Research. She serves as vice chair and librarian for Halton-Peel OGS and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Until she became obsessed with searching for her ancestors, Fran achieved her MLS and worked for many years in public libraries as reference librarian.
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Serge Paquet is a Reference Archivist with the Archives of Ontario, responsible for providing reference services to a diverse clientele, since 2007. Since 1990, Serge’s areas of responsibility at the Archives of Ontario have included land registration and education records, records of central agencies of the Government of Ontario, and genealogical collections, amongst others. Serge has also sat on committees and working groups in archival associations at the local, provincial and national level, and he is a past vice-president of the Société d’histoire de Toronto.
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Guylaine Petrin is a reference librarian at York University, Glendon Campus, with a strong interest in Upper Canada history. She has been doing genealogy for at least twenty years, but serious research only in the last two years. Her recent publications include a short article on the Second heir and devisee commission (Family Chronicle, November/December 2011) and one on the Rupert families of Osnabruck (Loyalist Gazette, Fall 2011).
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John D. Reid’s interest is in trends and emerging sources for British and Canadian family history, covered on his well known Anglo-Celtic Connections blog. A past President of the BIFHSGO and member of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Services Advisory Board, he is a popular local speaker and author of articles in Canadian and UK periodicals.
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Rick Roberts. Rick’s hobby became his vocation when he co-founded Global Genealogy with his wife Sandra in 1992. Global Genealogy’s online store opened in 1995 followed in 1997 by The Global Gazette, a widely read online family history magazine. Later the same year he began publishing history and reference books under the Global Heritage Press imprint. The MacDonald Research imprint was added in 2007, bringing the total number of books to more than 400 titles. Global Print Services was added to the mix in 2009, providing professional printing and binding services for self-published writers. Rick is a frequent speaker at genealogy conferences across Canada and the US. His memberships include the Association of Professional Genealogists; The Genealogical Speakers Guild; National Genealogical Society; Ontario Genealogical Society; and the Ontario Historical Society.
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Lois Sparling has been researching her family history for about 25 years. She has a day job as a family law lawyer. Some may recall her involvement in the campaign to get the images of the census returns from the 1906 and 1911 censuses released to the public. She writes for The Alberta Family Histories Society’s journal “The Chinook”.
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Chris Watts is a highly experienced amateur genealogist and is a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists. He has nearly 40 years research experience initially as an amateur working on his own family then, following early retirement, as a professional and finally part-time as an employee at The National Archives of the UK (TNA). He has written numerous articles for genealogical journals and magazines as well as several books, in association with his brother, on “My Ancestor was in the British Army”, “Tracing Births, Deaths and Marriages at Sea” and “Records of Merchant Shipping and Seamen”, and contributed to the Reader’s Digest “Exploring your Family’s Past” and TNA’s “Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office”.
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Joseph Wearing is a graduate of the universities of Western Ontario, Toronto, and Oxford. He is professor emeritus of Trent University, where he lectured in political science for thirty years.
Since retiring, he has devoted much of his time to his own family history and those of his friends.
He has published articles in genealogical journals in Canada and the U.K. and given presentations to family history societies.
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Meldon J. Wolfgang III, F.G.B.S. Author, lecturer and the founder of Jonathan Sheppard Books, Mel Wolfgang has been a genealogist for nearly half a century and has been lecturing about it since the 1970s. Since 2005, he has been the genealogy columnist for each issue of the New York State Archives’ quarterly magazine “New York Archives”. A former local government administrator, Mel served as a public library trustee for nearly two decades, as board president of a local library system and as trustee-advisor for one of the country’s first intergovernmental archives. He is a member of the advisory board of the New York Family History School and serves on the Education Committee of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
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Glenn Wright is a retired archivist and historian with Library and Archives Canada and with the RCMP. He has published extensively on genealogical and historical subjects, and is a frequent speaker at family history conferences and workshops. Glenn is President of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa.
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Stephen Young was born and raised in London, Ontario; earned a BA at Brigham Young University in Family and Local History (1985) and an MA in American History at Bowling Green State University in Ohio (1990). An employee of the Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1988, his assignments during this time include appointments in the Family History Library administration, a special four year appointment (1992-1996) in England supervising the British 1881 Census Project; currently assigned as a FamilySearch project manager involving publication of data for Canada, the British Isles, and the Pacific.
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