The virtual conference 2023 planning team is very excited to be able to bring such an amazing line-up of speakers and sessions to the genealogy community this coming September. We are confident that our twenty-five talks, our presentation of many heritage organizations and our open-chat genealogy lounge will give every family historian a lot to think about and will help each of you in your genealogy pursuits. Our focus on diversity may lead you to uncover some of your more elusive ancestors or break down a break wall. Our dive into the Grand River may help you understand the importance of the waterways that moved and sustained your ancestors and that spurred the creation of the communities that lie along their banks, and that all of our ancestors called home.

With twenty-five hours of recorded sessions, a full and downloadable syllabus, a database of information on many of Ontario’s diverse heritage organizations, a two-hour networking chat with registrants and several expert family historians in our genealogy lounge and an interactive genealogy road-trip map for Brant County – how could you go wrong?! It breaks down to costing less than $3 per session and, recordings of all the sessions will be available until October 22, 2023. So what are you waiting for – register today at this link: Registration

And that is not all…we have also added a Friday workshop session to the weekend. On Friday, September 8, 2023 we are pleased to have Jen Baldwin from Findmypast join us to present a hands-on session that will help you uncover your ancestors in the vast collections at Findmypast. This is a separate registration and fee and will only be presented live and will not be available after that day. For further information, click here: Findmypast Friday Workshop At only $25 for the day, it’s a steal!

We would like to thank all of our sponsors for their generous support! Please check out our sponsorship page to learn more about each one of them. And, if you are interested in sponsoring our conference, there are still opportunities. Please contact the Conference Chair if you’d like to learn more at conference2023@ogs.on.ca

Following is a list of our sessions, speakers and session sponsors. For details on each, please click on the schedule, sessions, speakers and sponsors tabs at the top of the page.​

The Wedge between truth and lore – Beth Adams – Sponsored by the Haldimand Norfolk Branch​

​Explore your Roots:  First Nations, Inuit and Metis Nation Genealogy at LAC – Sara Chatfield ​- Sponsored by the Wellington Branch

​Becoming Canadian – Linda Corupe​ – Sponsored by the Quinte Branch

​Voting for Genealogy – Linda Corupe​ – Sponsored by the Kawartha Branch

​Two Hundred and Fifty Years of the Haldimand Proclamation:  A Proposal – Bill Darfler ​- Sponsored by the Brant Branch

​The Haldimand Tract Land Records:  How they are different – John Davis​ – Sponsored by the Brant Branch

​Stepping from the Shadows:  Exploring Stories of Women in History – Jennifer DeBruin​ – Sponsored by the Ottawa Branch

Importance of, and techniques for, learning your family’s pre-contact history – Kae Elgie​

​Spatial Genealogy of Early Armenian and Italian Industrial Workers in Brantford – Christina Han​

​Mennonite Ebbs & Flows: Two Centuries Along the Grand – Laureen Harder-Gissing​ – Sponsored by the Waterloo Branch

​Eastern Europeans in Ontario – Eva Kujawa​ – Sponsored by the Eastern Europe SIG

​The Bible Christians, and how they built Ontario – Sher Leetooze​ – Sponsored by the Durham Branch

Unleashing the Power of the Genealogy Community on Social Media – Jon Marie Pearson​

Did your ancestor lease land in Upper Canada – Jane MacNamara​ – Sponsored by the Halton-Peel Branch

​Grand Plans for the Grand River – Jane MacNamara​ – Sponsored by the Irish Palatine SIG

​Facial Recognition in Genealogy, Not Just CSI Anymore! – Gordon McBean​

​Early Japanese Families in Ontario – Janice Nickerson​ – Sponsored by the Kawartha Branch

​The Canada Land and Colonization Company – Christine Woodcock​ – Sponsored by the Scottish SIG

​Hamilton:  A microcosm of Jewish Settlement – Kaye Prince-Hollenberg​

​Early Black Settlements in Oxford County – Heather Rennalls​ – Sponsored by the Oxford Branch

​Railway Museums, Heritage Railways, Railway Historical Societies for Genealogists – Art Taylor​ – Sponsored by the Sudbury Branch

​The Nelles Family at the Grand River and Niagara – Bill Thompson​ – Sponsored by the Niagara Peninsula Branch

​The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph – an English language resource for non-Quebec families – Lorie Pierce​ – Sponsored by Archive CD & Books

​Six Nations Women in the Early Twentieth Century:  Using Genealogy to Better Understand a Community – Alison Norman​