Descendants of P.E.I. Fathers of Confederation will gather in September in P.E.I. in commemoration of 150th anniversary of the historic Charlottetown Conference

April 2, 2014

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This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864, a gathering of delegates of British colonies north of the U.S. border which got the ball rolling towards the birth of Canada as a self-governing country in 1867.

Throughout his life, Fritz Peters was proud of the central role his grandfather, Col. John Hamilton Gray, had as a Father of Confederation. Gray died two years before Fritz was born so he never met him, but Fritz often heard of his famous grandfather from his mother Bertha Gray Peters and her sisters Margaret Gray Lord and Florence Gray Poole. Bertha was a toddler at the time of the founding conference, but Margaret and Florence were teen-agers who served as hostesses when their father brought John A. Macdonald and the other Fathers of Confederation home to the family estate known as Inkerman House for an after-dinner party on Saturday, Sept. 3, 1864. As their mother Susan Bartley Pennefather Gray was seriously ill at the time, the elder sisters took her place as hostesses. At the suggestion of fellow Maritime delegate Sir Charles Tupper, Col. Gray`s daughter Margaret accompanied Gray to the Quebec Conference in October 1864.

Col. Gray was an enthusiastic supporter of Canadian Confederation from the beginning. He resigned from politics in 1865 when his fellow P.E.I. leaders turned against it. No one was happier than Gray when P.E.I. entered Confederation as a Canadian province in 1873.

As part of the commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Charlottetown Conference, the stories of the seven P.E.I. Fathers of Confederation and their descendants are being told through a series of features in the Charlottetown Guardian newspaper.

The first feature looked at Col. Gray and his descendants, including his grandson Capt. Frederic Thornton “Fritz“ Peters, and comments by two of Gray`s descendants of today, Sandra Hurry and Sam McBride. http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/150th-Charlottetown/2014-02-27/article-3628939/Taking-pride-in-their-past-in-P.E.I./1

J.H. Gray

J.H. Gray

The second feature focused on Edward Whelan http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/150th-Charlottetown/2014-03-27/article-3666789/P.E.I.-Father-of-Confederation-leaves-lasting-legacy/1

Edward_Whelan[1]

Edward Whelan


Writer Louise Campbell explained the series on P.E.I. Fathers of Confederation and their descendants at http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Living/2014-02-08/article-3607713/Project-delves-into-descendants-of-P.E.I.s-Fathers-of-Confederation/1

 

The seven P.E.I. Fathers of Confederation are described on the P.E.I. Genealogical Society`s web site at http://peigs2014.ca/category/fathers-of-confederation

The PEIGS web site http://www.peigs2014.ca has a tentative schedule for a reunion of descendants of the P.E.I. Fathers of Confederation over the Sept. 11-14, 2014 weekend.
Tentative Schedule of Events for Fathers of Confederation Descendants Gathering
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Sept 11, 2014 Welcome Descendants
Meet and Greet reception, for descendants of all 7 PEI Fathers of Confederation, time and location to be determined. This kick-off event will be your chance to meet the descendants of the Prince Edward Island Fathers of Confederation – maybe even some of your own relatives! View the family trees, meet the Genealogists, get your welcome kit. And get ready for a great weekend!
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Bus Tours A customized tour will be created for each Father’s family. Get to know your famous ancestor by following in his footsteps. Where did the Father and his family live? Where did he work? What church, if any, did he go to? What Island buildings are part of his legacy? Where is he buried? Offered on a cost-recovery basis, based on demand, these tours will be three to four hours in duration.
Family Circles: These engaging events will provide you with an opportunity to share stories, showcase memorabilia, and delve into your family history with the Genealogist who has done the research for this project. Each Family Circle will focus specifically on one of the families; however, if space is available, participants are more than welcome to attend Family Circles beyond your own.
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Sep 12, 2014 Bus Tours
9:00 AM Free Time
1:00 PM Free Time
4:30 PM Bus Tour A. A. MacDonald Descendants
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Sep 12, 2014 Family Circles
10:00 AM Family Circle, John Hamilton Gray Descendants
2:00 PM Family Circle, A. A. MacDonald Descendants
7:00 PM Family Circle as necessary
________________________________________
Sep 13, 2014 Bus Tours
09:00 AM Bus Tour John Hamilton Gray Descendants
01:00 PM Bus Tour James Palmer/Edward Whelan Descendants
04:30 PM Bus Tour Thomas Heath Haviland Descendants
________________________________________
Sep 13, 2014 Family Circles
10:00 AM Family Circle, James Palmer/Edward Whelan Descendants
02:00 PM Family Circle, William Henry Pope Descendants
07:00 PM Family Circle as necessary
________________________________________
Sep 14, 2014 Bus Tours
10:00 AM Bus Tour, George Coles Descendants
01:00 PM Bus Tour William Henry Pope Descendants
04:30 PM Bus Tour Other Descendants as necessary
________________________________________
Sep 14, 2014 Family Circles
10:00 AM Family Circle, Thomas Heath Haviland Descendants
02:00 PM Family Circle, George Coles Descendants
07:00 PM Family Circle as necessary

For more information on this gathering of descendants, contact The Prince Edward Island Genealogical Society Inc., P.O. Box 2744, Charlottetown, PEI C1A 8C4, or email 2014@peigs.ca.

“Tracing Your Family Tree“ Genealogy Workshop in Castlegar May 3, 2014

April 2, 2014

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“Tracing Your Family Tree”

Genealogy Workshop

Saturday, May 3, 2014 in Castlegar

 

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the West Kootenay Family Historians Society, the society and Selkirk College are sponsoring a genealogy workshop on Saturday, May 3, 2014 designed to meet the needs and interests of family tree beginners as well as experienced researchers.

selkirk poster for may 3 event 001The “Tracing Your Family Tree“ workshop will go from 10 am to 4 pm at Selkirk College. The workshop fee of $30 plus GST includes lunch. Register through Selkirk College Registration 250 365-1208 or email castlegarce@selkirk.ca

 

SESSIONS:

Did you glean all there was from the Census record? – Donna Fraser     10am-11:25am, Sentinel Room 220

Census records are one of the most useful sources for family history research.  They show the family living together on a given date with names, relationships, age, occupation and place of birth.  Those are the main topics that researchers are interested in but there is often much more if we dig a little deeper.  In this talk Donna will show the additional information that you can learn about your family.

 

Local history as viewed through historic West Kootenay postcards                         – Greg Nesteroff                                                         noon–12:45 pm, Room 220

Greg will present a show of historic Slocan Valley postcards from his collection.

 

Effective use of the universal genealogy web site https://familysearch.org           — Richard Wolff                                                           OPTION A   1pm–2:20pm, Room 222

The old way of doing things at Family History Centres involved Personal Ancestry File (PAF), an early genealogical program going back to the 1980s; the International Genealogical Index (IGI) with 187 million names (including 58 million from England and Wales), Ancestral File, integrated Latter Day Saints (LDS) member-submitted genealogies; and Pedigree Research File (PRF) of stand alone submitted genealogies. These have been succeeded by https://familysearch.org , encompassing:

Search – billions of names across hundreds of collections;

WIKI – Get research advice or learn where to find record collections;

Forums – Ask and answer questions;

Catalogue – Search the catalogue of books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications;

Learning Centre – Hundreds of online genealogy courses;

Family Tree – The family of man starting with you; and

Indexing – Volunteers create digital indexes for scanned images of historical documents.

 

Aboriginal issues in genealogy

—   Jackie Cole                                        OPTION B     1pm-2:20pm, Gathering Place

Jackie will share the “Four R`s of Indigenous Story Work“ as laid out by Joanne Archibald of UBC. She will use her family and the topic of genealogy to explore how we learn value for our current lives by exploring our personal stories from our ancestors. The 7-generation perspective will be part of this.

 

Planning a successful family history research trip

– Donna Fraser                                                                                 2:30pm–4pm, Room 220

This talk is based on Donna’s experience in the last dozen years with travel across Canada, trips to Salt Lake City and annual trips to Britain to do family history research.  She’ll demonstrate the preparation you should do before you leave home, explain the types of record repositories that you’ll use,  and give tips for planning your visit, mapping a strategy and how to spend your time wisely once at your destination.  This presentation will help you plan a research trip to the nearest LDS Family History Centre, a library or archives, or a trip to your ancestral country of origin.

 

Plus exhibits, displays, prize draws and demonstrations

For more information, contact Sam at 250 365-9860 or Inge at 250 367-0076, email to wkfhs@shaw.ca, Twitter @wkfhs, or www.wkfamilyhistorians.wordpress.com

four presenters for may 3 014 workshop

clockwise, from top left: Donna Fraser, Richard Wolff, Jackie Cole and Greg Nesteroff

 

Presenters:

Donna Fraser is Director of Education for one of the largest family history societies on Vancouver Island.

Donna has been doing family history research for over 25 years and is passionate about the subject.  She has given presentations to various family history societies within British Columbia and Britain and looks forward to her return visit to Selkirk College.

Richard Wolff is a lifelong genealogist and Director of the Family History Centre in Trail.

Richard and his wife Nina were among the founding members of the West Kootenay Family Historians Society, and continue as active members of the society today.

 

Greg Nesteroff , writer and historian, is renowned in the West Kootenay and beyond as a skilled reporter who keeps on top of the issues of the day, and as an enthusiastic and rigorous researcher uncovering remarkable stories of the region`s past.

Jackie Cole is a Metis woman whose family have been moving slowly west across Turtle Island for the last 500 years. She has lived in the West Kootenays for most of her life and finds inspiration and peace in the territory of the SINIXT people.   As a Music Therapist and Aboriginal Educator she is constantly interweaving story, culture and history into her interactions both professionally and personally.

She is a descendant of fur-traders, slaves, farmers, European aristocrats, slave owners, and peasants spanning 12 cultures. Jackie lives in the Slocan Valley with a partner who is of Doukhobor heritage, and says her two sons are the only people she knows who have more cultural diversity than her.

 

Thank you:

The West Kootenay Family Historians Society gratefully acknowledges the financial support of this workshop by Teck Trail Operations and the Kootenay Savings Credit Union.