OGS Conference 2009

Another memorable weekend at the annual OGS (Ontario Genealogical Society) conference is over. Upon reaching home, the organizers and the participants should have been flat on their backs relaxing for at least 24 hours, breathing slowly and not talking. Hopefully not everyone’s bag of bones, like mine, is being sorely held together by spastic muscles. The pathology is endemic at every genealogy conference: lifting, hauling and dragging bags full of purchased books. Prior training would have been good, now that I think of it. Like practising several times a day. Hoisting your car up and down by its rear bumper would be a good start. At Sheridan College in Oakville no-one could complain about missing their daily exercise as we scooted all day long through the halls, tunnels and maze of buildings to find lecture rooms, the Marketplace, coffee and food!

It’s always impossible to be everywhere at once to enjoy all the offerings. My job was to see that the OCAPG (Ontario Chapter Association of Professional Genealogists) display table and “Ask A Professional” free consulting services were running smoothly. Running, anyway. The OCAPG gang rose to the occasion again, despite so many members being program speakers and committed to other tasks. Our consulting schedule soon filled up nicely, but latecomers chatted with whomever was on table duty. If I only knew whether the man with the Irish church register page—written in the strangest Latin I’ve ever seen—found some translation success. In the photo above, Tammy Tipler-Priolo and Hilary Dawson consult, while Alison Hare holds down the table.

Here is OCAPG at work on the panel discussion: “From the Printed Page to the Digital Age: The Professionals’ Perspective.”
Moderator Sharon Murphy and (L to R) Susanna de Groot, Janice Nickerson, Ruth Burkholder, Tammy Tipler-Priolo and Brian Gilchrist.

For a short time I was able to attend part of the graduation program for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, where Sharon Murphy has replaced me as head of the Canadian Department. It was a pleasure to see some of our OCAPG members receiving certificates of course completion—Margaret Aldridge and Ann Logan. Some graduates have completed certificates for more than one country. Managing Director Louise St Denis called on me to receive an honourary teddy bear which will add some warmth to my camel collection and one Thunder Bay moose.

And GeneaBloggers! Steve Danko .. TA-DA! .. was on hand from San Francisco to receive his PLCGS in Canadian Studies.

Imagine the fun of seeing genealogy friends from years past or distant places: Hank Jones Jr (authority on Palatines and Psychic Roots author from Los Angeles), Stephen Young (Deputy Director, Libraries Division, FHL in Salt Lake City), Elizabeth Briggs (professional genealogist and author, Winnipeg), Gary Schroder (professional genealogist and mainstay of QFHS, Montreal), Glenn Wright (military historian extraordinaire, Ottawa), Dave Obee (Interlink Bookshop and Genealogy Unlimited, Victoria). I’m not forgetting the often charming John D. Reid with a laptop attached to his arms, who probably beat everyone to the blogs at his Anglo-Celtic site. More conference news can be seen there, as well as at Elizabeth Lapointe’s blog.

Grateful thanks to all the OCAPG members who carried the ball.

All photographs by BDM, May 2009.