Category: Events

January 5: Prison & Court Records
Prison and court records can tell you a lot about your ancestors and their lives. Whether documenting legal battles or criminal activity these records will provide a wide variety of color and detail. We will look at records on everything from petty theft to illegal poaching to declaring someone’s husband dead. The scope includes Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and North America.
Date: Monday, January 5, 2026, 7pm
Presenter: Andrea Lister
Location: via Zoom
Price: KDGS members Free; non-members $10; REGISTRATION REQUIRED – Register Here 
Bite-size: Don Rampone
Andrea Lister is a historian, researcher, speaker, editor, and writer and principal of Absolutely Literate, focussed on researching and sharing community history. She is the author of Commitment to Caring: Chilliwack Hospital Auxiliary’s 100 Years and is a former editor of British Columbia History magazine. Andrea regularly writes and speaks about researching your family history. She will research anyone, anywhere whether she is related to them or not! In 2022, Andrea was the recipient of the Maple Ridge Community Heritage Commission Sheila Nickols Award and she was the editor of heritage award winner, Surrey: A City of Stories

January 5: Prison & Court Records presented by Andrea Lister
Prison and court records can tell you a lot about your ancestors and their lives. Whether documenting legal battles or criminal activity these records will provide a wide variety of color and detail. We will look at records on everything from petty theft to illegal poaching to declaring someone’s husband dead. The scope includes Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and North America.
February 2: Broad Context; How to Find it and Use it! presented by Jill Mirelli
By understanding the broad context of our geographic area and the era we can interpret the evidence more accurately and thereby understand the decision-making of our ancestors more clearly. We sometimes view context as just the historical events that affected our ancestor. We will broaden that definition and explain the difference between it and social history. Examples clarify meaning and illustrate how this is a project long process and not effort applied at the end.
April 13: All Kinds of Loyalists presented by Kathryn Lake Hogan
During the American Revolutionary War, approximately 35% of the population of the Thirteen colonies was loyal to King George III of Great Britain. Was your ancestor one of them? How do you know if your ancestor was a Loyalist? In this presentation, learn what to look for in documents and records to determine if your ancestor meets the qualifications of being a Loyalist.
May 4: Using AI to Research Documents & Letters presented by Mark Thompson
Do you have old family letters and documents waiting to be explored? In this beginner-friendly session, learn how artificial intelligence can assist you in analyzing and researching your family’s personal archives. From summarizing key points to quickly identifying names and relationships, AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude can help you speed up your research. You’ll also learn how to responsibly use some of the amazing, but riskier, aspects of AI like transcription and translation. Join Mark Thompson to learn how AI can lighten the load and help you reveal the rich history hidden in your family archive!

April 7: Lost in London, presenter Helen Smith of Brisbane, Australia. This recording is no longer available.
Bite-size: Employment Records in Genealogy: A Bank Manager in Summerland, presenters KDGS member, Brenda Gloster