Category: Events

November Family History Forum

Nov 2025 | , ,

We invite you to join our FREE November 25th Family History Forum:

November 25: Historic Vital Statistics across Canada: What’s Online?
Looking for a Canadian Birth, Marriage or Death Certificate for your ancestors? Come on this guided tour across Canada to discover what is available (or not) online! Each province is responsible to record their own Vital Statistics; therefore, the start dates vary and also the privacy protection laws. Availability online also differs widely from province to province.
Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2025, 6:30pm
Presenter: Claire Smith-Burns
Location: via Zoom; REGISTRATION REQUIRED through the Okanagan Regional Library’s Events Calendar, https://orl.libcal.com/event/3895582.
Family History Forums are a partnership presentation series of the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society and the Okanagan Regional Library. The topics vary but are typically at the beginner’s level in Family History research. All are welcome to these FREE Zoom presentations, but pre-registration is required through the ORL’s Events Calendar. When registering, be sure to enter your email address correctly and watch for the email from the ORL to confirm your registration. The Zoom link and handout will be emailed to you the day before the presentation.

2026 Upcoming Meeting Information

Oct 2025 | , ,

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!

KDGS OBITS CONTEST

Aug 2025 | ,

Win a $50 one-year membership – equivalent to at least 5 obituaries for free, but you will have access to the entire database of more than 24,000 as a member, attend monthly meetings with international and local experts for free and enjoy many other benefits. Already a member? Then next year’s dues are paid in advance. To enter, all you do is download an obituary from the Central Okanagan Obituaries Database. Every download counts. The contest is ongoing now and backdated to May 2025 if you searched any time since then up to the deadline of midnight September 30, 2025. The draw will be on October 2nd and the winner announced then. The Membership Chair will be in touch to sign you up for your prize.
Head on over to kdgs.ca and look for Search Central Okanagan Obituary Records and search free to your heart’s content. Downloads are what we can measure. So put those obituaries in your cart and download them. Free to current paid up members and $10 each download for non-members. Every download = one entry!
Xenia Stanford, Chair of KDGS Obituary Committee and Project Leader of the Central Okanagan Obituaries Project, will be presenting how to search the database as the bite-size talk on September 8. There will be a handout that we will make available on the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KDGSca and on the kdgs.ca website.
Questions or comments: obits@kdgs.ca
Find forms for your feedback or questions at the bottom of the search obituaries page.
The Central Okanagan Obituaries Project of the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society is a recipient of a 2025 grant from the City of Kelowna

April 2025 General Meeting

Mar 2025 | , ,

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

Heritage Week 2025

Feb 2025 | ,

Heritage Week: KDGS members, Robert Nield, Mary Read, Sandra Sellick and Claire Smith-Burns have researched the five SS Sicamous captains for our Heritage Personalities display boards; see these at the Monday February 17th Kick-off and also from Sunday, February 16th through to Sunday, February 23rd at the downtown Kelowna Library.
Be sure to visit our table at the Family Day Event, Monday February 17, 1-4pm, MNP Place (former Capital News Place), recreational centre, 4105 Gordon Drive. Lots of activities for families, several interesting groups represented and a huge prize raffle! We will be needing a few volunteers to help with the KDGS table.
See all the Heritage Week events on https://www.facebook.com/heritageweekokanagan/ or OKHeritagesociety.com

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  • Meetings

2026 Upcoming Meeting Information

Oct 27, 2025 | , ,

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...

  • Family History Forums

November Family History Forum

Nov 4, 2025 | , ,

We invite you to join our FREE November 25th Family History Forum: November 25: Historic Vital Statistics across Canada: What’s Online? Looking for a Canadian Birth, Marriage or Death Certificate for your ancestors? Come on this...