Category: Meeting Archives

February 2: Broad Context; How to Find it and Use it!
  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.
Date: Monday, February 2, 2026, 7pm
Presenter: Jill Morelli
Location: via Zoom
Price: KDGS members Free; non-members $10; REGISTRATION REQUIRED
REGISTER HERE
Bite-size: Guild of One-Name Studies (GOONS), with KDGS member, Marlene Crane
Jill Morelli, CG, CGL is a writer, lecturer. In 2017, she founded the Certification Discussion Group, an online series discussing the certification journeys of successful candidates in order to demystify the process for others. this award-winning program, now has over 775 graduates. She specializes in Scandinavian research, and is constantly honing her methodological skills. She lectures nationally and has written articles for National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Swedish American Genealogist, Minnesota Connections and many others. Jill is past president of the Seattle Genealogical Society, program director for the Puget Sound-APG chapter, and a member of many local and national genealogical societies.

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.

Bite-size: Don Rampone presenting Weird and Wonderful Obituaries

November 3: Every Source Matters: Using a variety of clues to find distant family members, presenter Dave Obee

Researching your family history has never been easier, thanks to an ever-increasing number of records available as well as the information you can unlock from your spit. Many of us have pushed into new territory with our family history work, but we should never think we have learned all that we can. Dave has several examples from his own research to show what can be done if we keep at it. Remember: Every time you go through a brick wall, you will likely find at least two more brick walls. And whenever you get an answer to a question, you will probably have more questions. And all of that will help you to discover more.

https://youtu.be/Um3VJZTIuio?start=26

Bite-size: My Mom: World War II Veteran, with KDGS member, Claire Smith-Burns

https://youtu.be/tXwGZD7h9OU?start=13

Creating an Ancestor Sketch presented by Thomas MacEntee
Face it: most genealogists never get around to publishing that family history book based on their genealogy research. How about a different approach: producing short 3-5 page “sketches” about an ancestor? You’ll learn how to include a cover, photos, facts, family stories, source citations and more! And guess what, once you get a few of these ancestor sketches done, you can compile them together for one big book!

Thomas MacEntee is a Baby Boomer guy with a love of punk rock music but also art history who somehow “fell” into the technology industry almost 40 years ago, and then left a lucrative IT career to pursue his love of family history and genealogy. Technology and historical research are opposites, but “tech people” like Thomas are needed to guide today’s genealogists through the maze of options so they can deploy the best apps and devices to break down research brick walls. Thomas MacEntee: author, educator, advocate, entrepreneur, and that “genealogy guy” who helps you accomplish your family history goals.

Our May Kelowna & District Genealogical Society General Meeting – Three stories of Genealogical Discoveries by 3 KDGS Members
Hidden in Plain Sight, by Steve Hall:  A few months ago I decided to purge all my duplicates and redundant paper copies of family information.  On close examination, a rough family tree that I had written out at least 15 years ago had one word beside one ancestor that opened the door to discovering more of my wife Lynn’s Kelowna heritage.
Shea Cousins Project: Bringing Maurice Patrick Shea Back to Life, by Xenia Stanford. This is a real-world case study in how extended family collaboration can restore the past story and glory of a forgotten soldier, Maurice Patrick SHEA (1794-1892), for our future generations to remember and honour.
Astonishing Discovery on my Courtney Family, by Claire Smith-Burns: My 4th Great-grandfather, John Baptiste COURTNEY,  settled in an unsurveyed area of Ontario with no churches, schools or local government. A lucky dip uncovered an eye-witness report of a day in his life in 1821. Following a hunch, led me to the greatest discovery yet in my family history.