Using Diaries, Memoirs & Letters to Enhance Your Ancestor’s Story
Exploring contemporary writings can illuminate your ancestors’ lives. Diaries, memoirs and letters written by people who lived at the same time and in the same place as your ancestor can help to provide context to your ancestor’s life. If you are really lucky, your ancestor may even be mentioned! These writings often tell you about local events, weather, politics and everyday hardships that may have impacted your ancestor’s life. Many of these great resources have been digitized or published. Claire will share some findings she has made plus many ideas of where and how to find diaries, memoirs and letters that could enhance the story of your ancestors.
Presenter: Claire Smith-Burns
When: Tuesday, October 27, 6:30pm PDT
Where: Via Zoom
REGISTRATION REQUIRED* through the Okanagan Regional Library’s Events Calendar: https://orl.libcal.com/calendar/kelowna/fhf
Family History Forums (FHF) 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 by LibCal or the ORL librarian. No FHF in July, August or December.
*Registration often surpasses our Zoom limit but we find that many who register do not log in; by the time we know there is room for more people to attend the presentation, it is too late to notify those on our Waiting List. Therefore, we will no longer limit registration but please be sure to log in early (the Zoom link will be activated at 6:15 PDT) or you may not be able to access the Zoom if 100 people have already logged in. Thank you for your understanding!

What: Discover Where Your Story Began: Connecting to Your Ancestral Heritage (in participation with Cultural Days) presented by Claire Smith-Burns
Discovering your family history is more than just gathering names, dates and places. Family history becomes meaningful when you connect to your ancestor’s culture, traditions and stories. Claire Smith-Burns of the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society will provide you with a step-by-step guide to embark on your family history. She will particularly focus on records and tools that will help you to get to know your ancestors and build their life stories. A handout with chart templates will be provided.