On April 20, the Comox Valley Family History Research Group will hold a full-day family history seminar at the Conference Hall of the Florence Filberg Centre in Courtenay.
Glenn Wright and Lesley Anderson, two very knowledgeable, entertaining speakers from Ottawa, are frequent speakers at family history and genealogical events.
In February 2013, they both spoke at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live exhibition in London, England, the largest genealogy conference in the world, which attracted more than 14,000 attendees.
Wright, an archivist and author, started his career as a researcher for Pierre Berton before joining the Public Archives of Canada as a government records archivist. He was, for many years, assistant historian with the RCMP before he returned to the National Archives.
Wright has also been associated with television programs such as Who Do You Think You Are?, Ancestors in the Attic, and more recently, Engraved on a Nation.
In September 2010, Wright published Canadians at War, 1914-1919: A Research Guide to World War One Service Records. Some of his other publications include: Winning the Second Battle: Canadian Veterans and the Return to Civilian Life, 1915 to 1930 (co-authored with Desmond Morton) (1987); and The Caroline and Her Passengers (2002).
He is now preparing research guides to Canadian involvement in the South African War, 1899-1902 and to the Nursing Sisters and other Canadian women who served in the First World War. Wright serves on the Ancestry.ca Advisory Board and is president of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa.
Anderson works for Ancestry.ca as a partnership development and content specialist. She has done numerous presentations at Ontario Genealogy Society branch meetings and conferences and has spoken at conferences across Canada. She has made many TV and radio appearances.
Anderson is well-known for her computer and genealogy classes in Ottawa and her “field trips” to various archives and libraries. Her recent conducted tour to old Quebec City and the Grosse Isle historic immigration site was a resounding success.
The seminar entrance fee includes six interesting, informative presentations, door prizes, and lunch by Dawn’s Custom Catering. The BC Genealogy Society will also have a display of genealogy books and supplies for sale.
The registration deadline is April 15. For more information and to register, go to the genealogy group’s website at http://cvfamilyhistory.org/seminars.html.
— Comox Valley Family History Research Group