The folllowing information has been shared with us regarding the upcoming meeting of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa:
You’re Invited!
We hope you are enjoying the holiday season. We are already planning for our January meeting which will be online only. Robert Urquhart is back with another helpful talk on Scottish records, and Alison Hare returns to tell us about the 1854 cholera epidemic in London.
Saturday, 11 January 2025
9:00 am – 10:00 am EST: Education Talk
How Valuable are Valuation Rolls? Presenter: Robert Urquhart
From 1855 until 1987, assessors compiled an annual valuation roll for domestic and commercial property in each county and burgh in Scotland. Valuation rolls are often ignored by genealogists, who assume that they merely confirm what has already been established from census returns and civil registers.
This talk will explain that these rolls are worth a look, since they can provide details of the properties associated with ancestors (their houses, business premises, workplaces and wedding venues). These details can then be bridging information for access to other records (such as property registers, estate papers and employment records), and can help explain why some people apparently vanish from census returns and civil registers. Also covered in the talk will be precursors of the post-1855 valuation rolls, such as land tax rolls and assessment rolls compiled by parish heritors for poor relief purposes.
Robert Urquhart is a retired archivist from Fife. He worked in local archives in Glasgow and Ayrshire, before joining the National Archives of Scotland (now the National Records of Scotland), where for 20 years he specialized in opening up access to archives via the Internet. He was involved in making record series like wills and testaments, tax rolls, valuation rolls and kirk session records available online, and coaching researchers on how to read early-modern records via the Scottish Handwriting website (at www.scottishhandwriting.com). He now runs Abbotshall Palaeography (www.abbotshall.net), a small business offering palaeography tuition and transcription services.
10:00 am – 11:30 am EST: Feature Talk
The Time of Cholera (another favourite talk in the 30th Anniversary “From the Vaults” series of presentations) Presenter: Alison Hare
Alison Hare’s ancestor died of cholera in 1854 London, England. The source of the cholera epidemic was traced to a pump on Broad Street by Dr. John Snow, a legendary figure in the history of public health and infectious diseases. Alison Hare’s genealogical research on families affected by the epidemic provides a human face on the tragedy.
Alison Hare is a BIFHSGO member who first presented this very popular presentation in 2009.
The BIFHSGO website’s Events section HERE will give you details of upcoming meetings and any updates.
Please register HERE to attend the January meeting online.
