AFHS

AFHS Resource Centre Open
2025-10-02 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-09-25 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-09-18 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-09-11 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-09-04 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-08-28 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-08-21 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-08-14 10:00 - 14:00 (America/Edmonton) and 5 more dates | Resource Centre – Petwin Atrium Commons, Suite 251S 8500 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2H 2N1, Canada
The AFHS Resource Centre is open today. The public is welcome to come and use our Resource Centre! Our knowledgeable volunteers look forward to helping you discover what we have to offer for your genealogy research.
We’re located at Suite 251S in the Heritage Square building (8500 Macleod Trail SE) in Calgary.
For more information and to search our online catalogue, see our Resource Centre page.
——–
Another excellent research resource in Calgary is the Calgary Public Library.

AFHS Resource Centre Open
2025-09-27 12:00 - 16:00, 2025-09-26 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-09-20 12:00 - 16:00, 2025-09-19 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-09-13 12:00 - 16:00, 2025-09-12 10:00 - 14:00, 2025-09-06 12:00 - 16:00, 2025-09-05 10:00 - 14:00 | Resource Centre – Petwin Atrium Commons, Suite 251S 8500 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2H 2N1, Canada
The AFHS Resource Centre is open today.
The public is welcome to come use our resource centre. Our knowledgeable volunteers look forward to helping you discover what we have to offer for your genealogy research.
We’re located at Suite 251S in the Heritage Square building (8500 Macleod Trail SE) in Calgary.
For more information and to search our online catalogue, see our Resource Centre page.
——–
Another excellent research resource in Calgary is the Calgary Public Library.

Legacy Special Interest Group
2025-09-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
This special interest group is for those who are using Legacy Family Tree software or those who want to know more about it. Bring your questions! We learn from each other.
The Legacy Family Tree Special Interest Group meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month from September to November and January to May at 7 pm. All meetings are held via Zoom.
This meeting will be held via Zoom. Those on the SIG distribution list will be sent the link a few days before the meeting by Bev who is the SIG leader.
Our special interest groups are a member benefit, but we welcome visitors! If you would like to attend this meeting as a guest, please email communications@afhs.ab.ca to receive the Zoom invitation.
———
For other Special Interest Group meetings and AFHS events, see our calendar.
The popular Legacy software may be downloaded for free from https://legacyfamilytree.com/.

English/Welsh Special Interest Group
2025-09-20 10:00 - 12:00 | To be determined
The English/Welsh Special Interest Group is for those researching in England or Wales. If you are doing genealogy research in either of these areas, come join us! Our members have a wealth of information to share.
The English/Welsh Special Interest Group meets on the third Saturday of each month (except July and August) at 10 am.
Meetings are sometimes hybrid from the AFHS Library at Suite 251S, 8500 Macleod Trail SE in Calgary and sometimes only via Zoom.
Topic for this meeting: Photo Analysis. Kelly Southworth will do a presentation about using clues in photographs to date them. Steve Henley will do a talk about how to use technology to date photographs.
Our special interest groups are a member benefit, but we welcome visitors! If the meeting is being held at the library and you live in Calgary and area, please just come to the library and introduce yourself. If you would like to attend a Zoom session as a guest, please email communications@afhs.ab.ca to receive the Zoom invitation.
—–
For other Special Interest Group meetings and AFHS events, see our calendar.
Alberta Family Histories Society is a member of the Family History Federation – an organization that supports family historians research, especially in the United Kingdom.

AFHS Chit Chat Session
2025-09-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Alberta Family Histories Society hosts a monthly “Chit Chat” session to offer a time for casual conversation. Bring your stories or questions. Share your favourite resources. Come meet others who are also passionate about family history! Invite a guest if you want, be it a cousin, neighbour or co-worker.
As a fun activity, we’ll be doing an Ancestor BINGO game. Please print out these game boards before the session if possible: Ancestor BINGO
These sessions are held by Zoom. Here is the Zoom invitation:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86794762224?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 867 9476 2224
Passcode: [REDACTED]
——–
For more AFHS events, see our calendar

DNA Special Interest Group
2025-09-14 12:30 - 14:30 | Zoom
The DNA Special Interest Group is for those who are interested in using genetic genealogy as a genealogy tool.
Topic: To be determined.
This meeting will be held via Zoom. The meeting link will be sent out to those on the SIG distribution list a few days prior to the meeting by Linda who is one of the SIG leaders. If you are an AFHS member and would like to be added to the distribution list, please contact communications@afhs.ab.ca
We welcome guests, so if you would like to join us, send a message to communications@afhs.ab.ca
———-
For more AFHS events, please see our calendar.
To learn more about using DNA as a tool for genealogy, see this website by FamilySearch.

Digital Genealogy / Family Genes Special Interest Group
2025-09-13 10:00 - 12:00 | To be determined
The Digital Genealogy / Family Genes Special Interest Group is cancelled for September due to ongoing issues with the Family Genes website.
—–
For other Special Interest Group meetings and AFHS events, see our calendar.

Writing Special Interest Group
2025-09-12 09:30 - 11:30 | Zoom
This special interest group will help you record the stories of your family research. It will meet via Zoom on the second Friday of each month beginning at 9:30 am.
Due to the nature of this group, we’ve decided to limit the number of participants. Please contact communications@afhs.ab.ca to see if there is any space in this group.
Special Interest Groups are a member benefit for all Alberta Family Histories Society members. If you would like to attend a session as a guest, please contact communications@afhs.ab.ca

AFHS Society Meeting
2025-09-08 19:00 - 21:00 | At AFHS Resource Centre & via Zoom, Suite 251S, 8500 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary, Alberta, T2H 2N1, Canada
The AFHS Society Meeting is our regular meeting for all members, usually held on the second Monday of each month from September to June. Guests are welcome to attend!
Please note: Due to the passing of her father, Tara Shymanski is not able to do the presentation about Hudson’s Bay records on Monday night. Instead Amber Godfrey has kindly come forward to do the talk.
Topic: The D.R. Eaton Tragedy: Researching Three Nova Scotian Brothers Who Were Lost at Sea
Description: The Shaw brothers had no idea that their routine voyage to Bremen would end in tragedy. In the fall of 1878, they set out from Baltimore, Maryland to Antwerp, Belgium, with a load of grain and timber. Their ship, the D.R. Eaton, had been built in Eatonville, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, by brothers D.R. and C.F. Eaton and was launched in October 1877. She was built by J.G. Olive Jr. of Saint John, New Brunswick, a first-class ship builder. The D.R. Eaton was declared to be a “ship of the first order for strength and durability.” So how did this brand-new vessel disappear completely, never to be heard from again? Captain Harris H. Shaw, his wife and young daughter, two of his brothers and twenty other crew members simply vanished. Follow my journey as I learn more about this seafaring family and the tragedy that befell them. Newspaper articles, probate documents, Seafarer’s of the Atlantic Province records, census returns, birth and marriage records all help me piece together their story.
Our Speaker: Amber Godfrey
Amber Godfrey is an amateur family historian whose love of family history started in childhood, listening to family stories shared by her parents, grandmothers and extended family. She received a Family History kit for Christmas when she was twelve and that started her on a family history research journey that continues to this day.
After finishing college and working in a variety of office jobs, Amber realized that she could combine her love of books and research and her interest in computers by working in libraries. She graduated as a Library Technician and worked in public libraries in BC for nearly twenty years. When she moved to Calgary, she was hired by the Calgary Board of Education to work on-call in school libraires. Now that her family has moved back to BC, she is currently searching for her next job.
Amber plans to remain a member of the Alberta Family Histories Society and will continue her role as editor of the AFHS Chinook Arch newsletter. While she was living in Calgary, she also volunteered at the AFHS library and helped with their Family History Coaching program at Calgary Public Library.
In 2024, she submitted a presentation idea to the Nova Scotia Genealogy Virtual Conference and was chosen as one of the presenters. Amber is passionate about sharing stories of ordinary people who led interesting lives, especially women, and she hopes to do more presentations for groups in the future.

This meeting will be a hybrid Zoom meeting held at our Resource Centre (Suite 251S, 8500 Macleod Trail SE in the Heritage Square building). If you are in Calgary and area, we’d love to have you join us in person.
The zoom invite for this meeting has been removed since this meeting has now passed.
We welcome guests!
——-
For more AFHS events, see our calendar.
To see our other two society websites, browse to https://albertaancestors.ca or https://familygenes.ca.

Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group
2025-09-06 10:00 - 12:00 | Zoom
This special interest group is for those who use Family Tree Maker software or would like to learn about it. Bring your questions! We learn from each other.
The Family Tree Maker Special Interest Group meets on first Saturdays each month except July and August at 10 am (Edmonton time).
All meetings are held via Zoom, and those on the SIG distribution list will be sent the link a few days before the meeting by Bev or Nola who are the SIG leaders.
For the coming year, the newest version of this software, 2024, will be the main topic of discussion. We will look at features and discuss any difficulties folks are facing. The value of this SIG is that someone may be able to help or suggest a way around it. Older versions are also looked at if necessary.
Our special interest groups are a member benefit, but we welcome visitors! If you would like to attend this meeting as a guest, please email communications@afhs.ab.ca to receive the Zoom invitation.
———
For other Special Interest Group meetings and AFHS events, see our calendar.
To learn more about Family Tree Maker software, see the Mackiev website.

AFHS Board Meeting
2025-09-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
Alberta Family Histories Society holds regular Board Meetings, and AFHS members are welcome to attend!
For the 2025-26 year, these meetings will be held via Zoom.
If you are a member and would like to attend, please contact communications@afhs.ab.ca for the Zoom invitation.
Why attend? Board meetings are an opportunity to review progress, present ideas, assess risks and make strategic decisions to keep AFHS on the path to success (source).
For the dates and times of other AFHS Board meetings and events, see our calendar.
