WSAC Genealogy Meeting – Wed January 14. 2026
Meeting Summary: The First meeting of our group in 2026 was well attended. The following information and topics were shared:
Learning Moment:
Prior to Confederation in 1867, the recording of births, marriages and deaths was primarily a role of the churches, and even then, the records are quite incomplete. An official procedure of recording vital statistics in Canada at the provincial level was begun in the late 1800s (Nova Scotia in 1864, Ontario in 1869). Individual provinces started implementing civil registration for Births, Marriages and Deaths at varying dates and locations. In Ontario, although officially launched in 1869, the records are sporadic until nearly the mid 1870s until the new system of registration was gradually implemented.
Census records did record deaths in the 12 months prior to the census date which was usually April or June of the census year. In the 1851 and 1861 census records, if a death occurred in the preceding 12 months prior to the census, the death was recorded on the page adjacent to the registration of a family. In the 1871 census, deaths in the preceding 12 months were recorded in a separate Schedule of the census called Nominal Return of Deaths (Schedule 2). Here the name of deceased individuals was listed, their gender, age at time of death, religion, occupation, birth place, month of death and cause of death.
These death records may not appear when a death search is done on Ancestry.ca, but will often appear on a death search using Familysearch.com.
Meeting Presentations:
Two of our members made excellent presentations at our meeting:
Canadian Naturalization Records by Thea Hawryluk.
- What are Naturalization Records?
- How Can They Help with Genealogical Research?
- What value do they play in Research?
- Where can we find them?
Thea’s presentation covered all of these topics with copies of naturalization records websites, an explanation of the various places that naturalization records were used and can be found, and she demonstrated a typical search process with samples of the types of documentation that can be obtained. A PDF copy of Thea’s presentation is attached.
Using AI Tools in Genealogical Research by Don Bowling.
- What is chatGPT?
- How can we access chatGPT?
- What value does chatGPT provide to Genealogy?
- A description of the two options when using chatGPT?
- Tips and cautions for Using AI in Genealogy
Don’s presentation continued us on the path of learning about AI tools and understanding how they can be used in our genealogical research. The matter of AI and its impact on genealogy is something that will continue to play a great role in our efforts to learn about our ancestors. Don’s presentation was very informative and provided suggestions to guide us in launching chatGPT (An AI tool) to play the role of a Genealogical Research Assistant. Although AI search tools do save a great deal of time in our efforts to identify research sources that offer insight into the story of our ancestors, it is very important to keep in mind that they are search tools. The information they provide is not infallible and can be wrong or misleading. Checking and verifying the information AI provides is always a good rule of thumb to follow.
Incidentally, Don’s presentation was created with the help of chatGPT.
Next Meeting: British Home Children in Canada
Our next WSAC Genealogy Meeting will be on Wednesday, February 4. 2026 at WSAC in the Boardroom from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The topic of the meeting will be ‘British Home Children’, the story of the thousands of impoverished children who were brought from the United Kingdom and sent to British dominions such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand between the 1860s and 1940s. Sent with the belief that they would have a better life overseas, many had positive experiences, many faced abuse, neglect and hardship.
Dale Rutherford will be facilitating our meeting, and she has arranged for Kim Farrells, Director of Home Children Canada to speak on the topic of British Home Children in Canada.