These groups usually hold their own meetings at places and times determined by the participants. The latest times/places can also be found in our online Calendar. Where the AFHS Library is referenced - it can be found at 712 - 16th Avenue NW , unless otherwise stated.

Atlantic Canada

Genealogical research in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Hosts:
Group

Frequency of Meeting:
Meetings are held on a regular basis on the 2nd Wednesday of alternate months. For precise dates, see the AFHS online calendar.

Content of Meetings:

Sharing family lines people are working on. Several cousins have been discovered in the group.
New resources are shared and reviewed.
Lois' knowledge of the AFHS library collection will be invaluable to visitors.

Contact .

See also the collection of Canadian resource website links that we've compiled. Also, the Canadian Genealogical Projects Registry has hundreds of links that take you directly to data online. In both of these starting points, you just need to specify the province of your interest and you'll get off on the right foot.

Beginners

The Beginners Special Interest Group is an informal monthly meeting of those beginning to do family history. The intent is to provide a forum where beginners can ask questions they might feel diffident about asking in front of the Society's bigger monthly general meeting, and where beginners can talk together about problems they want to discuss ad hoc, as distinct from a formal course or a set piece talk.

It is not intended the group will compete with the Society's course offerings or anything else done for beginners but rather to supplement other offerings, to try to create the kind of informal interchange of ideas that has proven so successful with other Special Interest Groups, and to make beginners feel more welcome in the Society.

The group is led by experienced, but not necessarily expert family historians. All beginners are welcome.

The group usually meets on the fourth Thursday each month in the AFHS Library. The contact for the Beginner's SIG can be reached at:

English/Welsh

Anyone with English or Welsh ancestry in their family tree are welcome to come and meet other genealogists with similar interests. Meetings take place in the AFHS library.

What can it offer? a

expertise in English genealogy
small group discussion
individual help with specific problems
AFHS library - English section and the convenience of extra browsing time

Contact .

See also the collection of English and United Kingdom website links that we've compiled.

Celtic

The Celtic (Irish-Scots) SIG meets at 7pm on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at the AFHS library, or other locations in Calgary to be announced in the "Breeze" newsletter monthly.

For further information, contact

See also the collection of Irish & Scottish website links that we've compiled.

Metis

For assistance with Metis charts or research, contact Robin Kirk at the Glenbow Archives where he volunteers most Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Geoff Burtenshaw is only at the Archives for an hour on Wednesdays now.

Metis research can be done by mail ($30 Canadian, prepaid in money order, major credit card or cash) through the Glenbow Archives, 130 - 9 Avenue SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0P3 (voice: 403-268-4100; fax: 403-265-9769).

They will check the Charles Denney Papers, Metis Scrip, Gail Morin Database, Genealogy of the First Metis Nations, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and Western Canadians 1600-1900. This will result in a written report of the research.

If neither of these sources can help you (as may be the case for eastern Canadian Metis roots), contact Xenia Stanford by email at age@knowmap.com

Ontario SIG

Who is welcome?

Anyone with Ontario ancestry, anyone who knows someone with Ontario ancestry, anyone who has been to Ontario, anyone who may someday go to Ontario, anyone who knows where Ontario is, etc.

What do we offer?

meet other genealogists with similar interests
expertise in Ontario genealogy research
small group discussion
individual help with specific problems
new resources shared and reviewed
extensive collection of Ontario sources found at AFHS Library

When and where do we meet?
Meetings are held at the AFHS Library at 712 - 16th Avenue NW at 7:00 pm on the 4th Monday of the month (except for December, July and August)

Who to contact?

Ukrainian SIG

Have Ukrainian roots? Want to pool your energy with others in searching for your elusive ancestors?

Join us to explore the resources and methodology for researching your Ukrainian ancestry. Submit your ancestral surnames and area (town, region) to Xenia Stanford at e-mail , fax (403) 295-3490 or mail 325, 300 8120 Beddington Blvd. NW, Calgary, AB T3K 2A8.

We will compile a list of surnames/areas and those who are researching them. If you have documents that need interpretation, please bring them to the meetings or send to Xenia by one of the above methods. In addition to the list, we will pinpoint on maps from various periods in history the surnames by the area from which they originated.

Other projects include the compilation of a database of passenger lists of Ukrainians arriving in Canadian ports and the listing of resources (books and websites) valuable in Ukrainian research.

My own Ukrainian roots originate in the village of Czyszki (Czyszky) in the deanery of Olesko (near Brody), raion of Zolochiv (Zolochev or Zloczow), oblast of Lvivska (capital Lviv or Lvov). The village is also found on various maps and in gazetteers as Tsishky or Ciszky. One of the problems in locating records is that there are five such villages in Lvivska. Apparently the name means pleasant view and so is not uncommon. Without knowing the deanery and raion it would have been difficult to pinpoint which of the five was the correct ancestral village.

My grandfather's parents lived in house 29 in the village at the time of his birth on August 21, 1884. At the time this was in Galicia and part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Ancestral names are Szach, Kandia, Shengera and Denys going back two generations. My grandparents married in the village (date unknown) and were homesteading in Bladworth (nearest post office was at Kenaston), Saskatchewan by 1915. In the 1920s the family lived near Detroit, Michigan before returning to Canada and settling in Alberta.

See also our list of recommended resource links for conducting Ukrainrian genealogical research.

Also please contact Xenia to join the Ukrainian SIG.

Family Tree Maker Users Group

This SIGlet started November 2000 and is open to anyone using this software, or contemplating using it. Meetings are the 4th Saturday of the month 10:00 AM in AFHS Library.

For on-line help or past handouts contact:
For general information contact:

Product information: www.familytreemaker.com

Generations/Reunion Users Group

Announcing - the first SIGlet of the AFHS! Spurred by interest at Gensoft '99, this cross-platform Users Group has started meeting monthly, starting from May 10, 1999. The meetings are held at the AFHS Library. For further information, contact .

For ongoing meeting details, please consult AFHS's online calendar of events.

See the sales site for online information about Generations (PC) and Reunion software.

Legacy Users Group

Starting in November of 1999 the Calgary Legacy Users Group has been meeting monthly in the AFHS Library. The meetings commence at 7:30 P.M. on the third Wednesday of each month. There are currently 26 members signed up with about one-half showing up at any particular meeting.

For ongoing meeting details, please consult AFHS's online calendar of events, or contact Chair, .

The Master Genealogist Users Group

The Master Genealogist Users Group meets monthly on the fourth Tuesday (except December).

For ongoing meeting details, please consult AFHS's online calendar of events or contact the Co-Chairs: or .