Sunday, May 15, 2011

OGS Conference - 50th Anniversary and the Guild of One Name Studies

Just back from attending the 50th Anniversary Conference for the Ontario Genealogical Society. I was a vendor this time with a table for the Guild of One Name Studies and over 70  people expressed an interest in the Guild. Since that was about 1/7 of the attendees I found that number to be most worthwhile. This year we had a door prize and it was a one year membership (plus as it does the rest of this year plus next year) and it was won by an individual who already has been thinking about joining the Guild which was truly remarkable.

I was also very pleased to have one of the speakers, Marian Press, drop by and mention my blog (and that she had mentioned it in her lecture). I am glad that my work is considered helpful to others and plan that it will continue to be so.

The weekend was very very busy and I have a few new ideas on how to set up my table another time. The conference itself was very well organized and moved along without a hitch. It was very nice also to see FindMyPast there and Paul Blake as I got a chance to mentioned my very strong conviction that FindMyPast could greatly benefit from having the Protestation Returns online on their site. We will see if that might come to fruition. If anyone can carry the ball on this one I think Paul Blake can do so. Thank you to him for his enthusiastic support in that regard. We shared a few minutes talk on the Blake one name study as he initiated the original study a few years ago now which I, along with the other members of my team, have since re-registered and are attempting to add to this great family name's history more and more details of the Blake family worldwide.

No comments: