Bringing it home, part 4 – the conference

The speakers for the Great Canadian Genealogy Summit had varying degrees of knowledge in their field of expertise. They were good though. The main subjects that I was interested in were the Acadians and the Highland Scots. Unfortunately, the Acadian talks centred around the Acadians of PEI, but my research centred on Nova Scotia. The talks on Highland Scots were similar, they focused on the Outer Hebrides rather that the Inner Hebrides where my research is centred. Still, I learned things that I can use in my research. 

There were sessions where the choices didn’t relate to my research. Surprisingly, those were some of the most interesting talks that I attended. Dr. Isaac Saney’s presentation on the black fight for freedom in Nova Scotia was outstanding as was the picture that Dr. Patricia Roberts-Pichette painted of the Birmingham that the Middlemore Home Children left behind in England when they immigrated. Equally enthralling was the talk that Jim Benedict of the Alberta Genealogical Society gave about the stacks of genealogical information which he uncovered on “a dark and stormy night”. There’s nothing like humour to get a point across. More serious were the sessions on the use of DNA in genealogy. If I attend enough of these talks perhaps I will understand the more complex details about comparing DNA results. 

It was a good conference. It is always energising to get together with other enthusiasts. I probably learned as much from them as from the presentations. Now that I am home the work begins, translating the information I learned into my own family history research.