No one wants a criminal at the dinner table, but finding one in your family tree can add pizzazz to an otherwise boring list of names and dates! And criminal justice records tell stories about non-criminals too. Victims, witnesses, jury members and...
No one wants a criminal at the dinner table, but finding one in your family tree can add pizzazz to an otherwise boring list of names and dates! And criminal justice records tell stories about non-criminals too. Victims, witnesses, jury members and magistrates were also recorded. In this all-day workshop participants will learn about the history of criminal justice administration in 19th-century Ontario and the records it produced, including newspapers, police records, court records, and jail records. In-person participants will have the opportunity to discover true crime stories through hands-on exercises.
This workshop will be hybrid. Participants can register to join in-person or remotely via a Zoom link that will be emailed to registrants before the workshop begins. Sessions will start at 10am and end at 4pm, with a lunch break from 12-1pm.
Time: 10am-4pm
Cost: $35/in-person participant OR $20/remote participant (*in-person participants will be provided full access to all the workshop materials and a catered lunch)
Demographics: Recommended for adults and seniors
Pre-registration is required for planning and contacting purposes. Registration closes Thursday, October 17th or when full.
About Janice Nickerson:
Professional genealogist Janice Nickerson loves a good challenge whether it’s identifying elusive ancestors, tracking disappearing descendants or telling richer family stories.
She became an avid genealogist upon discovering a mysterious family tree hand written by her grandmother, which told of illustrious ancestors sent to Canada by the King to trade furs in Hudson’s Bay. Too young then to be allowed entry to the archives without an adult escort, she began her research writing dozens of letters to far off record offices. Archivists far and wide responded with friendly advice and gentle admonitions to learn a little more about geography before writing to everyone in the genealogy handbook.
Having been advised that it was impossible to earn a living as a genealogist, Janice pursued an academic career in Anthropology. But her research projects and theses always reflected her interest in family history. With a B.A., M.A. and not quite PhD behind her, she launched her genealogy business, Upper Canada Genealogy, in 2001 and hasn’t looked back since.
In addition to helping her private clients discover the richness of their ancestral heritage, Janice does heir searching for provincial Public Trustees, writes and lectures on a variety of genealogical topics. Her specialties include early Ontario research, criminal justice records and using genealogy gifts and games to create a legacy.
Janice also did much of the genealogical research “behind the scenes” for the CBC’s television series, Who Do You Think You Are?, which aired from October 2007 to February 2008 and APTN’s television series, All Our Relations, airing Fall 2013.
Her books, Crime and Punishment in Upper Canada: A Researcher’s Guide (2010), and York’s Sacrifice: Militia Casualties of the War of 1812 (2012) were both published by the joint imprint of the Ontario Genealogical Society and Dundurn Press.
Janice is a proud 8th-generation Canadian, with English, German, Irish, Welsh and First Nations ancestry.
Her company website is UpperCanadaGenealogy.com.
Her work with the City of Toronto Museum Services helped create a Book of Remembrance to commemorate the York militia men (and their families) who died in the War of 1812.
Funding for Bring Your Own Brick Wall Genealogy Club is provided by the Government of Ontario:
