Watch video from Zoom talk by Jannet L. Walsh – Migration to Wolfe Island and on to Minnesota hosted by Kingston Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS)

Jannet L. Walsh , photo above — Self Portrait by Jannet L. Walsh, October 13, 2024, Wolf Island, Ontario, Canada, with view of Barrett Bay and Kingston in the background.

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ATTENTION: The video from my Zoom talk has been removed from this blog post and YouTube, my apologies. I will updated with a new video or video series about my family’s migration story. Please download handout from my presentation to search for your Canadian and Irish family history. – Jannet L. Walsh. (April 21, 2026)

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Jannet L. Walsh
Monday, April 20, 2026
Murdock, Minnesota

You are invited to watch a video recording of my talk Migration to Wolfe Island and on to Minnesota hosted by Kingston Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS), April 18, 2026.

Video can be viewed directly at YouTube or below. The talk has been edited to include an aerial video of the historic farm Jannet’s family leased on Wolfe Island, Ontario, approximately 1850-1877.

There’s two versions below of a short two minute video of the historic Walsh farm my family leased 1850-1877 on Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada. The other version is the entire talk edited, 47 minutes in length with the farm video at the end.

A handout from the talk is provided below to help you explore your own Irish and Canadian roots, or click to download PDF.

Details from the original posting: Join Minnesota-based writer, photographer, and educator Jannet L. Walsh as she traces her family’s remarkable immigration journey from County Kilkenny, Ireland, during the Great Famine of the 1840s, to Dublin Township in Minnesota. Along the way lies a mysterious thirty-five–year stopover on Wolfe Island in the St. Lawrence River—a place her father spoke of, but about which little was known.

Through meticulous research and vivid storytelling, Jannet brings to life a powerful tale of migration, community, and resilience. Blending family “detective work” with creative nonfiction, she invites audiences to walk with her from Ireland to Canada to Minnesota in what she calls her immersive, “you are there” narrative style—rooted in her family’s oral tradition.”

Thank you to the Kingston Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society for their invitation to tell my family’s migration story. A special thanks to Mike Hill, known as Aerosnapper Kingston on Facebook, for creating the video on Wolfe Island of historic Walsh Farm.

Regards,

Jannet L. Walsh
Written at home, Murdock, Minnesota

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Jannet L. Walsh is a recipient of a Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Artist Growth Grant, 2024-2026. This activity is funded, in part, by a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council through an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State’s general fund.

Please follow updates at my website, JannetWalsh.com.

Copyright © 2026. Jannet L. Walsh. All Rights Reserved.

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*Jannet L. Walsh of Murdock, Minnesota is a photographer, writer, and educator. She is the author of a creative nonfiction quest narrative “Higgledy-Piggledy Stones: Family Stories from Ireland and Minnesota,” 2023 by Shanti Arts Publishing. Walsh is recipient of a Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Growth Grant funded by the McKnight Foundation, 2022-2024, and Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, 2024-2026. She is also recipient of a 2024 Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Individuals Grant, funding from National Endowment for the Arts. You can follow Walsh on Facebook and Twitter, and on her other social media channels, with the hashtag #IrishFamilyHistoryDetective.