Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Burtonshaw, R. Geoffrey
Parallel form(s) of name
- Burtonshaw, Geoff
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
R. Geoffrey Burtonshaw, 1916-2012, was born on a farm near Valpoy, Manitoba. He finished grade eight. He married Grace K. Paradis in Dauphin, Manitoba in 1940. They had four daughters Janice, Beverly, Lois and Valerie. He worked in farming and construction until 1941 when he joined the RCAF in Winnipeg. He was engaged in technical work, spending most of his time at #3 Bomb and Gunnery School at Portage La Prairie. He became a reservist in 1946. Upon leaving the Air Force he began work as a carpenter and moved to Calgary, Alberta in 1952 with his family. He worked as a carpenter for a number of employers, among them Bennett and White Construction. He retired in 1981. He subsequently became interested in Metis genealogy and collected a vast amount of information on the subject and made numerous personal contacts in the field. In the spring of 1991 he started "The Metis Newsletter", a bi-monthly publication. He also assembles a Metis Researcher contact list and hosts Metis Research Nights at his house. At present he answers up to 700 written enquiries a year on Metis genealogy. He also volunteers on a regular basis at the Glenbow Archives, assisting Metis genealogy researchers.