Join us on Monday, June 5th at 7 PM as we welcome Brent Whitford, Senior Curator from the Cornwall Community Museum. He will give us a presentation about the resources of the Museum, and their recent involvement with the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada in housing the UELAC Archives.
To register for this presentation, click here.
We’ve created a Google custom map of all of the cemeteries in the United Counties of Leeds & Grenville. Be sure to check it out!
Happy Holidays from your Leeds & Grenville Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. We have some exciting news that we couldn’t wait to share!
After months of work digitizing, formatting and creating descriptions, Leeds & Grenville Branch is thrilled to announce that our publications are now for sale in digital format in Ontario Ancestors Marketplace. Simply visit the OGS website, click on Marketplace, then Branch Publications, and Leeds & Grenville. We are still working on uploading, so if a publication you wish to purchase isn’t listed, please let us know at leedsgrenville@ogs.on.ca.
Paper versions of most publications are still available to order from the Branch. Contact us at the above address to enquire about availability and postage costs.
Thank you for supporting the Leeds & Grenville Branch as it works to preserve the genealogical history of the United Counties.
Following the departure of our summer student the Archives will only be available BY APPOINTMENT for researchers. Beginning after Labour Day we will be back on a Monday-Friday schedule, with volunteers on duty by appointment. However, the Museum building will be closed to visitors September 6-18 inclusive in order to make some necessary repairs. We hope this will not inconvenience visitors. To book an appointment beginning September 19th, please email us at leedsgrenville@ogs.on.ca or call 1-855-697-6687 and leave a message. Please let us know your preferred dates, and keep in mind that our volunteers normally work in the afternoons from 1-4 pm.
Archives is Open to Visitors By Appointment
From now until August 21st 2022 our Archives is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm. If you would like to visit, please book an appointment by calling 1-855-697-6687 ext. 317, or sending an email to leedsgrenville@ogs.on.ca.
The June 2020 Branch meeting featured a presentation about the Leeds & Grenville Branch Archives, with lots of information about what you’ll find there when you visit.
Join us on Monday, May 1st at 7:00 PM on Zoom as we host a presentation called Finding Them on the Ground.
Records such as censuses and maps can often give us the lot, concession, and township information for where our rural Ontario kin resided. However, finding those details can sometimes be a challenge. In this presentation, genealogist Ken McKinlay will be diving into those various online resources and showing us how to find those nuggets with the records. With that information we have a much better chance of finding the various Ontario land records related to their property.
Ken McKinlay is a genealogy researcher with over 20 years of trial and error experience in researching his own family’s history in Canada, United States, England, Scotland and Ireland. Ken has a genealogy related blog at Family Tree Knots, where he shares the methodologies that he uses in his own research. To register for this presentation, click here.
Due to illness Dave Obee was unable to deliver his presentation as planned on April 3rd. We have rescheduled the presentation for Monday, April 10th at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome but registration is required. Please register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvcu2qrzMuE9MeM0HIIurjGyS_trIBL3zm
After registration you will receive a confirmation with a link to join the presentation. Registrations from April 3rd DO NOT carry over, so please register with the new link if you wish to attend.
Join us on Monday, April 3rd at 7:00 pm on Zoom for a special presentation from well-known Canadian genealogist Dave Obee. Dave will give us a two-fer evening – two short presentations on different topics.
The first topic is a timely one – Getting Ready for the 1931 Census! The 1931 national census is due to be released in June, 2023 — and since it will probably not be indexed right away, we need to get ready. Pick your priority people and get to work! This session offers ideas for identifying the census divisions and subdivisions where you will find your relatives. Using digitized census reports and mapping tools, you will be able to narrow your search options.
In the second presentation, Dave will take us Beyond the Online Basics: A Genealogical Guide to Digital Collections. There are billions of scanned pages on the Internet — a collection that few physical libraries could match. The problem is that many pages relevant to your research can be difficult to track down, since they are not on the usual genealogy websites. This session provides ideas on how to find the documents that will help you learn more about your families, or the local histories of the areas where they lived.
To join us for this presentation, visit our website leedsandgrenville.ogs.on.ca for the link to register or click this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvc-2urz4qH9MlJAslt_6cNC2S0wPFfvD6
Everyone is welcome!
The Leeds & Grenville Branch of Ontario Ancestors – the Ontario Genealogical Society invites you to visit our display at the Brockville Museum on Family Day, Monday February 20th, 2023 from 10 AM to 4 PM. The Brockville Museum is located at 5 Henry Street, Brockville, Ontario K6V 6M4.
We will have family trees, displays and family history materials about three early Brockville families: the Buells; the Sherwoods; and the Schofields.
We will also have used publications for sale (local census, newspaper and cemetery records) for $2 to $5.
Join us for this interesting Family Day activity!
To celebrate Family Day 2023, Leeds & Grenville Branch, along with several other branches and a SIG of Ontario Ancestor, will be offering access to the members’ section on their websites for the Family Day weekend! Anyone can purchase a “weekend access pass” to the thousands of records in these members’ areas. Other Branches /SIG participating include: Eastern European Special Interest Group, Essex Branch, Huron Branch, Kent Branch, Lambton Branch, Niagara Peninsula Branch, Oxford Branch, Simcoe Branch.
Access will begin on Friday, February 17th at 6:00 pm until Monday, February 20th at 6:00 pm. Access passes can be purchased from the “Marketplace” on the main Ontario Ancestors website https://ogs.on.ca/. Be sure to create yourself a free account on the site before you begin shopping. The cost of each access pass is $20.00 per branch/SIG.
How to get in on this great opportunity:
Head to the Ontario Ancestors’ website – www.ogs.on.ca
This is a great opportunity to check out thousands of resources available to assist you in your family history journey.
Happy Family Day Weekend!
Join us on Monday, March 6th at 7:00 pm on Zoom when we will host a presentation jointly with the Brockville Museum about the Portraits of Frederick William Lock. Mr. Lock painted in the Brockville area beginning about 1853, and among his works in the Museum’s collection are portraits of several leading Brockville citizens of the time. The portraits from this collection are on display in the Museum’s Art Gallery until December of 2023, and the Leeds and Grenville Branch has partnered with the Museum to offer glimpses of the lives of the citizens in these portraits, and their genealogical roots. Our presentation is entitled Families Behind the Portraits.
The Sherwood and Buell families were among the first settlers to arrive in Leeds County in the 18th century, and were instrumental in the development of the area, filling such roles as sheriff and surveyor, and turning tent homes into stone houses on the St. Lawrence River.
In the presentation Museum staff will talk about the artist (who married into a local family), and Branch volunteers will uncover the lives of those citizens portrayed in Lock’s portraits.
The Leeds & Grenville Branch of Ontario Ancestors is housed in the Brockville Museum, and is happy to showcase why local history and family history are so intertwined.
Everyone is welcome to join our online Zoom meeting, but registration is required. You can register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElf-GtrTgrEtYK3Kbvovoho0CGRDO_e0QA.
We look forward to seeing you on March 6th!
Join us on Monday, February 6th at 7:00 pm on Zoom for a presentation by Craig Stevenson on Rail History in Eastern Ontario and its relationship to local history and genealogy. Craig will discuss a few areas where rail was most visible in local life through to about 1960: stations, agricultural and economic connections, impact on the geography of some communities, and where and how railways connect to social history.
Craig is a rail enthusiast who is involved with Friends of Grand Trunk Railway 1008, preserving a precious piece of railway history! He teaches at Tagwi Secondary School in Avonmore, and has written a number of history articles pertaining to SD&G, as well as the St. Lawrence Seaway and local rail heritage.
To join us for this presentation, click this link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUof-iuqT8rHN2ksY97rGzXOij3sx0fxBkG
Everyone is welcome!