Tag Archives: United Counties of Leeds & Grenville

Access to the Leeds & Grenville Branch Archives

Update Effective November, 2021

With the Proof of Vaccination policy:

• All Museum visitors will be asked if they pass screening (don’t have symptoms)
• Museum Front Desk volunteers will ask for and check Vaccine Certificate and government-issued ID for visitors (not for staff and volunteers). They will do this for Archives visitors as well.

The Brockville Museum is now open for visitors to its exhibits by appointment only and with capacity limits.  The Museum building, which houses the Archives of the Leeds & Grenville Branch, is open Tuesday through Saturday between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

The Leeds & Grenville Branch of OGS is working to re-open our Archives to visitors beginning Tuesday, September 14th, but only by appointment.  Our space limitations are such that we can only accommodate two visitors at a time in order to maintain physical distancing.  Masks must be worn to enter the Museum building, and while in our Archives space.

In order to book an appointment, please leave a message on our Voice Mail system (613-342-7773) or by email at [email protected], telling us your name and contact information (email and telephone preferred), the date and time you would prefer to visit, and alternates if possible.  We would also like to know the names or locations that you wish to research so that we can determine which resources we have available to assist.  Our Archives appointments will begin at either 15 minutes before the hour, or 15 minutes after, to avoid arrivals of Museum visitors and Archives visitors at the front desk at the same time.

Once we receive your request we will reach out to our researchers to determine whether we can accommodate your request, and match up the request with a researcher.  Any further instructions about on-site requirements will be given when we confirm your appointment.  We will advise the Museum once we confirm your appointment.  This process will take at least 48 hours to complete, so please be patient with us.  We are all volunteers.

Please note that drop-ins CANNOT be accommodated at this time.  If you have any questions, please either leave us a voice mail or send us an email and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

September 2017 Meeting

Date: September 11, 2017
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Brockville Museum

George Neville will be speaking on Monday, September 11th about Joseph Jessup, his land and Mill sites at Lyn Falls off the Lyn-Yonge Mills Road.  George’s talk will be introduced through an early map (1810) of the St. Lawrence Front Royal townships extending from Edwardsburg Twp. in the east to Leeds Twp. in the west, wherein Jessup’s Mill sites are indicated in Lots 24-26 and E.½ Lot 27 of Elizabeth Town Twp., a location better known now as ‘Lyn Falls’.  This map depicts the early route of the King’s Highway, pathways, creeks and waterways and emerging settlement communities.

Little personal information is known of Capt. Joseph Jessup, but insight will be shared from obscure documents of Jessup’s dilemma in later sale of parcels of his holdings to different purchasers only to learn before ‘the ink was dry’ that he was committed to greater total acreage than to which he held title by Crown Deed, and the efforts he invoked with the Survey General’s Department in York for favourable resolution.

May 2017 Meeting

Date: May 8, 2017
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Brockville Museum

On May 8th Brent Collett, local land surveyor and mapper, will give a presentation about Willis Chipman, an early surveyor of Leeds & Grenville counties and the founder in 1881 of the company that Brent runs today.  Brent has a library of old records from several Ontario land surveyors as well as surveying tools and documents over 150 years old.

March 2017 Meeting

Credit: LAC R112 2008-0377 box 265 PL-39933

Date: March 13, 2017
Time: 7:30 pm
Place: Brockville Museum
Speaker: Pascale Guindon

On March 13th, Pascale Guindon, a Parks Canada historian, will tell us the remarkable story of Lieutenant William Sharpe of Prescott, and his career as an aviator during the First World War.  The talk looks at his early life and training, Canada’s first attempt at an aviation corps, his overseas service and concludes with some thoughts on his aviation legacy.

From 2014 until 2018, Canada is commemorating the centennial of the First World War, a global event that left lasting effects on generations of Canadians. During this commemorative period, Parks Canada has been recognizing and honouring the memory of Hometown Heroes across the country who contributed each in their own way to the war effort.  Lt. Sharpe is one such hero.

Pascale Guindon is an historian with Parks Canada. With a passion for history since childhood, she studied in architectural history and Canadian Studies and began her career in heritage conservation as a student interpreter at Fort Wellington National Historic Site in Prescott. She is currently in the role of National Programs Coordinator for Parks Canada’s National Celebrations Branch helping to commemorate and celebrate with Canadians significant anniversaries of people, places and events that have helped shape the Canada of today.

Please join us at the Brockville Museum at 7:30 pm to hear this presentation and learn more about genealogy in Leeds & Grenville.  Refreshments and an opportunity for discussion will follow the presentation.

Books Notice
If you have any books hanging around your house that others might like to read, the Brockville Museum is accepting donations for its upcoming annual Book Sale.  There will be a cart in the Museum lobby where you can drop off donations.

September 2016 Meeting

Summer vacations are over and fall is approaching. Also approaching is a return to the regular meetings of the Leeds & Grenville Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

The new season starts on Monday, September 12th at 7:30 p.m. in the Brockville Museum.

Our guest speaker will be Bill Boulton on his latest book, “Village Streets & Country Lanes: Lansdowne Then and Now.”

Do come out and join us & bring a friend.

April 2016 Meeting

Meeting, Monday, April 11th, 2016, 7:30 PM

Brockville to Perth Settlers Trek 1816 - 2016 Brockville to Perth Settlers Trek 1816 – 2016

2016 is the 200th anniversary of the original trek of discharged soldiers and Scottish settlers to the Perth Settlement. These people walked from Brockville to Perth where the new settlement was founded. In May, 2016 this trek will be re-enacted and many of the participants will be descendants of the original settlers.

Clark Theobald of the Rideau Lakes Historical Society will be our guest speaker and provide details of the Trek and subsequent settlement.  The presentation will focus on identifying those settlers who headed north from Brockville in the Spring of 1816 as part of the first British government sponsored and administered settlement program in North America. Using original documents and modern technologies, we will follow their journey to Unionville, Athens, Delta and the Old Landing.

The Settlers Trek 2016 program, presented by the Athens Lions Club, will be re-enacting the original Trek of the Scottish and disbanded soldier/settlers to the Perth Military Settlement in 1816. This unique 200th Anniversary project will be attempted from May 15-20, 2016 and pass through the communities of Brockville, Lyn, Athens, Delta, Portland, Rideau Ferry and Perth. At each locale, a welcoming ceremony and community celebration will take place. Participants will include walkers and horse and wagon teams, plus there will be a separate water route from Portland to Perth attempted by the Geo-Venture class from Perth and District Collegiate Institute.

The 2016 Trek project was originally conceived by Clark Theobald out of discussions within the Perth 200th committee. Clark is a retired school teacher with a passion for local history. He will be accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, also a retired school teacher, and Larry Cochran from Portland, a member of the Rideau Lakes Historical Society.

Two special guests will include Kathy de Souza, a descendant of John Kilborn, and Ron Shaw, a Perth author with a very strong interest in the military history of this region.

November & December 2015 Meetings

Monday, November 9, 2015
A presentation by Viktor Kaczkowski and Alison Dingledine from the Brockville Museum, unveiling the museum’s new website, providing an update about the museum’s Open Drawer project, and demonstrating how to use the online collection database currently under development. The meeting starts at 7:30 PM.

Monday, December 14, 2015
Doug Bond will be speaking on “Farmers & Cheesemakers in North Leeds”. The meeting starts at 7:30 PM.

January, 2016
There is no January meeting.