Description

The Simcoe County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society offers many benefits to both members and the public. Of interest to both members and non-members is the wealth of Simcoe County related material that is found on its public facing website (https://simcoe.ogs.on.ca) which features a Settlers Database containing over 273,000 records, designed to help people find their Simcoe County ancestors. This database is intended to act as a pointer, to guide the user to what information is available for their ancestors. The database provides information such as name, dates where available, and a source of the information. Some of the sources contained in the database, such as the 1861 and 1891 census documents can now be found on sites such as Ancestry.ca. Using the information gleaned from the database, you can then view the census image online at your leisure. Other sources, such as surrogate court records, will be found in the Provincial Archives of Ontario; or Settlers Sheets will be found among the Simcoe County Branch library collection. You may have to travel to these locations, or request help from one of the Simcoe County Branch volunteers, to view these records. The Simcoe County Branch library collection is housed in the main downtown branch of the Barrie Public Library on open shelves accessible to anyone, but for use only within the library, during normal library hours. Simcoe County Branch volunteers are in the library through the week to shelve materials and are available to answer questions or offer assistance. The collection includes over 1,400 publications, comprised of local history books, family histories, directories, volumes of Settlers Sheets and Family Group Sheets of early Simcoe County pioneers, census and cemetery transcriptions, How To books, etc. The library does provide the facility to search our collection and there is a link to the list from our site at (Resources -> Branch Resources -> Library Collection): https://simcoe.ogs.on.ca/library-collection/

The library collection also contains reels of Ontario vital statistics microfilm. Of course, sites such as Ancestry or FamilySearch also provide this information online now, but we make available reels of microfilm that were purchased from the Provincial Archives of Ontario. A list of our microfilm holdings can be found on our website at (Resources -> Branch Resources -> Library Collection-Vital Statistics): https://simcoe.ogs.ca/librarycollection-vital-statistics/ Membership to the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Simcoe County Branch entitles you to receive the Branch newsletter, the Simcoe County Ancestor News (SCAN), 4 times annually. This award winning newsletter includes informative articles to help your family history project, as well as success stories from other members. Members are entitled to post queries in the newsletter in hopes of connecting with
others researching the same family lines. Non-members are charged a $5.00 fee to post a query in the newsletter. The Simcoe County Branch also hosts a Members Only web site that is available only to its members. When planning the Members Only Site, emphasis was placed on providing access to information that would help long distance members, as well as local ones, in providing material that will not be found anywhere else on the internet. To this end, information can be found from a variety of Church Archives, the Simcoe County Archives, the Provincial Archives of Ontario, and the Land Registry Office. As well, speaker’s notes from previous meetings are posted when the speaker has given permission to do so, and the current, plus three previous issues of SCAN will be found on the site. A page on the Branch public facing site (https://simcoe.ogs.on.ca/membersonly-site/) lists the information members will find on the Members Only web site.

Membership does have its benefits!

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E-mail: [email protected] Snail Mail: Simcoe County Branch, OGS, P.O. Box 892, Barrie ON, L4M 4Y6 Voice Mail Box: (416) 489-0734 Ext 328 or Toll Free 1-855-697-6687 Ext. 328 Website: simcoe.ogs.on.ca
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