Get to know the Simcoe County Archives; Simcoe County Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society; Barrie Family History Centre - FamilySearch; and Barrie Public Library.
About this event: Learn what each of these resources has to offer, and how you can maximize your search potential.
Audience Level: Beginner/ Intermediate
About the Participants:
Simcoe County Archives: Ellen
Ontario's first County Archives was established in 1966, and continues to be a leader among small and municipal archives. The Simcoe County Archives manages the permanent records of both the County of Simcoe and its constituent municipalities, and documents the collective memory of the County by acquiring and preserving the historical record in all recording media.
About Ellen: Ellen Millar, Corporate and Municipal Records Archivist, has been answering genealogists’ questions for more than 25 years. Born and raised in Simcoe County, Ellen holds degrees in history (Trent) and archival studies (UBC), and is a past board member of the Simcoe County Branch, OGS.
Simcoe County Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society: Victor
The Simcoe County Branch obtained it’s Charter, becoming a Branch of Ontario Ancestors (formerly the Ontario Genealogical Society) in 1983. We are located in Central Ontario, just north of Toronto. Simcoe County is the largest county in Ontario.
Our mission statement says, we are “encouraging, bringing together and assisting those interested in the pursuit of genealogy and family history in Simcoe County”. Our members focus on preserving information that will be useful for anyone doing research on their ancestors from Simcoe County. We also provide a sound base for researchers living here who have ancestors in other areas around the world.
Our members have an interest in genealogy and enjoy meeting with other like-minded people. Our executive is made of up volunteers, as are all the teams working on various branch projects. We are not professional genealogists who for a fee, search out your family tree.
About Victor:
Victor was born and raised in Kirkland Lake, ON. He became interested in his family tree history about 20 years ago. Through his family research he has traced his Brace Family tree to 1720. Victor became involved with the Simcoe County Branch of Ontario Ancestors to discover how to refine his research techniques and has been Vice-Chair for just over 5 years.
Barrie Family History Centre - FamilySearch: Janet
The Barrie Family History Centre (FHC), 79 Ferris Lane, is staffed by experienced volunteer family history researchers. FHC has free access to Ancestry, Findmypast, My Heritage, enhanced FamilySearch and more. It also has small collections of microfilm and genealogy titles for viewing on site. FHC is reopening Nov 2nd by appointment only.
About Janet: Janet Graham has degrees in geography & urban planning and in library science. She created and taught introductory genealogy classes for more than a decade in a public library. Janet has been researching her own genealogy for over 20 years mostly in Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, and Canada. She has volunteered as a consultant at the Barrie Family History Center since 2010, and helped people find roots in many countries.
Barrie Public Library: Elizabeth
Visit our Downtown Branch to access our Local History collection, which is available to use at the library but can't be borrowed. This section contains books, microfilms, and other documents covering the history, geography, geology, culture and socio-economic structure of Simcoe County. It specifically focuses on Barrie, Oro-Medonte, Springwater (including Vespra), Innisfil and Essa.
We are also pleased to hold the research collection of the Simcoe County Branch of Ontario Ancestors: The Ontario Genealogical Society at our Downtown Branch.
About Elizabeth: Elizabeth grew up in Montreal where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and had the pleasure of working at the McCord Museum and at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts cataloguing their historical costume collection for a number of years. Being a lover of history, it is no wonder that for the past 20 years she has enjoyed helping patrons at BPL with their Genealogy queries.
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