About Us

Who we are:

Oxford County Branch of Ontario Ancestors (The Ontario Genealogical Society) was founded in 1979 and is dedicated to supporting and promoting genealogical research in Oxford County.

Our Objectives:

  • To promote, encourage, and foster the study of genealogy and genealogical research in the County of Oxford.
  • To collect and preserve information, books, manuscripts, typescripts, charts, maps, photographs, microfilms, microfiche, and related material relevant to genealogical study.
  • To encourage and instruct members in the ethical principles, scientific methods, and effective techniques of genealogical research.
  • To publish and distribute books, bulletins, and other printed material to further the foregoing objectives of the Society.
  • To support “organizations” external to the Society and within the Branch’s geographic area and which have a shared interest in genealogy and family history.
  • To raise funds for any of the foregoing objectives and to accept donations, gifts, legacies, and bequests.

Our Location:

Parking Areas
Our Resource Centre
82 Light Street, Court House Square, Woodstock Ontario

Parking:

Parking for volunteers and visitors is available in the horseshoe-shaped lot off Graham Street (between the Courthouse and Public Health) as well as the lot across Graham Street behind the Woodstock Library (lots are marked in Green on the map). Limited street parking is also available. The south side of Buller Street is usually a good spot to check. The County has agreed that our volunteers who have a valid handicap parking permit can continue to park in the handicap spots in the lot off Light Street.

City parking bylaw staff will be monitoring the four “employee only” lots (marked in red) and will be ticketing vehicles without County permits. To avoid a ticket, please park in either the horseshoe-shaped lot off Graham Street or in the lot across Graham Street, or on available spots on the street.

Membership:

If you are researching Oxford County or live in the area and would like to interact with other genealogists, consider membership in our Branch. Full membership in the Ontario Genealogical Society ($63.00) is a prerequisite, plus $15.00 for membership in the Oxford Branch. Further details on membership are available on the O.G.S. website.
Our members are located across North America. See the map below to view the areas our current members reside (Aug 1, 2023).

Click on Map for larger view

Branch Meetings

  • Meetings are held on the second or third Monday or Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. (no meeting in July, August, and December). See Events Page for specific day.
  • Currently our meetings are held online (ZOOM). Registration is required.
  • We feature a variety of speakers and topics.
  • The public is always welcome and there is no admission charge.

Newsletter

Our quarterly newsletter, THE TRACER, contains news about the Branch, Ontario Ancestors, and the newest additions to our library and family history collection. It also contains interesting articles and transcriptions of original documents with genealogical relevance to our members. Researchers can post queries in The Tracer regarding information they are seeking about their family history. The newsletter is sent out free of charge to Branch members in February, May, August, and November.

Facebook – Queries

Researchers will find that networking with others can be very helpful in the pursuit of their family roots. Joining our Facebook Group is a good way to post queries and to connect with others researching their Oxford County ancestors. Our Facebook Group is private but we accept all those who are doing genealogical research in Oxford, just tell us the surnames that you are researching. Our group can be found here.

Telephone – Queries

Our direct telephone number is  519-421-1700.

You can also contact the branch by telephone by calling 1 855 MYROOTS (855-697-6687) and then entering the extension number 323. This will lead to a voice mail system that will capture your message and email it to the responsible volunteer at our Branch.

Library

Our research library has a large and growing collection of resources and reference material for use by members and non-members. It is located at 82 Light Street, Court House Square, Woodstock, ON. The research library is a non-lending, private library that is open to the general public Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., except on holidays and a few weeks at the end of December. Volunteers are on hand to assist with locating material and providing instruction on the use of equipment. Our collection includes family histories for more than 500 Oxford County families, cemetery transcripts for the more than 100 cemeteries in Oxford County, census indexes and microfilm, directories, maps and atlases, Tweedsmuir history books, school histories, voters lists, an extensive obituary collection, Ontario Land Records indexes and old newspapers on microfilm, As well, there are some resources with vital statistics and other records for neighbouring counties. The library is equipped with copy machines, microfilm and microfiche readers and provides a comfortable environment in which to research your family roots.

We offer an extensive hands-on resource collection with volunteers available to help you discover your family history. For researchers unable to visit our library, volunteers will do a limited search on the resources in our library.
(See Services Page)

Our Awards