Genealogy

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Genealogy is one of the fastest growing hobbies in North America. On any given day at the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, there can be up to ten different genealogical requests being researched. People interested in family history comprise about 55% of the patron traffic in the Reading Room.

The Reading Room is stocked with an abundance of resources geared towards genealogical research in Bruce County. We are very fortunate to have The Audrey Webster Underwood Library of the Bruce County Genealogical Society available in the Reading Room. The Genealogical Society has spent countless volunteer hours assembling resources geared to help those tracing their family trees. These materials, combined with other records supplied by the BCM&CC and the Bruce & Grey Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, make our Reading Room an ideal place for genealogical research. Do you have roots in Bruce? This is the place to find out.

Some of the genealogical resources available in the Reading Room and Archives include:

• Census records on microfilm and transcribed specifically for the County of Bruce
• Donated family histories
• Cemetery transcriptions
• Bruce County directories
• Land record abstracts and registry copy books
• Ontario Birth / Marriage / Death Indexes and Registrations for Bruce County on microfilm: 1869 – 1908 (births), 1869 – 1923 (marriages) and 1869 – 1933 (deaths)
• Local town and township histories
• Local newspapers on microfilm
• Newspaper indexes – mainly births / marriages / deaths from Wiarton, Chesley, Paisley, Lucknow and Port Elgin
• Birth / Marriage / Death newspaper clippings organized alphabetically
• Books on Scottish, Irish and English genealogy including the International Genealogical Index
• Copies of Women’s Institute Tweedsmuir Histories (compiled local histories)
• Family history queries received by the Bruce County Genealogical Society
• And much more

If you require a microfilm reader or use of a computer, please call ahead to reserve one. Otherwise, they operate on a first come, first served basis.

If you are unable to visit us at the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre in Southampton we do fee for service research as time permits.  Please complete our Research Request Form.  Our fees are as follows:

• Research fee: $25.00 per hour
• Photocopies: 25 cents per page (legal/letter) – 50 cents per page (ledger/tabloid)
• Shipping & Handling: $5.00 plus cost of stamp
• Fax:  $2.00 minimum