The Franco-Ontarian Research Centre, under various names, has been in Essex County for over 40 years assisting researchers with their French genealogy. They have amassed a huge resource collection.
Unfortunately, due to declining membership and volunteers the Centre was on the verge of closing. This would have been a huge loss for the genealogical and historical community. The Essex County Branch of Ontario Ancestors has taken the initiative to help ensure that the Centre and its collection remains open. This will be no small feat and we will be looking for volunteers to assist with a variety of tasks. We will need local volunteers who can go into the Centre to greet visitors, help with organizing and inventory, onsite scanning and research, etc. We will also need non-local volunteers who can assist with social media, transcribing, indexing, etc. There is a lot of work to be done but we are confident the Centre can stay open with the community’s help. If you can volunteer any time at all to help us, please click to email David Hutchinson .
The Centre will be open Tuesdays from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM and we will be adding a Saturday or two during the month as well. Our next Saturday opening is scheduled for April 13th and the plan is to be open the second Saturday of every month thereafter.. Directions
We urgently require funds to allow us to purchase new scanning equipment to digitize more of this wonderful collection faster to allow us to share it with those not in the immediate Windsor area, as well as to support the costs of the current facility. Please Click on the “Donate Now” button or HERE to connect to CanadaHelps.org to make your donation (donation tax receipts issued immediately by CanadaHelps by email).
We have started digitizing the Centre’s publications as well as parts of their collection that are not under copyright. Currently we have some Indexes digitized (see below) but as more of the collection is digitized they will be made available here and in the Members Library.
RESEARCH ASSISTANCE: If you have French ancestry and want to know if we can assist you in your research, please email us at: [email protected]. Our French researchers will let you know if they can help.
Click on the folder which you wish to review. Then click on the thumbnail for the file that you wish to read. Please allow the file to upload completely so that you can zoom in for a better read. Depending on your internet speed and the size of the file, this can take a few minutes. In most cases zooming to 100% or window width produces the best result. Or you may download the file at your convenience. Many of these documents have not been indexed, however the scans have been OCR’d to pick up any information that is typed. Volunteers are welcome to assist in the indexing.