Skip to main content

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I obtain a digitized image of a Birth, Death or Marriage notice, via email?

Please contact localhistory@ocl.net with the type of notice, newspaper name, the name of the individual, newspaper date, page and column number, and a digitized image of the notice will be sent to you via email.

Blocking, copying and pasting the desired notice information directly from the index into your email message, saves retyping time and ensures accuracy.

There is a limit of ONE lookup per email per week. Lookups via email are free.
Donations to the Ingersoll Public Library are always welcome. Cheques may be made payable to Ingersoll Public Library and sent to: Ingersoll Public Library, 130 Oxford Street, Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, N5C 2V5. A tax receipt for your contribution is available upon request.

Why did the index return ‘no results’ for the name I searched?

There could be several reasons why the name you searched was not found in our index

  • Ingersoll Library has very few newspapers from the period 1919-1933 all known copies of the Ingersoll Tribune have been microfilmed and are present at the library.
  • Try an alternate spelling for the surname
  • Use the ‘Options’ menu and try choosing ‘Starts with’ or ‘Contains’


e.g. by entering McKin in the ‘Surname’ field and choosing ‘starts with’ on the ‘Options’ menu, the index should return results for McKinlay, McKinley, McKinlee, etc.

e.g. by entering Kay in the ‘Surname’ field and choosing ‘contains’ on the ‘Options’ menu, the index should return results for McKay and MacKay, etc.

  • Submitting birth, death or marriage notices to a newspaper did not become a common practice until mid 20th century
  • If the individual you are looking did not live in Ingersoll or the surrounding area, you may be able to find a notice in another Oxford County newspaper, such as the Sentinel-Review, a newspaper serving Woodstock (the county seat) and surrounding area. Contact Oxford County Branch of the Ontario Genealogy Society
  • Try searching just the surname, or with surname and first initial, often gentlemen were referred to by initials and surname only


Why do some birth/death notices not show a given/christian name?
 

  • Children's birth or death notices until the 1940s did not give the given/christian name of the baby, nor did they usually mention the mother's name. The child is indexed under surname only, with 'Associated Name' referring to the name of the father.
  • Married women's obituaries before the 1930s usually did not give the given/christian name or her maiden name, referring to her as 'Mrs. John Smith'. Therefore, she is indexed as Smith, with an 'Associated Name' reference to her husband.

Why did the Ingersoll Chronicle publish weekly and daily editions concurrently?

The Ingersoll Chronicle was published in a weekly and a daily edition through the years 1897-1916, with the result that some obituary, marriage and birth notices appear multiple times, often with identical text. There are, however, some exceptions. The reason for the seemingly redundant publication is unclear.


Who compiled this information?

The Ingersoll library staff, past and present have indexed the Ingersoll Chronicle and Ingersoll Tribune newspapers for birth, death and marriage notices. The information was input into a database and was made available on-line through the assistance of our talented web design team. Any transcription/lookup that you request is performed by Ingersoll Library staff.

What are some other possible sources for genealogical information in Oxford County?

  • Woodstock Public Library
  • Oxford County Branch of the Ontario Genealogy Society
  • Oxford GenWeb
  • Norwich & District Archives
  • Tillsonburg Public Library
  • J.J. Talman Regional Collection, D.B. Weldon Library, University of Western Ontario