Research Services – Old

Our Branch would be pleased to receive your research request by email at [email protected] or by post at Kent Branch OGS, 120 Queen Street, PO Box 964, Chatham ON N7M 5L3.  Please provide as much information about your request as possible.  Once your research fee (see below schedule of research fees) has been received, either by cheque or money order or through Pay Pal, your request will be completed.

Basic Research per Individual Name:

Research can involve at least 3 to 4 hours of research per individual name within our library.  Due to high demand, it may take several weeks before your research can be undertaken by our volunteers.  The fee is $25.00 for Kent OGS Members and $40.00 for non-members.  Each individual person to be researched can include up to 10 pages.  Digitized copies of findings will be sent electronically at no additional cost.  Postage and handling charges will be applied to items sent by post.  Research will be undertaken only after payment has been received.  Fees are for research.  We cannot guarantee information will be found.

  • Kent County Census (1851 – 1901) – about 74 separate books to be checked
  • Kent County Transcribed Cemeteries – about 115 cemeteries with thousands of names
  • Kent County Church Records – an assortment of register entries
  • The Commemorative Biographical records of the County of Kent – 874 pages (plus index), some 25,000 names
  • The Western District Marriage Register (1786 – 1856)
  • County Marriage Register (1858 – 1869)
  • Kent County Marriages (1869 – 1911)
  • Kent OGS Obituary Collection (1981 – 2015)
Research Fee
Research Member Fee $25.00 CAD

Research Non-Member Fee $40.00 CAD

Photocopies of Cemetery Transcription Pages

Copies of single pages of Cemetery Transcription are $5.00 per digital order.  An additional fee of $1.00 per page is required for postage and handling.  To determine which entries you want from the tombstone inscriptions, consult OCFA and/or the OGS The Ontario Name Index.  These transcriptions were made from the tombstones at the time the branch did the transcribing (circa 1978 -1982) and inscriptions made subsequent to that time have not been added.

Cemetery Transcription Page Fee
Single Page Cemetery Transcription by email $5.00 CAD

Single Page Cemetery Transcription plus Postage and Handling $6.00 CAD

Lookup Fees (Digital Only):

Lookup requests of our branch resources/indexes are $5.00 per name per digital order.  Please identify the source of the resource i.e. John Smith Obituary Collection Year 1988 Page 20 or F Arnold Page 105 Dresden or James Smith Obituary Chatham Daily News 1912.

Members of the Kent Branch are allowed one FREE digital lookup or digital cemetery transcription request per year. Please contact the branch at [email protected] and provide your OGS number.

Look Up
Lookup Fee/ Single item/name/article lookup $5.00 CAD

Specialized or Extended Research:

If you feel you need more in-depth research, you might like to contact the Association of Professional Genealogists (We do not assume responsibility for agreements contracted between individuals).  Kent Branch does not have volunteers who will do individual contracted research.

Newsletter Queries
  • Contact the newsletter editor at [email protected] to submit a newsletter query
  • Queries are short messages about a specific person or family from Chatham-Kent (former Kent County) that you are researching. Include your contact information (limit 75 words)
  • Queries may be submitted for inclusion in the Kent Branch Newsletter “Roots, Branches & Twigs” at the discretion of the editor, for circulation to 200+ members.
Other Research Opportunities in Chatham-Kent

Outside the door to our room, you will find the McKeough Local History Room which houses a comprehensive local history collection.  This resource of course, is available during normal library hours (usually opens at 9:30 am) and many visitors find it helpful (newspaper indexes, newspaper on microfilm, historical collections, etc) especially while waiting for our room to open at 1 pm.

While in Chatham you might also wish to visit the W.C. McGeorge Building and explore the archival records available in their collection at McGeorge Building, 325 Grand Avenue East, Chatham, Ontario N7M 5L8 519.360.1998.

There are multiple museums in Chatham-Kent where you may view value pieces of history.  Many have an “Archival Collection and Research Area” but they prefer that you make an appointment, in advance.  There are also other specialty locations in Chatham-Kent including the Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society and their “Black Mecca” exhibit, Buxton National Historic Society and Museum and Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site.