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. We also have assistance with transcriptions from two wonderful, intrepid volunteers.

Please contact vicki@ocl.net with the type of notice, newspaper name [this is critical as Ingersoll Daily Chronicle and the Ingersoll Chronicle and Ingersoll Chronicle and Canadian Dairyman are on different microfilm reels], the name of the individual, newspaper date, page and column number, and a transcription will be sent to you via email. Blocking, copying and pasting the desired notice 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. If anything appears in the 'Text of Notice' box, other than 'A transcription may be requested for this notice', this IS the birth, death or marriage notice, however brief. Transcriptions 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.

What should I expect from a birth, death or marriage notice transcription from Ingersoll Chronicle?

For the most part, newspaper notices, during the run of the Ingersoll Chronicle 1854-1919, were very brief.
A typical birth notice would look something like this:
SMITH--On December 25th, 1854, to the wife of Mr. J. Smith, a son

A typical death notice, would look something like this:
SMITH--On December 25th, 1854, John Smith, of Ingersoll, 98 years, 6 months, and 2 days

A typical marriage notice, would look something like this:
SMITH-BROWN--On December 25th, 1854, John Smith to Annie Brown, eldest daughter of John Brown, all of Ingersoll

There are many exceptions, thankfully, to this, and these notices do include wonderful data and details.

To what does 'Associated Name' refer?

Marriage notices are indexed by the groom's name, with the bride's name indexed as the 'Associated Name'. Birth notices are indexed by the baby's name, with the father's name as the 'Associated Name'. The Ingersoll Tribune index obituaries include the name of the spouse, when indicated.

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’

• Submitting birth, death or marriage notices to a newspaper did not become a common practice until mid 20^th 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 Genealogy Society for assistance

• Try searching just the surname, or with surname and first initial, often gentlemen were referred to by initials and surname only

• 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.

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.

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