Please join us as we Celebrate 50 Years as a Branch in the Ontario Genealogical Society!

Please Celebrate with us on October 15th at the Kingston Frontenac Public Library, Central Branch.

VIPs, OGS Members to meet and ask for help, and CAKE.

For detailed information on October 15, please click on “50th Year” in the menu above. We will post updates for other events throughout the year. 

Based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, we are a branch of  Ontario Ancestors, the provincial Ontario Genealogical Society. Our branch was established in 1973. We are an active and friendly group, with a membership that includes both new and experienced researchers. We meet eight or nine times a year for educational talks, information sessions, and other activities.

We encourage and assist those who are interested in family history in the City of Kingston, in Frontenac County and Lennox and Addington County. We also maintain an extensive Library of books and other research materials and an on-going publications program, with more than 200 books available for sale.  You’re welcome to join us. For more information, please visit our Membership page. We’ll look forward to seeing you!

There is a wealth of information in the Members Only section of the website! Many recordings of presentations and many handouts. Worth a look! Go to the Member only section by clicking “Member Only” in the menu bar above.

Not a member but you would like to listen to the presentations? Why not become a member of the branch? There are many other benefits of being a member of the branch. For other benefits, please click on becoming a member of the Kingston Branch.

Kingston Branch is now only selling Digital Download publications on the OGS Marketplace.  Paper copies can still be ordered directly from the Branch by sending an e-mail to  <kingstonpublications@ogs.on.ca>

Drop-ins offered by our branch and KFPL

Kingston Branch and Kingston Frontenac Public Library once again are collaborating to host genealogy drop-ins in October to November. The sessions run from 1-3 pm.

Oct. 10 at Central Branch
Oct. 19 at Isabel Turner Branch
Oct. 24 at Central
Nov. 2 at Isabel Turner
Nov. 7 at Central
Nov. 23 at Isabel Turner

Riverview Cemetery, Napanee

The Cemetery Committee has recently completed the transcription of all gravestones and the columbaria of Riverview Cemetery in the Town of Greater Napanee. GPS co-ordinates are included for each Row, to assist you in the Cemetery. The Introduction includes a description of the Cemetery, which began in 1841, as well as several photographs. The publication also includes 317 names from the burial register from 1951 to 1992. Unfortunately, there is no register prior to 1951, and 1992 is the last year that can be included due to privacy restrictions. There are over 7,000 names in the fullname Index.
It is available for sale as a Digital Download on the OGS Marketplace for $15.00, or directly from the Branch at: kingstonpublications@ogs.on.ca as a digital file ($15.00) or printed publication ($39.00 plus postage.)
As part of the celebration of our Branch’s 50th anniversary, the Branch Council has approved the addition of Riverview Cemetery into the Members’ Only section of the website.

Early Ontario Marriage Records 

Kingston Relations reported in the January/February 2022 issue that our Branch has been working in collaboration with Queen’s University Archives (QUA) to digitize and add early Ontario marriage records to the QUA website. This is the first of our 50th Anniversary projects and it will be completed in our anniversary year, 2023.

To see a copy of this article, please click on the link: Kingston Relations January/February 2022.

A transcription project was created by QUA, and a total of 480 pages for 250 documents have been transcribed, proofread and edited by volunteers.

It is presently being processed before being added to the QUA website. In the interim, the records can be accessed at QUA Marriage Records.  

Kingston Branch is proud of its contribution to make these records accessible.

Kingston Branch and Pay Per View – August 2023

Kingston Branch launched into the Pay Per View (PPV) area of publication sales in May. After identifying an individual name in TONI (The Ontario Name Index) on the OGS website, you can purchase either a publication containing that name or a single page of a publication on which the name appears. When you click on the name, the “TONI Item View” appears, and you can make your purchase by selecting the publication or relevant page.

So far, the Branch has 90 publications available in PPV, and more are being added every month. This includes cemeteries and church records in Frontenac, Lennox & Addington and Lanark Counties; pre-1851 Lanark census; Perth Expositor BMDs; and several miscellaneous publications. Currently, there are almost 5,000 pages, containing over 300,000 names. Each PPV page only costs one dollar. With the assistance of my dedicated group of volunteers, we will be at the expected total of about 150 publications before the end of this year.

Paul Woodrow,  Publications Coordinator

Presentations at Branch Meetings in the Fall of 2023

16 September 2023 Diane Duncan presented “The 50%- The women in your family tree.”

A handout is available in the Members Only section of this website.
Check back for the recording of the presentation.

15 October 2023 An in person, Kingston Branch-KPFL Open House, a 50th Anniversary event

18 November 2023 Glenn Wright will present “Proudly she served: Canadian women at war 1885-1945

To register, please click on this registration link.

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Kingston Frontenac Public Library

The Kingston Branch OGS collection and microfilm collection are available to the public whenever the library’s Central Branch is open. For library hours, locations and announcements, please visit www.kfpl.ca.

Home access to Ancestry Library Edition ended on December 31st, 2021 but you can still access it free of charge from within any of KFPL’s sixteen branches.

Some KFPL Short video tutorials (Click here for what’s available) about Ancestry Library Edition and historical Kingston newspapers are available free on the KFPL YouTube channel.

For updates about the library’s status with regard to COVID restrictions, please visit the COVID Updates page of the KFPL website.

KFPL’s Local History and Heritage Librarian is Anne Hall. Anne can be reached through the Contact page of the KFPL website or by email at ahall@kfpl.ca