There’s nothing like the eureka moment, when you find that illusive genealogical record yourself. We’ve outlined lots of Toronto Research sources in the pages of this website to help guide you.
But sometimes you need some help, either advice or a search through locally available records. Our volunteer research team offers the following services:
1. Advice to help you move forward with your own research. While our focus is Toronto, we can make suggestions (or referrals) for research in any part of Ontario. This service is free. Contact the research team
2. Search of our master database. All of the burial registers, places of worship registers, funeral home registers and other records that we have transcribed are included in our Electronic Search. Download a list of what records are included. For a very modest charge, our volunteers can do a search for a single name or all occurrences of a surname and send you a printout. Prices will vary depending on the search. Contact us for a quote.(usually $10 per name)
3. Research and record look-ups. Our volunteers will undertake a limited amount of research* using online indexes and by visiting resource centres in Toronto. This research could include birth, marriage and death records; newspaper notices; census; church records; Toronto directories; cemetery transcriptions; and burial records. Prices will vary depending on the search. Contact us for a quote.
EXAMPLES OF PRICES
Newspaper look-up (Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail ) $10
Will/Estate files (from the Archives of Ontario) $20
Street Directories $20
4. Dealing with Research Brick Walls. We will assemble a team of experts, depending on the availability of volunteers. We will attempt to provide advice on how to deal with intractable research problems. Free for OGS members, $30 for non-members
How to request a search:
- Contact us by email.
- Include your full name and location.
- Ask us a clear, specific question.
- Include a date range and location if known.
- Tell us what records you have already checked to try and answer the question.
How to pay:
Once we have evaluated your request, we’ll get in touch by email with a price.
- We accept payments through PayPal. You can use any major credit card or your PayPal account. It is quick, easy and secure.
- We also accept cheques payable to “Toronto Branch OGS” in your currency for the appropriate value as long as the cheque has encoding to identify the institution. To calculate the conversion from Canadian dollars to your currency, you can use an Internet currency converter like http://www.xe.com/ucc/
- We accept bank drafts in Canadian dollars, payable to “Toronto Branch OGS”.
- Note that sending a cheque or draft is slower.
*We’re happy to help you with a limited amount of research, but for complex or extensive searches you will need to hire a professional researcher. The Ontario Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists maintains a list of its members. The Archives of Ontario also has a list of genealogical researchers on its website. Please note that Toronto Branch OGS assumes no responsibility for agreements contracted between individuals.