Oxford Historical Society

OxHS Presents: Woodstock Museum NHS 75th Anniversary!

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Please join us on Wednesday, May 31st as Karen Houston, Museum Curator, discusses the founding of the Woodstock Museum, NHS and its ties with the community and with the Oxford Historical Society.

From Karen:

“The Oxford Historical Society created a committee to oversee the founding of a museum to highlight the history of Oxford County. The committee consisted of naturalists, historians, university professors and interested citizens. The museum was incorporated in 1947 when artifacts were temporarily displayed in the county courthouse. Members of the committee worked on fundraising, preparing future exhibits, and learning museum best practises.

The committee later acquired a permanent home for the museum on the top floor of the Old Town Hall, which housed the City of Woodstock’s council chambers and mayor’s office on the main floor. Artifacts were moved into the new space and displayed for viewing.

The museum first opened on Jan. 28, 1948, on the second floor of the Old Town Hall.

Originally called the Oxford County Museum, it was renamed the Woodstock Museum in 1985 when the City of Woodstock took over operation of the museum and its collection.

Today the museum continues to reside in the Old Town Hall, which is designated as a national historic site“

Presentation on the Woodstock Museum’s 75th Anniversary will be held at the Woodstock Museum, NHS, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Doors open at 6:30pm.
This is a free event, all are welcome to attend.

Beachville District Museum Presents: Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz – Memories of Ontario Farmerettes!

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Hello Everyone,
please see this guest post from the Beachville District Museum:

Bonnie Sitter and Shirleyan English will tell the story of the Ontario Farm Service Force that began in 1941 and ended after the summer of 1952. This was the time when girls aged 16,17 and 18 volunteered to become Farmerettes on market garden farms, orchards and vineyards. Learn how and why they were recruited, where they lived, what their work was and why many of them remember those summers as the best summers of their lives. The powerpoint presentation has many photos from Farmerettes who are now in their late 80s and 90s.

Bonnie and Shirelyan continues to collect their stories and photos and the book is being developed into a play for summer theatre in 2024. The push to have the Farmerettes recognized by Canada Post is looking very positive. They hoed, harvested and hitchhiked and aided in necessary food production during and after the war.

It is a story that was almost forgotten.

The presentation will take place on Tuesday, May 9, 2023 from 7:00-8:00pm.

Books will be available for $49.00 (no tax); cash, cheques and E-Transfers are accepted.

The talk will be followed by a question period, with refreshments and snacks served by the Historical Society members.

No registration required. Free to attend.

For more information contact the Beachville District Museum

Oxford Branch of Ontario Ancestors May 8th Meeting: The Hawke Papers!

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Hello Everyone,

Please see this guest post from Oxford Branch of Ontario Ancestors:

“Please join the Oxford Branch of Ontario Ancestors for a Zoom meeting on Monday, May 8th at 7 pm for the presentation: The Hawke Papers and Anthony Hawke, Chief Emigrant Agent 1833-1864

Speaker Wendy Cameron will begin an introduction to the Hawke Papers with their 21st century return to Ontario, a wonderful tale of archival good fortune. A highlight is six large volumes of letters chronicling government aid to immigrants in every year from 1835 into 1869. Other treasures include ten volumes of registers (lists) kept at Toronto. They record immigrants as they arrived in the city and left for a next destination in Canada West/Ontario, and they date between 1857 and 1892.

Please visit our website at https:\\oxford.ogs.on.ca to pre-register.  Everyone is welcome.”

Liz Buchanan
Oxford Branch Publicity Coordinator Ontario Ancestors

Join the OxHS for Tonight’s Presentation: The Big World of Joe Boyle!

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Joe Boyle’s Machine Gun Brigade

Hello Everyone,

It has been a 100 years since Joe Boyle’s Repatriation and Brian ‘Chip’ Martin has prepared a special presentation honouring this event!
Please join the Oxford Historical Society and Chip Martin on Wednesday, April 26 at 6:30pm at the Woodstock Museum, NHS for his presentation: The Big World of Joe Boyle!

He grew up in Woodstock, made millions in the Klondike, challenged for hockey supremacy with miners from there, contributed to the First World war in unconventional ways and hobnobbed with European royalty.

Along the way, Joe Boyle was dubbed the “King of the Klondike,” and “Saviour of Romania.” It was quite the life for an Ontario boy whose efforts saw him decorated by Great Britain, France, Russia and Romania, but was considered persona non-grata by officials in his own country. He became so close to the queen of Romania that was he was forced to leave the country whose Crown jewels, reserves and archives he managed to rescue at the risk of his life.

Boyle caused fits to the Canadian government because he acted as a soldier of fortune and would not follow orders or explain his wartime activities. In the end, he depleted his own fortune and the Queen of Romania stepped in to provide suitable markers for his gravesite following his untimely death in London, England exactly 100 years ago. And it wasn’t until 40 years ago that his remains were brought to Woodstock with the help of the Canadian armed forces that had considered him a rogue pariah when he was alive

Joe Boyle is a figure not unlike Gravenhurst medical doctor Norman Bethune, who was considered a hero in a faraway land, but virtually unknown at home. Boyle’s story is of epic proportions.

From Chip Martin – The Big World of Joe Boyle

Chip Martin’s latest work – From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge: Canada and the Civil War; will be available for purchase, $25.00, cash only. For more information about this book go to: OxHS Upcoming Events

This presentation will take place at the Woodstock Museum, NHS. The meeting will start at 6:30pm. This is a free public meeting, all are welcome to attend.

OxHS Upcoming Presentation on Wednesday, April 26, 2023: The Big World of Joe Boyle!

by
Joe Boyle’s Machine Gun Brigade

Hello Everyone,

It has been a 100 years since Joe Boyle’s Repatriation and Brian ‘Chip’ Martin has prepared a special presentation honouring this event!
Please join the Oxford Historical Society and Chip Martin on Wednesday, April 26 at 6:30pm at the Woodstock Museum, NHS for his presentation: The Big World of Joe Boyle!

He grew up in Woodstock, made millions in the Klondike, challenged for hockey supremacy with miners from there, contributed to the First World war in unconventional ways and hobnobbed with European royalty.

Along the way, Joe Boyle was dubbed the “King of the Klondike,” and “Saviour of Romania.” It was quite the life for an Ontario boy whose efforts saw him decorated by Great Britain, France, Russia and Romania, but was considered persona non-grata by officials in his own country. He became so close to the queen of Romania that was he was forced to leave the country whose Crown jewels, reserves and archives he managed to rescue at the risk of his life.

Boyle caused fits to the Canadian government because he acted as a soldier of fortune and would not follow orders or explain his wartime activities. In the end, he depleted his own fortune and the Queen of Romania stepped in to provide suitable markers for his gravesite following his untimely death in London, England exactly 100 years ago. And it wasn’t until 40 years ago that his remains were brought to Woodstock with the help of the Canadian armed forces that had considered him a rogue pariah when he was alive

Joe Boyle is a figure not unlike Gravenhurst medical doctor Norman Bethune, who was considered a hero in a faraway land, but virtually unknown at home. Boyle’s story is of epic proportions.

From Chip Martin – The Big World of Joe Boyle

Chip Martin’s latest work – From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge: Canada and the Civil War; will be available for purchase, $25.00, cash only. For more information about this book go to: OxHS Upcoming Events

This presentation will take place at the Woodstock Museum, NHS. The meeting will start at 6:30pm. This is a free public meeting, all are welcome to attend.