OxHS Upcoming Presentation – Tuesday, February 25, 2025!

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Dear Members, The OxHS is pleased to present A Black History Month Event “With Special Guest dKT”

Join us for an inspiring evening of spoken word and conversation as Duane Kumala-Thomas (dKT) explores the rich history and reliance of Canadians!

Featuring inspired performances of:

This Town of Ours: Ingersoll’s Ties to the Underground Railroad
Oppression to Operation: Anderson Ruffin Abbott’s Glass Ceiling
Anderson and Her Son: A Path to Hear Here

Through poetry and dialogue, dKT will uncover histories, celebrate Black excellence, and spark meaningful discussions!

Date: Tuesday February 25th, 2025
Time:  6:30 p.m.
Location: Woodstock Museum National Historic Site 

If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

The OxHS is now on Facebook and Instagram, to like us search: OxfordHistoricalSociety1897
Or click on the FB or Instagram symbol on the right hand side of our website!

Oxford County Branch Ontario Ancestors Upcoming Events!

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Oxford County Branch – Ontario Ancestors – February 10th Meeting on Zoom

The Potter’s Field Project at the Ingersoll Rural Cemetery:  Presented by Cody Groat, Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the Indigenous Studies program at Western University. 

This presentation will focus on the work of the Potter’s Field Project at the Ingersoll Rural Cemetery. The Potter’s Field is an unmarked section of the cemetery where nearly 400 people were buried. These community members were differentiated based of their socio-economic status. The stories of people who were buried in the Potter’s Field will be shared including stories of former enslaved African Americans, British Home Children, people impacted by the Chinese Head Tax, and the unhoused.

To register for this free presentation, please visit our website at https://oxford.ogs.on.ca

Family Day at the Oxford Branch of Ontario Ancestors – February 17, 2025

Make this a true Family Day activity and take this opportunity to start the next generation on a lifelong journey of discovery by introducing them to genealogy and family history.  Drop in at the Oxford County Branch of Ontario Ancestors Open House at the Governors’ House, in Court House Square, 82 Light Street, Woodstock on Family Day, from 10 am 4 pm. Oxford Branch holds a large and growing collection of resources and reference material on family and local history. Regular hours are Tuesday – Thursday 10 am to 4 pm. The Open House will be held on February 17th, 2025 from 1 pm to 4 pm. Everyone is welcome.  For more information check our web site at https://oxford.ogs.on.ca  email oxford@ogs.on.ca or call 519-421-1700.  

The OxHS is now on Facebook and Instagram, to like us search: OxfordHistoricalSociety1897
Or click on the FB or Instagram symbol on the right hand side of our website!

If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

OxHS 2025 AGM Update!

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Wednesday, January 29, 2025: AGM & Presentation

Please join us for the Society’s AGM, which will be held at the Woodstock Museum, NHS, doors open at 6:30pm, meeting will start at 6:45pm.

At this meeting the 2025 Executive will be voted in, all paying members will have a chance to vote. 

The nominees for each positions are:

Chair – Scott Gillies
Vice Chair – Eleanor Gardhouse
Treasurer – Brian Garner
Secretary – Brenda Boswell
Membership – Catherine Spears
Director – Don Wilson

Membership fees are due at the AGM. 
Annual memberships run from January to December. 
Memberships are $10.00
Membership can be paid by cash or cheque to the Oxford Historical Society, or by eTransfer or PayPal to purchases@oxhs.ca
To become a member complete this form: 2025 Membership Form 
Email the completed form to info@oxhs.ca
Or, mail the completed form to:
Oxford Historical Society
PO Box 20091
Woodstock ON N4S 8X8

Elaine Becker presenting To Be Continued: The Story of the Salvation Army in Woodstock
From Elaine: “In January 1884 the Salvation Army came to Woodstock Ontario led by a group of Salvationists from Ingersoll Ontario. The organization had only begun in London England in 1865 under the Leadership of William and Catherine Booth. Who are these people and how did this organization spread so quickly as an international movement?

Learn the origins and the motivation of this organization that still keep it moving forward today. In how many countries does it operate?  Perhaps the more important question for the local residents will be the progress of the Army here in Woodstock. You will be introduced to some of the colourful characters. Bring any questions you may have about this group of people and Elaine will endeavour  to answer them.”

Copies of To Be Continued: The Story of the Salvation Army in Woodstock will be available for sale for $15.00 each, taxes included.

If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

The OxHS is now on Facebook and Instagram, to like us search: OxfordHistoricalSociety1897
Or click on the FB or Instagram symbol on the right hand side of our website!

Pursuing Play: Women’s Leisure in Small-Town Ontario, 1870-1914!

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Hello Everyone,

Please see this guest post from the Annandale NHS:

Annandale NHS is excited to announce that we are now selling copies of Pursuing Play: Women’s Leisure in Small-Town Ontario, 1870–1914 (University of Manitoba Press), by Rebecca Beausaert. Rebecca Beausaert is an adjunct professor in the Department of History, University of Guelph, and co-founder and co-director of the “What Canada Ate” website. She was also Annandale House’s summer research assistant from 2003-2006.

Life in the Canadian countryside at the turn of the twentieth century is often generalized as insular, backwards, and arduous. These assumptions are redressed in Rebecca Beausaert’s Pursuing Play, which highlights the complexity of small-town culture through a lively examination of women’s efforts to negotiate space for themselves and their leisure pursuits. Amply illustrated, Pursuing Play draws on diaries, letters, and newspapers to investigate women’s recreational activities—including sports, “armchair travelling,” gambling, and Spinster Conventions—in Dresden, Tillsonburg, and Elora between 1870–1914.

                Copies are $35.00 (taxes included)!

For information about this purchasing the book, contact the Annandale NHS at 519-842-2294.

If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

The OxHS is now on Facebook and Instagram, to like us search: OxfordHistoricalSociety1897
Or click on the FB or Instagram symbol on the right hand side of our website!

Deadly Swindle: An 1890 Murder in Backwoods Ontario that Gripped the World!

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Hello Everyone,

Please see this guest post from the Woodstock Public Library:

Woodstock Public Library is excited to be hosting the following Local History author book talk event on Thursday, January 9, 2025 from 6:30pm until 8:00pm.  It is a registered program event. Join author Ian Radforth, writer of the recent non-fiction boo; “Deadly Swindle: An 1890 Murder in Backwoods Ontario that Gripped the World” for a fascinating discussion about one of Canada’s most sensational murder cases and how the regional and international press ran with it.

This is an RSVP event, please use this link to register: https://woodstock.bibliocommons.com/events/672a71e98fc0a328000b3110

For information about this event, contact the Woodstock Public Library at 519-539-4801.

If you would like your event or article published (relating to Oxford County ON or South-Western ON), on the Society’s blog please email us at info@oxhs.ca

The OxHS is now on Facebook and Instagram, to like us search: OxfordHistoricalSociety1897
Or click on the FB or Instagram symbol on the right hand side of our website!