The Franco-Ontarian Research Centre (The FORC), under various names, has been in Essex County for over 40 years assisting researchers with their French genealogy. They have amassed a huge resource collection. In January 2024, The Essex County Branch of Ontario Ancestors (EssexOA) merged with the FORC at the Maryvale Campus (Prince Road and College Ave). The Centre continues to need local volunteers who can go into the Centre to greet visitors, help with organizing and inventory, onsite scanning and research, etc. In addition, non-local volunteers can assist with social media, transcribing, indexing, etc. If you can volunteer any time, please email us at [email protected].
Day / Hours 2026: The Centre will be open FRIDAYS from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
We require funds to allow us to maintain scanning equipment to digitize more of this wonderful collection faster to allow us to share it with those not in the immediate Windsor area, as well as to support the costs of the current facility. Please Click on the “Donate Now” button or HERE to connect to CanadaHelps.org to make your donation (donation tax receipts issued immediately by CanadaHelps by email).
We are digitizing the Centre’s publications as well as parts of the collection that are not under copyright. Currently we have Indexes digitized (see below) but as more of the collection is digitized they will be made available here and in the Members Library.
RESEARCH ASSISTANCE: If you have French ancestry and want to know if we can assist you in your research, please email us at: [email protected]. Our French researchers will let you know if they can help.
Click on the folder which you wish to review. Then click on the thumbnail for the file that you wish to read. Please allow the file to upload completely so that you can zoom in for a better read. Depending on your internet speed and the size of the file, this can take a few minutes. In most cases zooming to 100% or window width produces the best result. Or you may download the file at your convenience. Many of these documents have not been indexed, however the scans have been OCR’d to pick up any information that is typed. Volunteers are welcome to assist in the indexing.
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