About Us – QUINTE BRANCH

Historic Overview

Quinte Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society was formed in June 1980 in response to the enthusiasm of the genealogy community in Prince Edward and Hasting Counties. The founding team of Gordon Crouse, Chair; Loral and Mildred Wanamaker, Honorary Members; Roy Bruce and Charles Fraleigh, Vice-Chairs; Betty Bruce, Secretary; Rodney Green, Treasurer and Charles Fraleigh, Provincial Council Representative were part of the original 26 people who signed up in April that year. The Branch has evolved from its roots at Bloomfield, then a shared space at the Marilyn Adams Research Centre in Ameliasburg to the Quinte West Public Library, Trenton and now resides at the Quinte Family History Research Centre at St. Matthew’s Church in Belleville.

On June 14th, 1980, the Quinte Branch was chartered as the 18th branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) covering the Bay of Quinte area that includes Hastings and Prince Edward Counties and surrounding areas in Ontario, Canada. The branch has approximately 300 members including those who have roots in the Bay of Quinte area and those who live locally with roots elsewhere. In 2025 the Quinte Branch of Ontario Ancestors/OGS “celebrated” its 45th anniversary of supporting the genealogy community.

Quinte OGS is a non-profit organization with three major goals:
– to encourage participation in genealogical activities
– to assemble and preserve family histories and research material;
– to assist family history researchers at the Quinte Family History Research Centre, in person, by correspondence and online.

Our volunteers enjoy interacting and exchanging information with other genealogists; improving their knowledge and research skills; furthering their personal research; and having lots of fun. Whether you live locally or afar you can become involved in branch activities that include, but are not limited to:

indexing research holdings for our FIND-IT Database project
staffing the Quinte Family History Research Centre, assisting visitors with research
writing articles for the newsletter (you can share your ideas and experiences, or publish the results of your research)
transcribing cemetery records
assisting with and maintaining Centre resources
assisting at events

Quinte Branch Operating Committee for 2026 includes:

Chair, Bonnie Sweet
Past Chair, Terry Buttler
Treasurer, Kurt Woermke
Secretary, Mary Shaw
Membership/Program/Newsletter, Heather Semper
Library, Shannon Bryan;
Cemeteries, Peter Johnson UE;
Digitization, Mary Shaw
FIND-IT, Wayne Wickson
Indexing, Dianne Taylor-Harding, Wayne Wickson
Publications, Shannon Bryan
Research, Richard Hughes, Rodney Green, Kellie Hentschel, Tammy Vincer and Terry Buttler
Social Media, Steve Ostrom
Surname Interest List (SIL), Lynn Heale
Research Centre Volunteer, Tammy Vincer and Kellie Hentschel, Barbara Dawes
Indexing volunteers, Sharon Preston, Jennifer Nasso, Helen Robinson, Paul Gibson