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What Is The Wellington County Virtual History Book Project?

The Wellington County Tweedsmuir history books are an informative resource for local history that has in the past been overlooked by researchers, historians and genealogists. Access to this important research tool has been limited to viewing the original books or microfilm of the books in an archive or library setting.

The Wellington County Virtual History Book Project is one of many projects undertaken to celebrate the County of Wellington’s 150th Anniversary in 2004. The virtual history book is the digitization of the Tweedsmuir History collection compiled by the County’s Women’s Institutes. The project is unique because it represents the first time in Ontario that a group of Tweedsmuir Histories have been digitized, indexed and made available through the Internet.

The Wellington County Virtual History Book project involves scanning and indexing the original books to make them available online as well as the creation of an educational component for elementary school children. Students using this website are now able to research a wide range of topics relating to the history of Wellington County. Subjects in these books include but are not limited to; agriculture, community events, culture, the rural economy, labour, politics, religion, rural history, sports and women’s history.

This project has been made possible through a grant received by the Wellington County Library from the Ministry of Culture’s Ontario Library Strategic Development Fund.

We wish to thank the Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario, The Wellington County Historical Society and the Wellington Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society for supporting this project.

A special thank you to the Wellington County Women’s Institutes and their members for contributing to this project.

The Tweedsmuir History Books

The FWIO established a committee for Historical Research and Current Events as early as the 1920s. Institutes were encouraged to compile scrapbooks to record the history of their local community. This was the foundation of the Tweedsmuir history books.

As an anniversary project to mark the occasion of the fiftieth birthday of the movement in 1947, the Tweedsmuir history books were launched. Lady Tweedsmuir, who had recently been widowed, approved the idea that the local history books should be named for her late husband, the former Governor General of Canada.

The Tweedsmuir History Books include:

•	an acknowledgement of the roots of the WI movement traced to Adelaide Hoodless
•	a history of the local WI branch
•	the history of the earliest settlers in the area
•	agricultural practices and industries
•	social institutions including churches, schools and community centers
•	local personalities including war veterans

Wellington County Women’s Institute Branches:

Below is a table of all of the Women's Institute Branches in Wellington County. Not all branches have Tweedsmuir History Books. The column on the far right indicates which volumes are browsable for each institute. Use of the number "0" indicates a Tweedsmuir History Book(s) exists for the branch but has not yet been added to this website. Bolded volume numbers indicate the volume has been name and subject indexed. As time permits more books will be indexed.

Branch Name	District	Start	End	Former Geographic Location	Present Geographic Location	Browsable Volumes
Allardice	Centre	1955	1971	Nichol Twp.	Centre Wellington	NO BOOK
Alma	Centre	1973	active	Peel Twp.	Mapleton	1
Arkell	South	1909	active	Puslinch Twp.	Puslinch	1,2,3
Arthur	North	1905	1916	Arthur Twp.	Wellington North	NO BOOK
Arthur	Centennial	1972	1999	Arthur Twp.	Wellington North	1
Badenoch/ Badenock	South	1934	active	Puslinch Twp.	Puslinch	1,2
Ballinafad	Halton	1905	1921	Erin Twp.	Erin	1,2
Beehive	North	1949	active	Minto Twp.	Minto	1,2,3,4
Belwood	Centre	1927	active	West Garafraxa Twp.	Centre Wellington	1,2,3,4,5
Belwood Belles Jr.	Centre	1951	1953	West Garafraxa Twp.	Centre Wellington	NO BOOK
Bethany	South	1906	1907	Puslinch Twp.	Puslinch	NO BOOK
Brisbane	Centre	1921	1931	Erin Twp.	Erin	NO BOOK
Brock Road	South	1948	2006	Puslinch / Guelph Twps	Puslinch	1
Carry On	North	1938	active	Minto Twp.	Minto	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Cedarville/ Cedarvale	Centre	1932	1947	Erin Twp.	Erin	NO BOOK
Clifford	North	1900	1980	Village of Clifford, Minto Twp.	Minto	2
Coningsby	Centre	1905	active	Erin Twp.	Erin	1,2
Conn	North	1903	1985	Village of Conn, Arthur Twp.	Wellington North	1
Cotswold (see Teviotdale)
Cumnock	Centre	1910	1967	Nichol Twp.	Centre Wellington	1
Damascus	North	1968	active	Arthur Twp.	Wellington North	1,2,3,4,5
Downey	South	1939	1962	Puslinch Twp.	Puslinch	NO BOOK
Drayton	North	1903	1995	Village of Drayton, Peel / Mapleton	Maryborough Twps.	NO BOOK
Drew	North	1908	disbanded	Minto Twp.	Minto	NO BOOK
Eden Crest	South	1950	1967	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Eden Mills	South	1907	1909	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Eden Mills (reorganized)	South	1924	1969	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Elora	Centre	1931	2005	Nichol Twp.	Centre Wellington	1,2,3
Ennotville	Centre	1914	active	Nichol Twp.	Centre Wellington	1,2
Eramosa	South	1931	1974	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	1
Eramosa Jr.	South	1923	1933	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Erin	Centre	1926	1962	Erin Twp.	Erin	0
Erin Jr.	Centre	1927	1956	Erin Twp.	Erin	NO BOOK
Erin Jr. (reorganized)	South	1984	active	Eramosa Twp.	Erin	NO BOOK
Erin Township Jrs.	South	1948	1957	Eramosa Twp.	Erin	NO BOOK
Everton	South	1908	1952	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Farewell	North	1948	1994	Arthur Twp.	Wellington North	1
Fergus	Centre	1921	active	West Garafraxa/Nichol Twps.	Centre Wellington	1,2,3
Greenbush	North	1925	active	Minto Twp.	Minto	1,2,3
Greenock	Centre	1948	active	Erin / Eramosa Twps.	Erin	1,2,3
Guelph Jr.	South	1948	1951	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Hillsburgh Auxiliary	Centre	1922	active	Erin Twp.	Erin	1,2,3,4
Hillsburgh Junior	Centre	1922	1948	Erin Twp.	Erin	NO BOOK
Hillsburgh Senior	Centre	1904	1967	Erin Twp.	Erin	NO BOOK
Jean Scott Jrs.	South	1975	active	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Kenilworth	North	1905	1823	Arthur Twp.	Wellington North	NO BOOK
Killean	South	1905	1908	Puslinch Twp.	Puslinch	NO BOOK
Little Ireland	North	1926	active	Minto Twp.	Minto	1,2
Living Springs	Centre	1925	1995	West Garafraxa Twp.	Centre Wellington	1,2,3
Marden	South	1903	1915	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Marden (reorganized)	South	1924	1927	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Maryborough	North	?	disbanded	Maryborough Twp.	Mapleton	NO BOOK
Maryborough Jr.	North	1948	1954	North Maryborough Twp.	Mapleton	NO BOOK
Mimosa	Centre	1918	1993	Erin Twp.	Erin	0
Moorefield	North	1904	active	Maryborough Twp.	Mapleton	1
Morriston	South	1956	active	Puslinch Twp.	Puslinch	1,2
Mosborough	South	1947	active	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	1,2,3,4,5,6
Mount Forest	North	?	disbanded	Arthur Twp.	Wellington North	NO BOOK
Nichol Jr.	Centre	1949	1953	Nichol Twp.	Centre Wellington	NO BOOK
North Gate	North	1951	1995	Arthur Twp.	Wellington North	1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Ospringe	Centre	1926	1986	Erin Twp.	Erin	1
Paisley Block	South	1905	1923	Guelph Twp.	City of Guelph	NO BOOK
Palmerston	North	1903	1988	Minto Twp.	Mapleton	1
Ponsonby	South	1971	2006	Pilkington Twp.	Centre Wellington	1
Puslinch	South	1903	2004	Puslinch Twp.	Puslinch	1,2
Puslinch Lake	South	1948	1964	Puslinch Twp.	Puslinch	NO BOOK
Riverside	South	1915	active	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	1,2
Riverside Jrs.	South	1978	1988	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	1
Rock a Long	South	1936	1995	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	1
Rockwood	South	1903	1955	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Rockwood Jr.	South	1932	1936	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
Rothsay	North	1908	2005	Maryborough Twp.	Mapleton	1
Royals	South	1927	1993	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	0
Speedside	Centre	1915	2006	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	1,2,3
Teviotdale	North	1954	active	Minto Twp.	Minto	1,2,3
Tralee	North	1947	?	Marybrough Twp.	Mapleton	NO BOOK
Utoka	South	1924	1988	Eramosa Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK
West End	South	1915	active	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	1,2,3,4,5,6,7
West End Jrs.	South	1979	1989	Guelph Twp.	Guelph/Eramosa	NO BOOK

Sources
FWIO Handbook
Linda M. Ambrose, For Home And Country; The Centennial History Of The Women’s Institutes In Ontario, 1996.
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