Transcriber's Preface
by John Cardiff
 
How do you find former residents to invite them home for a reunion? In 1923 Norfolk County asked current residents to submit names and addresses for family members and friends living "at a distance."

To ensure their list was as complete as possible, the Reunion Committee forwarded these names and addresses to the Simcoe Reformer newspaper, which published a weekly list for months, asking readers to review the list for accuracy and completeness and submit others.

We've gathered those weekly lists and merged them into a single master transcription for your convenience, and ended each entry with an issue code in [square brackets] that indicates where each was published.

The code is SR (for Simcoe Reformer), plus four digits for year, two digits for month, and two digits for day of publication. In most cases this is immediately followed by "p." (abbreviation for page), and a page number. So, for example, a name and address found in the 29 May 1924 issue of the Simcoe Reformer on page 6, ends [SR19240529 p.6] (Photocopies available, see below.)

Although a few "Old Boys and Girls" listed here had moved quite a distance -- England, India, Australia, etc. -- most had not. Only about half left Ontario. Of those that did, as many went to the United States as to other Canadian provinces. Very few moved east or north; most moved south and/or west. Michigan and New York state were popular American destinations, perhaps because those states border Ontario.

Today rural addresses appear between the name and city lines in an address. In this list, most Rural Route numbers appear after the name of the community.

Not sure where "Leamington, Ont." (for example) is? You may want to visit the Ontario Locator site to review their lengthy list of present and past Ontario place names.

We have made no attempt to "correct" the names and addresses published. Typos in the source documents were copied "as is." Hard to read text appears in [square brackets], indicating it is only the transcriber's [best guess] of what the Reformer printed.

It is always possible errors were introduced to this transcription by the transcriber. We recommend confirming this transcription by comparing it to the source documents on microfilm at the Norfolk Historical Society in Simcoe.

Those at a distance may order photocopies of the microfilm from:
"Where are they now" Photocopies
Norfolk Historical Society
109 Norfolk Street South
Simcoe, Ontario N3Y 2W3
 
Photocopies are $5 each. Be sure to include the name, address, and issue code with your request.