Birth Registrations 1800's to early 1900's.
The Archives contains birth registrations in Ontario between 1869 and 1910. With a birth registration you can find the locality of the parents and their origins. Surrogate Court records also contain guardianship records and adoption records
Marriage Records
1700's to early 1900's. Including Upper Canada Marriage records for all Districts, some back to 1793.
Wills and Estate Files
1700's to 1970's. With a will you often can find other family members, their locations and other family history information. Your ancestors didn't have to be rich to leave an estate file. If they had even a small amount of farmland or a house the title had to be transferred to another family member which had to be done by the courts.
Death Records
1800's to early 1900's. These death registrations will often have the age, origin and parents of the deceased person
Cemetery and Funeral Records
1800's to recent. Many Cemeteries in Ontario have been transcribed and are on microfilm at the Archives, including many older Pioneer and Church cemeteries. The tombstone and/or monument will give you birth years, dates of death, and other genealogical information.
Land Records
1780 to recent. Crown Land, Private transactions and Atlases including records for United Empire Loyalists Homesteaders, Pioneers, Settlers and Military Grants. The Archives also has Gazetteers and Historical County Atlases showing lot owners and a Land Records Index that provides access to Crown Land records and some land-related material found in the Canada Company and Peter Robinson fonds
Court Records
1800's to recent. Including court cases and judgements. They also include Probate Court records and Surrogate Court records
Municipal Records
1800's to recent. Including minutes, tax roll assessments and collections, local censuses, poll books, school lists, voter lists and land records
Divorce Records
1927 to 1978. Ontario granted divorces after 1930 and Annulments after 1927. For before 1927 scroll down to NATIONAL ARCHIVES.
Census Records
The Archives contains the microfilms for most of the Ontario census records done including the 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 censuses. In the 1871 census, for example, you would find the ages of all persons in the family, their locality, their nationality, their religion and other information about their origins. I can search the microfilms for you.
Immigration and Naturalization
Many immigrants from 1867 to 1902 to Toronto and Ontario required assistance to get on their way to the inland areas. Their names were kept on a list which is available at the Archives.
United Empire Loyalists
The Archives has the lists of United Empire Loyalists (1802 to 1875) as well as their claims for losses of land and goods during the American Revolution
Newspapers
The collection is indexed by city and contains over 450 pre-1930 Ontario masthead newspapers. To see the list of newspapers at the Archives of Ontario click HERE
Research at the National Archives of Canada
- PASSENGER LISTS Although British ancestors did not have to be naturalized in Canada a search can be done for their passenger lists entry which often includes where they were going to in Canada, who their relatives in the UK were, and ages and other family members travelling with them
- NATURALIZATIONS The National Archives of Canada holds records of naturalization and citizenship from 1854 in a nominal card index which provides information compiled at the time of naturalization, such as present and former place of residence, former nationality, occupation, date of certification, name and location of the responsible court. Later records include the surname, given name, date and place of birth, entry into Canada, and in some cases, the names of spouses and children. They will typically include the original petition form for naturalization, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report on the person, the oath of allegiance, and any other documents. I can search these for your ancestors.
- IMMIGRATION RECORDS The National Archives of Canada holds immigration records from 1865 to 1935 including those arriving from or via the United States in border entry lists.
- MILITARY RECORDS I can search for your ancestors military and personnel records for the War of 1812, (Muster Rolls and Pay lists), World War I and World War II including the Canadian Military and British Army
- CITY DIRECTORIES The National Library of Canada has one of the richest Canadian directory collections in the world. The collection includes Canadian national, provincial/territorial, county and city directories, primarily of the1800's and 1900's. I can search these for your ancestors.
- DIVORCE FILES The Canadian Parliament was responsible for divorces from 1867 to 1930 and after that time the province of Ontario assumed the responsibility. I can search in both Archives for your ancestors divorce records.
- ACCESS TO INFORMATION APPLICATIONS I can make application under the Access To Information Act of Canada for the documents you require such as Naturalization, Military and Passenger Records. Access under this act is limited to Canadian citizens
Church Records
- ANGLICAN CHURCH RECORDS
- UNITED CHURCH RECORDS
- ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH RECORDS
- PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH RECORDS
- METHODIST CHURCH RECORDS
Other Services
- LAND TITLE SEARCHES I can search the title of a house or property for it's historical value or find who lived there in the past including documents such as deeds, mortgages and plans of survey
- TORONTO CITY ARCHIVES Records available include assessment rolls dating back to 1834, police records, such as duty books, registers of criminals and Chief Constable's correspondence, dating back to 1847, fire insurance atlases for 1880, 1884, 1890, 1899, 1903, 1910, and subsequent years, Toronto city directories for every year from 1834 to 2001. I can search these records for your ancestors.
- TORONTO REFERENCE LIBRARY The Special Collections, Genealogy and Maps Centre, located on the fourth floor of the Toronto Reference Library, is home to an extensive collection of genealogical resources. While the strength of this collection is its Canadian content, it also contains numerous resources for Great Britain, Ireland and the United States, particularly the north-eastern states.
- CANADIAN NEWSPAPERS at the Toronto Reference Library. For those interested in Canadian Genealogy the library has complete microfilm runs for Toronto newspapers, some Canadian papers and selected international newspapers.
- CERTIFIED COPIES Archive records can be certified for you, where available, at cost
- HEIR SEARCHES Due diligence searches for heirs and descendants