Ontario Research

Vital and Church Records Land Records

Census Records

The most important records used to research Ontario ancestors are vital and church records, land records, and census records. In order to search these records, it is usually necessary to know a location for the family. Some finding aids available at the Family History Library include: People of Ontario 1600-1900, The Central Canadians, Canadian Genealogical Index, 1600's-1900's (CD), and 1871 and 1881 Census Indexes.

VITAL AND CHURCH RECORDS

Registration of vital records begins in 1869. The Family History Library has province-wide indexes and also has the actual records of births (1869-1908), marriages (1869-1923) and deaths (1869-1933). These records are also available on-line at www.Ancestry.ca, a pay for view site. Marriages were supposed to be registered beginning in 1858, though these records are not complete. The existing marriage records for this time period are available in book form (W.E. Britnell, County Marriage Registers of Ontario Canada 1858-1869) as well as microfilms of the original records. There are also published and original marriage bonds beginning in 1803. Some locations have scattered earlier marriage records and a few vital records. Many of these are available in book form as well as on microfilm.

Some church records are available at the Family History Library, either as microfilmed copies of the original records or as printed extracts, especially Catholic church records. The Ontario Biographical and Genealogical Card Index ( begins on FHL film 1,544,194) has some church records.

Many church records are only available at the church itself or in denominational archives in Canada.

LAND RECORDS

Land records in Ontario help to place a family at a location and during a time period. They also may contain important information on family relationships. Occasionally wills and other probate records appear in the land records rather than in the probate records.

Land Indexes

Ontario Archives Land Record Index-- Has both an alphabetical section and a township section.

Upper Canada Petitions for Land Grants and Leases 1791-1867 and other similar series

Be sure to copy all information from the indexes, then check the beginning of the film or fiche to find out what the terms mean or where the actual record is located.

These only index land grants received from the government. Once land was granted, the records of its subsequent sales appear in the township land records.

Loyalists Land Grants

Sons and daughters of Loyalists as well as the Loyalist himself were entitled to free land. They are not the only ones included in the land indexes mentioned above, but their records give the most information. A son had to be 21 to receive land. Daughters often petitioned for land after they married. Petitions will list the father and often for the daughter, the husband (sometimes including a marriage date) and give locations where these people lived. A good listing of these individuals is found in William D. Reid's The Loyalists In Ontario.

Township Records

Knowing the description of the land where your ancestors lived can lead to several valuable records. This description, usually given as concession and lot #, may be obtained from the Ontario Archives Land Record Index, from deed indexes for the county or township (if both exist, check both), and from the agricultural census that appear with some census records. Two groups of records to check once you have the land description:

Township Papers: These may contain correspondence concerning the family.

Abstract Indexes of Deeds: These are arranged chronologically by township, concession, and lot number and give file numbers for deeds and sometimes wills. They show who the neighbors were. They also show all the land transactions concerning a particular lot, which may aid in determining when an individual arrived or left the area or died.

CENSUS RECORDS

Every name Census records for Ontario are available on microfilm at the Family History Library, the National Archives of Canada, and other facilities for the years 1851-1911. Note: These census records report age at next birthday.

There are early census records for several places in Ontario including Augusta Township, Grenville County (1796, 1806, 1813, 1823, and 1824), Elizabethtown, Leeds County (1796-1848--various years), and several other Leeds County townships.

Special Information found in census records (this same information appears in Quebec census records):

1851: If family member, if absent, if born or died in 1851 (This census was actually taken in January 1852)

1861: If married, born or died in previous year

1871, 81 and 91: born during the year

1871: Married during year

1891, 1901: Birthplace of parents

1901: Exact birth date

1911: Month and year of birth, year of immigration to Canada, year of naturalization if Alien

The 1871 census of Ontario has been indexed and the index is available in book form, at the Library and Archives of Canada, and on CD.

The 1881 Census has been indexed for all of Canada and is available on the FamilySearch.org web site.

Census images for the 1851, 1901 and 1911 census are available at the Library and Archives of Canada, You may search these images by location, but not by name. There are other databases available at this site, so check it often for new information. The 1901 and 1911 census have indexes or partial indexes available at Automatedgenealogy.com. Indexes for all three of these census are available on www.ancestry.ca, a pay per view site and the indexes are linked to the images at the Library and Archives of Canada web site.