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Ontario
Following the Constitutional Act of 1791, the colony of Quebec was divided to create Upper Canada (today Ontario) and Lower Canada (today Quebec). According to the Act of Union of 1841, Upper and Lower Canada were united into the Province of Canada. Upper Canada was renamed Canada West and Lower Canada was renamed Canada East. The Province of Canada joined Confederation on July 1, 1867 and Canada West officially became Ontario. This area was originally inhabited by a number of Native tribes, including the Huron, Iroquois, Ojibwa and Cree. The first European settlement, the Jesuit mission of Sainte-Marie-au-pays-des-Hurons (Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons), goes back to the seventeenth century. Although there were a few French settlements in the Detroit area in particular, there was not intensive settlement before the 1780s. The basic population of Ontario consisted of Loyalists who had fled the American Revolutionary War, followed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by immigrants from the United States and the British Isles. There were also some Quebec inhabitants who settled in eastern and northeastern Ontario beginning in the late-nineteenth century. Researchers interested in ancestors who lived in Ontario use the main types of genealogical sources. Birth, marriage and death records and land registers are especially useful, as well as the following two databases:
The official provincial government Web site [www.gov.on.ca/] contains useful information about the province and its historic records. The Archives of Ontario assists genealogical researchers by providing two research tools:
Archeion [http://archeion-aao.fis.utoronto.ca/], Ontario's Archival Information Network gives you access to other important resources held in many archives. Many libraries hold reference books, local histories, family histories and other books on genealogy. Library and Archives Canada allows you to Browse Lists of Canadian Library Web Sites and Catalogues by province. Each province and territory has its own GenWeb [www.rootsweb.com/%7Ewebsites/international/canada.html] site where you can access many databases and obtain information on resources available in each province. The Canadian Encyclopedia Online [www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/] allows you to learn more about the history, geography and people of British Columbia. The sections on Sources by Topic and Links of this site can provide more useful information about how to do genealogical research in Ontario. You can also access databases from our Directory of Canadian Genealogical Resources - AVITUS. You can also consult the following book:
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