Local History & Genealogy

Land Records

Getting Started

Historical land records in Ontario are with the Ontario government, either with the Archives of Ontario or in local land registry offices. The Archives of Ontario website has a number of useful research guides on land records. The Toronto Public Library houses various indexes and guides to land records  as well as microfilm copies of some material from the Archives of Ontario and Library and Archives Canada. The Canadiana Department at North York Central Library also has material related to North York.

Searching the Library website

Suggested Subject and Keywords

•   Land grants [and province or township) e.g. Land grants Ontario
•   Land titles [and country or province] e.g. Land titles Ontario 
•   Probate records [and location] e.g. Probate records Peel County

 

 Suggested Titles

•     Alphabetical index of the names of the grantees of land ..in..Quebec 1763 -1890

•     Back to the land: a genealogical guide to finding farms on the Canadian prairies

•     Complete house detective

•     From settler to land owner: the First Heir & Devisee Commissions...

•     Genealogy in Ontario: searching the records

•     Index to the Upper Canada land books [1787 - 1841]

•     Ontario Land Registry Office records: a guide

•     Researching Canadian land records

•     [Grants of Crown Lands in Upper Canada, 1787 - 1798] in Seventeenth - Twentieth Report of the Archives of Ontario 1928 - 1931

 

Using Online Resources

Recommended Websites  

 Genealogy - Land Records 

For early Upper Canada/Canada West  records you should first consult Library and Archives Canada Upper Canada Land Petitions database that provides more than 82,000 references to names of petitioners. If you find a reference of interest to you, note the microfilm, volume, bundle and page numbers in order to easily find the digitized images of this land petition. Note: the Help link is very useful in order to find the images you want.

Canadian County Atlas Project shows landowner names as of the 1870s and 1880s in Ontario.

In Library Resources 

(primarily microfilm/microfiche)

        Ontario Archives Land Records Index 1790 - 1920

        Ontario Land Patents 1793 - 1852

        Land petitions for Upper Canada and Canada West 1790 - 1867

        Land petitions for Lower Canada 1764 - 1841 (check the online index)

        York County land records 1797 - 1876

        York Township assessment rolls 1882 - 1899

 

 

For further assistance contact: 

Canadiana Department, North York Central Library, 416-395-5623

Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Toronto Reference Library, 416-395-5577

 

Military Records

Getting Started

When searching for ancestors in earlier military records such as muster rolls or pay lists, you may only find lists of names.  However in later periods, personnel records which include date and place of birth, next of kin and occupation may be available. The Canadiana Department at North York Central Library has resources focusing primarily on Canadian military records.  The Toronto Reference Library has additional resources on British records.

Searching the Library Website

Suggested Subjects and Keywords

• Military pensions
• World War 1914-1918 registers or World War 1939-1945 registers
• [location] militia registers e.g. Ontario militia registers
• [name of war] officers e.g. War of 1812 officers
• Canadian Expenditionary Force (for World War I)
• Canada war medals
• [regimental name] e.g. Princess Patricia's
• regimental histories [location] e.g. regimental histories Canada

Suggested Titles

General

• Canadian military experience 1867 - 1995: a bibliography
• In search of the "forlorn hope": a comprehensive guide to locating British regiments and their records
• My ancestor was in the British army: how can I find out more about him?
• Regiments and corps of the Canadian army

Prior to 1914

• "The Canadians": those who served in South Africa, 1899-1902
• His majesty's gentlemen: a directory of regular British Army officers of the War of 1812
• Men of Upper Canada: militia nominal rolls, 1828-1829
• Militia list for Canada West, 1847
• Répertoire des officiers de milice du Bas-Canada
• Soldiers of the King: the Upper Canadian militia 1812-1815

1914 - 1918

• C.E.F. roll of honour...1914-1919
• List of officers and men serving in the First Canadian Contingent of the British Expeditionary Force 1914

1939-1945

• Canadians in the Royal Air Force
• Index to overseas deaths of Ontario servicemen and servicewomen 1939-1947
• They shall grow not old: a book of remembrance

Using Online Resources

Recommended Websites

• Military Records
• Library and Archives Canada: Military

In Library Resources

Database

• Ancestry Library Edition (access from any Toronto Public Library computer)

Periodical

• Canadian Military History

Microfilms

Check the finding aid available at the North York Central Library:

• 1755-1815 Registers of POWs
• 1777-1783 Loyalist regiment muster rolls
• 1812 Claims for losses index
• War of 1812 nominal rolls & paylists - Lower and Upper Canada
• 1812-1838 index to British military and naval records
• Records relating to the Rebellion of 1837/8
• 1866-1870 Fenian Raids bounty, general service, medal registers
• 1885 - North West Rebellion medal registers
• 1899-1902 - South Africa/Boer War medal registers
• 1902 - Coronation medallion register
• 1910-1940 - Canadian Navy lists
• 1914-1917 - Canadian Expeditionary Forces nominal rolls

For further assistance contact:

Canadiana Department, North York Central Library 416-395-5623

Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Toronto Reference Library 416-395-5577

Find Your Way to Local History and Genealogy at Toronto Public Library

Toronto Public Library (TPL) has just launched “Find Your Way to Local History and Genealogy” on the home page of the Library’s website or at tpl.ca/history-genealogy.
Our goal is to provide users with a  quick and easy experience to research local history and genealogy, raise awareness of our online and in-library resources, and offer research assistance.

The new site connects web visitors to a wide range of digital content and library resources, including:

• alerts about new and recently received local history and genealogy books
• research help with online research guides and links to contact library staff for assistance
• a Local History and Genealogy blog written by specialist librarians highlighting Library resources and programs
• announcements of Library programs and classes on history and genealogy
• links to pertinent online databases such as Toronto Star - Pages of the Past, Ancestry Library Edition and our own Digital Archive

Local History

This section highlights TPL’s rich collections about the history of Toronto and other Ontario communities.

The Toronto section features:

• a customized map to discover resources about more than 100 Toronto neighbourhoods: links to catalogue records for books and other resources, to digitized pictures, maps and other items on the Digital Archive, as well as to recommended websites
• additional pages on Toronto city directories, buildings and architecture and geography and maps

Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street, Toronto. Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd., c.1910 (Toronto Reference Library Postcard Collection)

Genealogy

This section also features Toronto and Ontario cities and towns, and has additional pages for genealogical research on Canada and other provinces, other countries and on ethnicity and cultures.

Detail from Toronto City Directory 1899. Might Directories, 1898.   Click on image to see digitized directory.

City directories are a favourite tool for genealogists and local historians.  Find Your Way links to digitized Toronto city directories from 1833 to 1922, as well as to directories for other Ontario places.

A growing selection of research guides on specific genealogical topics leads family history researchers to relevant resources, both online and in Toronto Reference Library and North York Central Library. Research guide topics include:

• Genealogy on the Web
• French Canadian and Acadian Genealogy
• British and Irish Genealogy
• Birth, Marriage and Death Records
• Ontario Genealogy
• Jewish Genealogy

The Find Your Way Team includes subject experts from across the Library system. Future plans for the site include adding more research guides, blog posts, recommended websites and links to more digitized Canadian content via the Digital Archive.

Fire Insurance Plans for Toronto

Getting Started

Toronto Public Library has fire insurance plans for the City of Toronto dating from 1858 to 1973. Digitized versions of many of these maps up to 1910 are available on our website. 

Sometimes called Goad's atlases, after Charles E. Goad who initiated fire insurance mapping in Canada in 1875, fire insurance plans are large scale aerial drawings of municipalities. They often show not only the locations of current buildings, but their size, shape and construction materials, as that was important information for insurers.

Fire Insurance Plans: why are they useful?

Today, researchers find fire insurance plans an invaluable information source, using them for a variety of purposes, including to:

• narrow the date when a building was constructed.
• determine earlier street numbers of individual buildings and previous names of streets which may have changed.
• locate a building on the street and in relation to other buildings on the block. This is useful in resolving confusion that sometimes happens in directory research. Sometimes a directory will indicate that a building, which is now located in mid-block, as being at the corner if no closer buildings to the corner have yet been built.
• determine the lot number, block number (if there is one), and the registered plan number of a property. These can be useful with assessment and title searches.
• indicate buildings that may have been demolished or recently constructed.
• track how buildings have been used and altered over time.
• indicate a building in relationship to its neighbourhood, such as schools, churches, industries.
• show how a neighbourhood has changed over the years.
• indicate sites where soil may be contaminated from former noxious uses.

Detail of Atlas of the city of Toronto and vicinity. (Goad) 2^nd ed. 1893 Plate No. 47

For a guide to the symbols and colours used on the fire insurance maps, see the detail below from the   Insurance plan of the city of Toronto, Ontario. (Goad) 1880 edition revised to 1889.  Plate No. 3.

   

Searching the Library Website for Digitized Toronto Fire Insurance Maps

Suggested keywords and subjects:

• fire insurance Toronto [name of neighbourhood] e.g. fire insurance Toronto Riverdale

Sorting the results by date will make them easier to use.

What's my Toronto neighbourhood called?

Toronto fire insurance maps must be searched on the website by neighbourhood, not street.  To find out what the area you want is called, check out the neighbourhood map. Fire insurance plans focused on built up areas, so that the digitized plans available on this website are primarily for the old city of Toronto, or former municipalities, Weston for example. This neighbourhood map link also allows you to retrieve other digitized items such as photographs, as well as information on the local history books the library owns. To limit your search to maps for your neighbourhood, click " microforms, maps and computer disks" on the left of the screen , under "Type".

 

Where to Find Toronto Fire Insurance Plans from Toronto Public Library

Location code: TRL SC: Toronto Reference Library, Special Collections 

                       TRL HSS: Toronto Reference Library, Humanities & Social Sciences

                       NYCL CA: North York Central Library , Canadiana Department

• 1858 Boulton Atlas of Toronto. (W. S. and H. C. Boulton)  
  TRL SC

      1858 Boulton digitized maps  

• 1880 Insurance plan of the city of Toronto, Ontario. (Chas.E. Goad) 1st ed. 
  TRL SC 

                Not digitized

•  1884 Atlas of the city of Toronto and suburbs from special survey and registered plans showing all buildings and lot numbers. (Goad) 1st edition   
  TRL SC   NYCL CA

         1884 Goad digitized maps

• 1889 Insurance plan of the city of Toronto, Ontario. (Goad) 1880 edition revised to 1889  
  TRL SC

        1889 Goad digitized maps  Note: mislabelled as 1892

• 1890 Atlas of the city of Toronto and vicinity from special survey... (Goad) 2nd ed.  
  TRL SC

        1890 Goad digitized maps 

•  1893 Atlas of the city of Toronto and vicinity.(Goad) 1st revision of 2nd edition.  
  TRL SC

         1893 Goad digitized maps 

• 1894 Atlas of the city of Toronto and vicinity.(Goad). 2nd revision of 2nd edition. 
  TRL HSS (microfilm only)

                  Not digitized

• 1899 Atlas of the city of Toronto and vicinity...(Goad) 3rd revision of 2nd edition.  
  TRL SC

        1899 Goad digitized maps

• 1903 Atlas of the city of Toronto and vicinity...(Goad) 4th (last) revision of 2nd (1890) edition. 
  TRL HSS (microfilm)  TRL SC (photostat)   NYCL CA (catalogued as 1890 edition)

                  Not digitized

•  1904 Area of fire, wholesale district, Toronto, Canada April 19, 20. (Goad)
  TRL SC (T1904/4Msm) and NYCL CA

         1904 digitized map Great Fire Toronto

• 1903 - 1918 Insurance Plans for the city of Toronto (Goad)  
  TRL SC (912.71354 G573.6 microfilm only)

                  Not digitized

• 1910 Atlas of the city of Toronto and suburbs. (3 vols). (Goad) 
  TRL SC

               1910 Goad digitized maps 

• 1912 Atlas of the City of Toronto and suburbs (3 vols)  3rd edition (1910) revised to May 1912. (Goad) 
  TRL HSS (microfilm)   NYCL CA  (1912 not indicated in date)

                  Not digitized

•  1914 - 1918 Insurance plan of the city of Toronto [including Toronto Juntion]. (Goad) 
  TRL SC (microfilm only)

                  Not digitized

• 1923 Atlas of the city of Toronto and suburbs  (3 volumes) (Goad) 2nd revision of 3rd edition (1910). 
  TRL HSS  (microfilm only)

                  Not digitized

• 1924 Atlas of the city of Toronto and suburbs  (3 volumes) (Goad) 2nd revision of 3rd edition (1910). 
  TRL SC  NYCL CA (Ontario Genealogical Society collection)

                  Not digitized

•  1904- 1951 Insurance Plans of the City of Toronto 
  TRL SC (microfiche in 9 vols., various years)

                  Not digitized

•  1952 - 1973 Insurance Plan of the City of Toronto. (Underwriters' Survey Bureau)  
  TRL SC   NYCL CA  (1952-1969 only)

                  Not digitized

 

Additional Sources:

City of Toronto Archives has digitized selected plates from fire insurance plans, 1880 to 1924

Detailed information on all Toronto and Canadian fire insurance plans is available in:

Catalogue of Canadian fire insurance plans 1875-1975

 

For further assistance contact:

Special Collections Department, Toronto Reference Library, 416-393-7156

Canadiana Department, North York Central Library, 416-395-5623

 

Digitized Toronto Newspapers: Globe & Mail and Toronto Star

Getting Started

The Toronto Star - Pages of the Past and the Globe & Mail – Canada’s Heritage from 1844 are two databases that allow users to search for words and phrases in complete issues of these newspapers.  The Toronto Star covers 1894 to 2008, and the Globe and Mail covers 1844 to 2008. These databases display images of the newspapers as they were originally published, including news stories, editorials, photographs, advertisements, classifieds, and birth, marriage, and death notices.

To access these databases from outside the library, you MUST have a valid Toronto Public Library card.

Or you can come into any TPL library branch. Many Ontario public library systems also subscribe to these two databases.

 

Access from outside the library

• Select A - Z list of all databases on the Toronto Public Library website
• Scroll down and choose either Globe & Mail: Canada's Heritage or Toronto Star: Pages of the Past
• Sign in using your Toronto Public Library card and PIN number


Searching the newspapers

• For the Globe & Mail choose either  " Search by Word or Phrase " or " Browse by Date"

 

• For the Toronto Star use "Click here to Search".

 

 

• Select a start date and end date. You can search from one day to 5 years at a time
• Narrow your search by selecting a particular section e.g. News, Births/Deaths/Obits etc.  Caution is advised when specifying content/section in older newspapers

 

Searching for a phrase or a person's name

All Words is the default search type and will include any pages where all the words appear, even if they are on different parts of the page.

Exact Phrase retrieves pages where the words appear exactly as you have entered them (e.g. the words "John Smith" together). You may need to enter names in reverse order ( e.g. "Smith, John")  to find occurrences in obituaries, lists, etc.

 

Viewing the results of a search

• A chronological list of newspaper pages matching your search appears
• Click on the date to view
• Search terms are highlighted in yellow
• Use the + or - buttons or choose a magnification percentage from the drop-down menu
• Use the arrow buttons at the top of the screen to move to the next or previous result. To return to the complete list of results, click on  Results List. (See green outlined area in image below)  

Printing or Saving

To print the whole newspaper page, reduced to letter size paper, click on the printer icon.  

To print the image on the computer screen, click on the printer icon and select "Current View" in the Print box.

To print a section of a page (e.g. a single article or photo), click on the Snapshot tool (looks like a camera) on the toolbar (outlined in red on the above image).

If the Snapshot tool is not on the tool bar, add it by:

• Right click on the tool bar
• Select "More Tools"
• Scroll to the " Select and Zoom" toolbar
• Scroll down and check the box for Snapshot Tool 
• Click OK. The Snapshot Tool icon should now appear on the tool bar

1.  Starting at the corner of the area you wish to select, hold down the left mouse button and drag the  mouse to draw a box around the area you want to print.

2.  Click on the printer icon and check the Preview section of the print box to see how the image will  look. Note: best results are obtained if the Zoom setting in the preview box is no more than 100%.   

3.  Click OK.

Images can also be saved  to a flash drive/memory stick. Click the diskette icon in the tool bar and choose the appropriate drive name. 

 

Not getting the results you expected?

The computer sometimes reads words incorrectly due to poor resolution especially in the earlier papers. Column or line breaks with unexpected hyphens can also create problems. Try alternate spellings or Browse by Date (Globe and Mail) or enter a date to browse the Toronto Star.

Asian Genealogy

Getting Started

Trace your Chinese ancestors in Canada using immigration records and head tax certificates.  The Library also has some handbooks and name guides on Japanese, Korean and East Indian genealogies. Some resources are written in the ethnic language.

Searching the Library Website

Suggested Subjects and Keywords

• Asian genealogy or Asia genealogy
• [name of ethnic group]  genealogy  e.g. Chinese genealogy
• [name of ethnic group]  names   e.g. Japanese names
• [name of ethnic group] place  e.g. Koreans Ontario

Suggested Titles

• Ethnic genealogy: a research guide
• Family lineage records as a resource for Korean history
• A gazetteer of Japanese place names: in characters and in Romaji script, giving latitudes and longitudes
• In search of your Asian roots: genealogical research on Chinese surname
• Shuben xungen baijiaxing
• Tracing your Philippine ancestors
• They came in ships: guide to finding your immigrant ancestor's arrival record
• Xing shi jian jie [Chinese names]

Using Online Resources

Recommended Websites

• Genealogy - Asia

Chinese

• Library and Archives Canada Genealogy - Chinese
• Vancouver Public Library - Chinese-Canadian Genealogy

East Indians

• Library and Archives Canada Genealogy - East Indians

 Recommended Databases

• Globe and Mail - Canada's Heritage from 1844 (Toronto Public Library card login required)
• Toronto Star - Pages of the Past (Toronto Public Library card login required)

In Library Resources

Database

• Ancestry Library Edition (access from any Toronto Public Library computer)

 Microforms

Check the finding aids available at the North York Central Library:

Census

• Catalogue of census returns on microfilm: 1666-1891 and 1901 supplement (also available free from Library Archives Canada)
• 1906 Census of the Northwest Provinces

 Ships, Passenger Lists:

• Registers of Chinese Immigrants, 1887-1949 (also available free from Library Archives Canada)
• British Columbia Ports - Passenger Lists 1905-1935

 For further assistance contact:

Canadiana Department, North York Central Library 416-395-5623

Humanities and Social Science, Toronto Reference Library 416-395-5577

 

Aboriginal Peoples - Genealogy

Getting Started

Find out if you have native ancestors in census records as they indicate an individual's ethnic origin.  Some Aboriginal individuals are also found in parish records, land claims and even military records. The Library has handbooks on how to find and use these records. Digitized census records can also be accessed on the genealogical database, Ancestry Library Edition.

Searching the Library Website

Suggested Subjects and Keywords:

• Indians of North America genealogy
• Métis genealogy
• Registers [location] e.g.  Registers Grand River Region, Akwesasne Indian Reserve, etc.

Suggested Titles:

• Aboriginal peoples in the Archives: a guide to sources in the Archives of Ontario  
• An alphabetical listing of interments on the Six Nations Reserve
  
• Indian burial sites in Tuscarora, Onondaga, and Oneida Townships
• Indians from New York in Ontario and Quebec, Canada: a genealogy reference 
• Métis families: a genealogical  compendium   
• Northwest half-breed scrip
• Records of the Department of Indian Affairs at the Library and Archives Canada: a source for genealogical research
• Répertoires des naissances des Métis et Amérindiens(nes) extrait du P.R.D.H. du début de la colonie à 1765
• Tracing your Aboriginal ancestors in the Prairie Provinces: a guide to the records and how to use them
• Understanding Ontario first nations genealogical records: sources and case studies
• Discover your Metis ancestry

Using Online Resources

Recommended Websites

• Aboriginal Peoples

• Library and Archives Canada: Genealogy - Aboriginal Peoples
Information on where to find online resources including a useful guide on Researching Your Aboriginal Genealogy at Library and Archives Canada

Recommended Databases

• Canadian Encyclopedia Online (free online)
Information on native and tribal history, settlement, etc.

• Early Canadiana Online (Toronto Public Library card login required)
Digitized collections of early writings on native people.

In Library Resources

Database

• Ancestry Library Edition (access from any Toronto Public Library computer)

To find Aboriginal ancestors in the Canadian census, try the following search tips:

1901 and 1911 Canadian census search screen:
⇒Go to Advanced Search
⇒In the Race/Nationality box, type the term "indian"
⇒The results list should include those whose tribe was recorded as "Indian (Native American)"

1891 Candian census search screen:
⇒In the keyword box, type the term "pagan"
⇒The results list will include those who hold traditional native beliefs
Note: You can also browse the census by province, district and sub-district. A list of census districts and sub-districts is available online.

1881 and earlier censuses:
⇒In the Race/Nationality box, type the term "indian"
⇒The results should include those whose nationality was recorded as "Indian (Native American)"

Periodical

• Canadian-American Journal of History & Genealogy for Canadian, French and Metis Study

Microforms

• 1901 Census records (available at the North York Central Library)
Use reels T-6554 and T-6555 for Indian agencies enumerated separately.

 

For further assistance contact:

Canadiana Department, North York Central Library 416-395-5623
Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Toronto Reference Library 416-395-5577

Blacks - Genealogy

Getting Started

The Canadiana Department at North York Central Library houses research material for genealogists and local historians, with a particular emphasis on Canada and includes the Deposit Collections of five genealogical societies. The Toronto Reference Library (TRL) has an extensive genealogy collection including non-Canadian genealogy.

Searching the Library Website

Suggested Keywords:

• Black Canadians genealogy

• Blacks genealogy

• Black Loyalists

• Blacks Ontario  or another province e.g. Blacks Nova Scotia

• Underground railroad Canada

Suggested Titles: Handbooks and Guides

American and Caribbean

• African American genealogy: a bibliograpny and guide to sources

• Black genesis: a resource book for African-American genealogy

• Black roots: a beginner's guide...

• Caribbeana: a re-publishing project for Caribbean genealogy

• Genealogist's guide to discovering your African-American ancestors: how to find and record your unique heritage

• Jamaican ancestry: how to find out more

• Lineages and linkages: solving Trinidad roots in India

• Tree without roots...tracing British, African and Asian Caribbean ancestry

Canada: Early Black history

• Black Loyalist directory: African Americans in exile after the American revolution

• Blacks in Canada: a history

• Dictionnaire des esclaves et de leurs propriétaires au Canada français

• Ontario's African-Canadian heritage: collected writings

• Under the north star: Black communities in Upper Canada before Confederation

Publications on Black settlements in various town and townships in Ontario are also available.

Using Online Resources

Recommended Websites:

•  Blacks- Genealogy

Recommended Databases:

• Globe and Mail - Canada's heritage from 1844 (available from outside the library with a valid TPL library card)

• Toronto Star: Pages of the Past (available from outside the library with a valid TPL library card)

In Library Resources

Database

• Ancestry Library Edition (access from any Toronto Public Library computer)
e.g. their database "Slave registers of former British colonial dependencies in 1812- 1834"

Additional In Library Resources

African-Canadian newspapers on microfilm

• Voice of the Fugitive 1851 -1852 (Windsor)

• Dawn of Tomorrow 1932 - 1972 (Canadian League for Advancement of Colored People)

• West Indian News Observer 1967 -1969 (Toronto)

• Islander 1973 - 1975 (Toronto)

• Uhuru 1969 - 1970 (Montreal)

Other Resources

• Canada: a people's history, Episode 3 (DVD) on the Loyalists and Episode 5 on the Underground Railway.

• Rita Cox Black and Caribbean Heritage Collection [at the following TPL branches : Cedarbrae, Maria A. Shchuka, Parkdale and York Woods]

For further assistance contact:

Canadiana Department, North York Central Library  416-395-5623

Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Toronto Reference Library 416-395-5577

Jewish Genealogy

Getting Started

 The Canadiana Department at the North York Central Library specializes in Canadian genealogy and Ontario local history.  Canadiana also houses the Deposit Collection from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto branch). The Toronto Reference Library has additional resources on British and international Jewish genealogy.

Searching the Library Website

Suggested Subjects and Keywords

• Jews genealogy
• Jews [place name] genealogy e.g. Jews United States genealogy
• Jews [country] directories e.g. Jews Canada directories
• Personal names Jewish
• Holocaust Jewish
• [surname] family e.g. Rubinoff family

Suggested Titles

General

• Avotaynu guide to Jewish genealogy
• Discovering your Jewish ancestors
• Getting started in Jewish genealogy
• A guide to reading Hebrew inscriptions and documents
• Sephardic genealogy: discovering your Sephardic ancestors and their world
• World Jewish Directory

Canada and the U.S.

• Encyclopedia of Jewish Genealogy, volume 1: sources in the United States and Canada
• A student's guide to Jewish American genealogy
• Jews resident in Ontario according to the 1851 to 1901 censuses of Canada
→More on Jewish residents in the rest of Canada
• Roots and remembrance: explorations in Jewish genealogy
• Salt fish and shmattes: the history of the Jews in Newfoundland and Labrador from 1770
→More on Canada

Great Britain

• A beginner's guide to Jewish genealogy in Great Britain
• A guide to Jewish genealogy in the United Kingdom
• When Scotland was Jewish: ...twelfth century Semitic roots
→More on Great Britain

Europe

• Finding your Jewish roots in Galicia
• A dictionary of Jewish surnames from the Russian Empire
• A dictionary of Jewish surnames from the Kingdom of Poland
• A guide to Jewish genealogy in Germany and Austria
• A guide to Jewish genealogy in Latvia and Estonia

Israel

• Annals and deeds in family history: research and resources no. 2
• A guide to Jewish genealogical research in Israel
• Guidebook for Sephardic and Oriental genealogical sources in Israel
• A field guide to visiting a Jewish cemetery

Using Online Resources

Recommended websites

• Jews - Genealogy
• Library and Archives Canada: Genealogy - Jews
Check the Likacheff-Ragosine-Mathers collection (LI-RA-MA) for documents such as passports and identity papers of those who came to Canada from the Russian Empire between 1898 and 1922.

Recommended databases

• JewishGen

The databases below requires TPL library card to login

• Encyclopedia Judaica
• Biography and Genealogy Master Index
• Globe and Mail - Canada's Heritage from 1844
• Toronto Star - Pages of the Past

In Library Resources

Database

• Ancestry Library Edition (access from any Toronto Public Library computer)

Periodicals

• Avotaynu: the international review of Jewish genealogy
• Shem Tov

Microforms

• Jewish genealogical people finder
• Jewish genealogical consolidated surname index

Looking at Additional Sources

• Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto Branch)

Consult the JGS Toronto Branch's online library catalogue or see it in paper at the Canadiana Department which houses their collection.  Their library includes an extensive collection of periodicals from other Jewish genealogical societies, some family histories, as well as directories, dictionaries, bibliographies of memorial books and information on local and European Jewish cemeteries.

For further assistance contact:

Canadiana Department, North York Central Library 416-395-5623

Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Toronto Reference Library 416-395-5577

Keep it Local: discover Ontario local history

 

Bird's-eye view, looking north from harbour to north of Bloor St...

I have to admit that ever since I began working in the Canadiana Department I have been fascinated by Ontario place names, the histories associated with the places and maps.

The place names  Athens, Baden, East Garafraxa, Lotus, Morningstar and Zavitz all sound exotic to me and yet are located in our province! How about Punkeydoodles Corners? I have always valued the effort that local authors have devoted to compiling and writing local history. Documenting the minutiae of a place and at times creating the only existing record of the past in a certain place, are invaluable in terms of our history.  

Local histories in Ontario have been published since the early 1800s. Since genealogy and local history are complimentary subjects, the Canadiana Department has always collected Ontario local histories to support our genealogy collection.  The reference collection of local histories for Ontario on the 6^th floor of North York Central Library includes:

• Architectural histories
• Biographical dictionaries by place
• Community newspapers and indexes
• Directories for cities (provincial and national coverage)
• Federal Voters Lists on microfilm (1935-1979)
• Gazetteers and geographical dictionaries
• Histories of companies, institutions, villages, townships and counties
• Maps, fire insurance plans (focus on Toronto and York County) and county atlases
• Municipal documents for the former City of North York up to 1997
• School histories and yearbooks for Toronto and some Ontario schools
• Scrapbooks

Our books are all reference and can be easily located in our library catalogue by typing the name of the place and the word “history” and/or a related subject e.g.  "Toronto school history" in the search box of Toronto Public Library’s catalogue.

If you are interested in discovering local histories (usually published before 1925) that have been digitized you can have a look at the following sites:

Early Canadiana Online (fulltext available as a TPL database)

Internet Archive

Our Roots   

You can obtain an overview of the local histories published by consulting:

Barbara  Aitken’ s  “Local Histories of Ontario Municipalities 1997-2007 : a bibliography”.

For other titles listing earlier Ontario local history publications please search our library catalogue.

Hope you will visit the 6^th floor of North York Central Library to discover our extensive collection of Ontario local histories!