Local History & Genealogy

Guide to Census Records

Getting Started

Census :  an official enumeration of populations that can help you discover birth dates, the names of parents and siblings, immigration details and much more.

Search the library's website for:

• census handbooks  for background and tips on using the censuses of various countries
• Add  location and year to the word "census"
• Use library recommended websites to discover a variety of  online census records.

    Suggested Titles:

 Finding answers in British Isles Census records . 

    Additional material on Great Britain census handbooks

 Guide to the United States census 1790 - 1930. 

    Additional material on the American censuses

Manual containing "The Census Act" and the instructions to officers employed in the taking of the first census of Canada (1871)  .

    Additonal material for 1871 census of Ontario.

Online Resources

Canadian Census Records Online

Catalogue of Census Returns on Microfilm 1666- 1901
Searchable online geographic index allows for identifying microfilm reel numbers for census returns. 

Electoral Atlas of the Dominion of Canada
Provides access to a set of detailed maps showing federal electoral boundaries. Most of the electoral districts described in this 1895 atlas are identical to the 1901 census districts. Detailed ward maps for cities are also available.

All  Canadian census returns from 1851 to 1916 have been digitized and are currently available on multiple websites in addition to Ancestry Library Edition.   Ancestry Library Edition can be used in any Toronto Public Library branch and has all Canadian censuses from 1851.

Below are websites that have census information. Note: some are indexes, some have images, some are only searachable geographically.

Library and Archives Canada : Censuses 

Gives an overview of the Census collection with links to LAC census databases and finding aids.  The microfilm of the 1916 census  has also been digitized. Details on census column headings, abbreviations and enumeration dates can also be found on their site.

Canadian Censuses on FamilySearch  includes provincial censuses prior to 1842, and censuses 1851 - 1906, and 1916. 1861 census is listed by province. FamilySearch is provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Automated Genealogy has indexed the 1852 census (Ontario and Quebec and New Brunswick), 1901, 1906 and 1911 censuses

OntarioRoots.com   has a Toronto Street Finder for ward and district for the 1901 and 1911 censuses.

The Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH), has the 1851/2 and 1881 census data.

Alberta Genealogical Society, Edmonton Branch   has indexed the 1901 census for Alberta and Saskatchewan.

 Newfoundland (prior to entering Confederation in 1949)

Transcriptions for various years Newfoundland (Newfoundland's Grand Banks Genealogical and Historical  Data)   Some are incomplete.

 

British and Irish Census Records Online

1841 - 1911 Census for England,Wales and Channel Islands   (FamilySearch)
  ( note: 1871 census is ~ 80% complete)

1901 Census of England and Wales
Free to search, pay to view records

1911 census of England and Wales
Free to search, pay to view records

IRELAND

Griffith's Valuation 1847 -1864
Griffith's is considered the Irish Census substitute.

Census of Ireland 1901/1911

 SCOTLAND

Scotlands People
Census records for 1841 - 1911. Free surname searches; pay to view records.

1841 - 1891 censuses  free on Family Search.

US Census Records Online

1790 - 1940 US censuses  (FamilySearch)
 Indexed and usually linked to images. Free

Digitized microfilm of 1790 - 1930 US census on Internet Archive. For help in using the microfilm try Donslist Finding Guides. 

Note: 1890 US census largely destroyed by fire.

In Library Resources

North York Central Library's Canadiana Department has all the available Canadian census records on microfilm. It also has an extensive collection of Ontario census indexes published by various genealogical organizations. The Toronto Reference Library  has microfilm census records for provinces outside Ontario. Prior to the 1911 census, its Ontario holdings are limited to Toronto & York County only. To identify which microfilm reel to search, consult the Catalogue of Census Returns on Microfilm 1666 - 1901 also available in paper format.  

The Toronto Reference Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Department houses many CD-ROMs and materials for U.S. and British and Irish census resources as well as early Quebec censuses (1660's) and the 1681 census of New France.

Ancestry Library Edition can be used on any computer in a Toronto Public Library branch, but is not available remotely.  It allows individual name searches, often with original images to:

Canadian censuses 1851 - 1916;  UK Census Collection for 1841 - 1911;  American  Census Records 1790 - 1940 and some European census records

Quebec Records.com  (available at North York Central and Toronto Reference Library)

French Canadian genealogy resource includes census information for Quebec in 1881 and for both Quebec and Ontario in 1901.  

 Additional Library Collections

Ontario Genealogical Society Deposit Collection  at the North York Central Library has an excellent collection of materials on British, American and Canadian censuses.

 

Canadiana Department, North York Central  416-395-5623

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

 

Black 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
• Finding Oprah's roots: finding your own    
• 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
• Spirit of Africville (2nd ed)
• 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

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.   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.

Coverage: (usually stops at 3 years before the current year)

Globe and Mail - Canada's Heritage: starts in 1844

Toronto Star - Pages of the Past: starts in 1894

 

Access to the databases from outside the library 

Note: Valid Toronto Public Library card required. (Many Ontario Public Libraries also subscribe to these two databases)

• 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
• Click the "Access Online" button.
• 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

Do not use any punctuation in the Toronto Star database.

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 may be highlighted in yellow, but if not, use CTRL- F (Find) to locate your search terms.
• To change the size of the image use the Adobe toolbar (hover the mouse at the bottom of the image to bring up the toolbar) and use the + or - buttons.
• 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.

 

Printing or Saving

To print the whole newspaper page, reduced to letter or legal size paper, click on the printer icon in the Adobe toolbar and select  "Print All".  

To print part of a newspaper page:

• Click on the Graphics Select button    in the Adobe Acrobat toolbar.
• Select the area you want to print by clicking the mouse and dragging it to draw a box.
• Click on the print button in the Adobe toolbar and
• Select the "Print Selected Grahic" option.

Note:  The "Graphics Select" feature is only found in newer versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Older version of Acrobat Reader will only allow you to print the whole page.

To save a page to a flash drive/memory stick (PDF format)

• insert a memory stick into the computer
• click the diskette/save icon in the Adobe toolbar 
• in the "save in" box select the correct drive name, for instance "E", for the flash drive
• click "Save"

Not getting the results you expected?

Review any punctuation - is it allowable? 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, different search settings or Browse by Date (Globe and Mail) or enter a date to browse the Toronto Star.

 

Order Out of Chaos: Organizing Your Genealogy Research

Lately, a fair number of people I talk to are dabbling in researching their family history. Those of you who are seasoned genealogists already know how crucial it is to organize your findings as you progress. Each discovery leads to new pieces of information, and each individual bit of information might take you in multiple directions. If you’re just beginning to delve into genealogical research, you’ll soon discover that your records, documents, and notes on bits of scrap paper are multiplying faster than seems possible. Plus, if multiple people in your family have the same name, your paperwork and notes will inevitably become a jumble of ‘who’s who?’ confusion.

Whether you’re a novice taking your first steps into uncovering your family history, or an expert looking for some new ways to organize your findings, here are a few suggestions for getting your genealogical ducks in a row.

One of the key decisions to make is whether to organize your documents on paper, or on your computer, or online (or, perhaps, all three). Whatever method you choose, organized file storage is essential. You’ll want to name your folders and files using a consistent style, and structure your folders, sub-folders, and sub-sub-folders (and so on!) in an organized way so that you don’t end up misplacing important documents or notes.

On Paper

If you wish to conduct the bulk of your research on paper, you’ll need to work with organizational forms. Ancestry.ca (Library Edition) is a leading genealogical database that you can access from any Toronto Public Library computer. Ancestry.ca features a variety of printable forms and charts to help you organize your information, including ancestral and family group charts, census forms, and correspondence records.

Another important source for finding ancestral information is Family Search, a nonprofit family history organization operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Visit the Family Search Getting Started guide to view instructional videos and to download pedigree charts and family group records for printing.

Some books about researching family history include various types of forms. You might want to take a look at one of our many genealogical research books that contain sample forms. These forms may be photocopied and used freely--as long as they’re solely used for personal research and not published in printed works. Here are some examples of books that feature forms:

Organizing your Family History Search: Efficient & Effective Ways to Gather and Protect your Genealogical Research by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack	Managing a Genealogical Project: A Complete Manual for the Management and Organization of Genealogical Materials by William Dollarhide

 

On Your Computer

If, however, you prefer to document your findings on your computer, look into family history software such as Family Tree Maker or Legacy Family Tree. This may be helpful if you plan to track your work on a single computer. If you decide to invest in this type of software, we have instruction manuals in our collection that will help to ensure you’re making the most of your software:

The Official Guide to Family Tree Maker 2010 by Tana L. Pederson	The Complete Beginner's Guide to Genealogy, the Internet, and your Genealogy Computer Program by Karen Clifford

 

In the Cloud

If you’re a tablet or mobile phone user, you might even consider using apps that will allow you to save your information “in the cloud,” i.e., stored online so that you can access your data across different computers and mobile devices.

What Works for YOU?

These are just a few ideas, but there are many other possibilities. And remember, what works for one person won’t necessarily be effective for everyone, so the most important goal is to find a system that works for you. Think about what you’re trying to achieve, and work towards creating a planning system that will help you, not frustrate you. And be creative! Maybe you’ll want to try:

• index cards
• flowcharts attached to each of your file folders (e.g., check out this Genealogy Research Process map [PDF])
• a special numbering system, or
• a set of different coloured pens/pencils or file folders for easy visual identification.

Do you have any tips for effectively organizing your family history research? What are your favourite genealogical resources for getting (and staying!) organized?

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 Expeditionary 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

War of 1812

• His majesty's gentlemen: a directory of regular British Army officers of the War of 1812
• Redcoated ploughboys....militia of Upper Canada 1813-1815. (ebook and print)
• Soldiers of the King: the Upper Canadian militia 1812 - 1815
• Taken and destroyed: War of 1812 losses claims, London and western districts.
• York's sacrifice: militia casualties of the war of 1812  (ebook and print)

1828-1913

• "The Canadians": those who served in South Africa, 1899-1902
• Men of Upper Canada: militia nominal rolls, 1828-1829
• Militia list for Canada West, 1847
• Répertoire des officiers de milice du Bas-Canada

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
• Official casualty lists: Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian army, Royal Canadian Air Force, 1941-

Using Online Resources

Recommended Websites

• Military Records
• Library and Archives Canada: Military (overview)
  •     Soldiers of the South African War
  •     Soldiers of the First World War CEF
  •     Second World War Service Files: Canadian Armed Forces War Dead

In Library Resources

Database

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

Periodical 

• Canadian Military History

Microfilms  (those marked with *** have been digitized at Library and Archives Canada )

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

• 1755-1815 Registers of POWs
• 1777-1783 Loyalist regiment muster rolls (see also Online Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies)
• 1812 Claims for losses index (and documents)***
• War of 1812 nominal rolls & paylists - Lower and Upper Canada***
• 1812-1838 index to British military and naval records (and documents)***
• 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

Note: medal registers information has also been indexed in the Library and Archives Canada database "Medals, Honours and Awards" 

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
• Field guide to visiting a Jewish cemetery
• 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
• Tracing your Jewish ancestors: a guide...
• 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
• →More on Poland
• A guide to Jewish genealogy in Germany and Austria
• A guide to Jewish genealogy in Latvia and Estonia
• Where once we walked: a guide to Jewish communities destroyed by the Holocaust

Israel

• A guide to Jewish genealogical research in Israel
• Guidebook for Sephardic and Oriental genealogical sources in Israel

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 require a TPL library card to login

• Encyclopedia Judaica
• 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

Additional Sources

• Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto Branch)

Consult the JGS Toronto Branch's Resources link .  The Canadiana Department at North York Central Library houses their library 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

Genealogical Biography

Getting Started

Could your ancestors have been  prominent in their community?  Did they belong to a group or association, or were  they members of a profession or trade?  They may well appear in publications produced by these organizations. The Toronto Reference Library and the Canadiana Department at North York Central Library hold numerous examples of such resources, ranging from biographical dictionaries to membership directories.

Searching the Library website

Suggested keywords and subjects:

The terms "biography", "dictionaries" and "directories" can be useful in combination with the group/occupation/place  for instance:

• [occupation] [place] biography e.g. farmers Ontario biography

• [place] biography e.g. Muskoka biography

• [occupation] [place] directories e.g. artists Ontario directories ; lawyers Ontario directories

• [group] [place] biography e.g.  women Toronto biography; politicians Ontario biography

• [group] biography dictionaries e.g. musicians biography dictionaries

 

Suggested Titles

General Biography

• Biographical scrapbooks: Index  (1911-1967)
• Biography and Genealogy Master Index
• Canadian who's who    (1898 - )
• Canadian who's who index (1898 - 1984)
• Cyclopaedia of Canadian biography  (1886 - 1919)
• Dictionary of Canadian biography  (also available online)
• Macmillan dictionary of Canadian biography   (to 1978)
• Prominent people of the province of Ontario  (to 1925)
• Standard dictionary of Canadian biography   (1875 - 1937)
• Who's who in Canada   (1913 - 2001)

Arts & Education

• Biographical index of artists in Canada
• Schools and teachers in the province of Ontario  
• High schools yearbooks
• University yearbooks

Ethnicities

• Biographical dictionary of Canadian Jewry 1909 - 1914
• Dictionnaire biographique des ancêtres québécois 1608 - 1700
  
• Ethnic directory of Canada
• Who's who in Black Canada
  

Business, Government and Legal

• Blue book of Canadian business
• Canadian directory of parliament 1867 - 1967 
• Canadian parliamentary companion
• Canadian parliamentary guide
• Canadian law list  (1890's)  Canadian law list (1900's - present)
• Upper Canada law list
  

 Local

• Commemorative biographical record of the County of York 
• Dau's official blue book for Toronto
• Municipality of Toronto: a history  (to 1923)
• Sketches of celebrated Canadians  (to 1862)
• Society blue book of Toronto... (various years online)
• Torontonian society blue book  [1921-1946]
• Upper Canada sons and daughters of United Empire Loyalists
  

Medical

• Canadian medical directory and physician's handbook
• Canadian medical directory  (1955 - )
• Medical directory of Toronto and suburbs  (1900,1903)
• Medical register for Upper Canada 1867
• Ontario medical register  and Ontario medical register [1870 - 1898]  on microfiche

Regional

• Atlantic Canadians 1600 - 1900
• Central Canadians 1600 - 1900
• French Canadians 1600 -1900
• Western Canadians 1600 - 1900

Religious

• Ontario Catholic yearbook and directory
• Catholic almanac of Ontario for 1895 and 1898  (Online)
• United Church of Canada yearbook
• Yearbook and clergy list of the Church of England in the Dominion of Canada
• [Methodist clergy]

 

Early Immigrants - Lists

    There are numerous titles about early immigrants from various European locations.  Check our Passenger List Research Guide

 

Online Resources

    Available through the TPL website with a TPL library card:

• CBCA(Canadian Business and Current Affairs)
• Canadian Parliamentary Guide
• Canadian Periodical Index (CPI.Q)(1980 - )
• Early Canadiana Online     (for complete content, TPL library card required)
• Globe and Mail - Canada's Heritage since 1844
• Toronto Star -  Pages of the Past

Available on the Internet:

• Architectural Index for Ontario
• Canadian Encyclopedia Online/Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography online
• Our Roots   (Canadian local histories)
• Internet Archive  (wide selection of digitized books including directories)

In Library Resources

• Canadian Periodical Index   (1920 - )
• Canadian Newspaper and Canadian News Indexes  (1977 -1992)

• Newspapers  on microfilm  such as:
  •  Toronto Telegram (1876 - 1971)
  •  Ottawa Citizen (1850 -   )
  •  Winnipeg Free Press (1874 - 2010)
  •  Montreal Gazette (1785 -   )

 

For further assistance contact:

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

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

Historical Walking Tour of North York Centre, Saturday, September 15, 2012, 10:30 to noon

You are invited to join me and other library staff, along with our partners in the North York Historical Society, the North York Community Preservation Panel and Gibson House Museum, for an historical walking tour of the North York Centre neighbourhood.

North York Central Library, 1987

Meet us at 10:30 in the first floor atrium of North York Central Library this Saturday, September 15 to start the tour.  The walk is part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of North York Central Library, 1987-2012, and participants will be provided with a commemorative walking tour booklet.  The booklet will also be available electronically on the Toronto Public Library website following the tour.

I have worked at North York Central Library for the past 14 years, and have come not only to rely on its extensive collections (638,893 items in 2011) and expert staff, but also to appreciate the neighbourhood where the library is located.

Here can be found a cluster of Modernist buildings designed by some of the country's most prominent architectural firms: Moriyama and Teshima (North York City Centre including the North York Central Library); Adamson Associates (North York Civic Centre); Zeidler Roberts (Toronto Centre for the Arts) and Mathers & Haldenby (Toronto District School Board).

Joseph Sheppard II (Dempsey Bros.) store, 1921

Here too, amazingly, are three Georgian Revival buildings – a store and two houses – survivors from the Willowdale and Lansing farming communities of the 1850s and 1860s. The trio all were built after their first owners, David Gibson, Joseph Shepard II and Michael Shepard, returned from exile in the United States, where they had escaped following the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.

The neighbourhood also boasts extensive public spaces – parks, a huge cemetery and an attractive square - where I often relax and sometimes exercise during lunch breaks.  

I must admit that I am a convert to the charms of the neighbourhood. When I was sent, figuratively kicking and screaming, to North York Central Library following library (and municipal) amalgamation in 1998, as far as I was concerned the city ended at Yonge and Lawrence and the idea of a North York “downtown” was ludicrous. 

My opinion of North York Public Library was slightly more favourable.  I grudgingly acknowledged that, although it was such a newbie compared to Toronto Public Library (it began in 1883) where I had worked for many years, its achievements were impressive.  In less than half a century since 1950, North York's public library had grown from having 2,740 items in a room in a community centre to housing several hundred thousand volumes in a seven-storey Central Library (officially opened on June 4, 1987), which also provided support to five regional branches, 13 community branches and various deposit collections.

In the subsequent years, my respect for North York Central Library has grown and my feelings about the local area have changed radically. Join us on Saturday, and discover, as I did, that North York Centre is one of Toronto’s most interesting and surprising neighbourhoods. 

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

• [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

• Asian American genealogical sourcebook
• 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 surnames
• 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 online free from Library Archives Canada)
• 1906 and 1916 Censuses of the Northwest Provinces

     Ships, Passenger Lists:

• Registers of Chinese Immigrants, 1887-1949 
• British Columbia Ports - Passenger Lists 1905-1935
• Newfoundland registers of arrivals and outward registrations
• The above are combined in one database available online free from Library and Archives Canada)

 For further assistance contact:

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

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

 

Toronto Parks: the aspiration of the ‘Commons’

I live near Dufferin Grove Park. I take my wee lad there at least twice a week. I’ve met friends for coffee on its benches, enjoyed camp fires at its fire circles, seen live theatre and summer dance shows, watched bicycle polo(!) last summer, and most recently, witnessed the community’s outpouring of support for other people in Canada engaged in social struggle. It’s got me thinking about the place parks in Toronto enjoy in people’s lives and about their history as the ‘third’ place.

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg argues that societies need ‘third’ places – distinct from one’s home and one’s work. Such places provide a neutral ground where people can gather and interact, and “promote social equality by levelling the status of guests, provide a setting for grassroots politics, create habits of public association, and offer psychological support to individuals and communities.” (further details)

As a setting for recreation, public association and grassroots politics, Toronto parks have a long and colourful history. In the late 19^th century, parks were for the moneyed classes to stroll through in their finery. They were certainly not for athletic endeavours or children’s play. Children were fined and put in jail for doing so! (Yesterday’s Toronto 1870-1910, p.85)

By the early 20^th century, authorities had perhaps decided that jailing ten year olds was not in the best interests of their education and sociability, and parks in Toronto had become places of sport, recreation and entertainment, including diving horses on Toronto Island (no kidding!), and horse racing at Dufferin race track across the street from my neighbourhood park. The Dufferin race track was the first track in Canada to use a starting gate, as well as the first to implement finish line cameras. The things you learn, eh?

By the 1930s, parks in Toronto would feel the weight of the world’s problems much like the rest of the city, becoming staging grounds for exactly the ‘grassroots politics’ (read: opposition) that Oldenburg envisioned decades later. The Toronto Star reports on August 16, 1933 (in this excellent database available with your library card): “Charging mounted policemen, motorcycle exhausts belching oily fumes and scores of constables on foot put a stop to speech making, but failed to disperse thousands of persons gathered in Allan Gardens last night at a meeting announced by the Worker’s ex-Service Men’s League.” The meeting – call it a demonstration – was called to “protest against treatment accorded war veterans,” and drew crowds of men, women, children, including one “young woman [who] was seen to strike a motorcycle officer across the face with a folded newspaper as she was bumped by a wheel of his machine.” Allan Gardens has since been the site of many demonstrations and political gatherings, oft focussed on problems of urban poverty and homelessness.

The date of that action is significant. I was perusing the Toronto Star’s Pages of the Past to find reportage of the famous ‘Riot of Christie Pits’, another (much larger) political action that is inextricably bound up in another Toronto park.

The Riot was unplanned, unorganized, but in no ways un-political. It was also the largest such action in Toronto’s history before or since. Reflecting the tensions of the depression and the xenophobic prejudice that was dominating European politics, the riot brought the politics of the old world to the new, and in so doing, galvanized the immigrant communities in the city and paved the way for the multi-culturalism we take for granted today.

A baseball game between teams that were primarily Anglo-Protestant on one side and Jewish on the other spilled into a punch-up when young Anglo-Saxon fans unfurled a large white banner of a Swastika in the stands. The fight ranged across the park for possession of the banner, and left at least one Jewish youth with substantial injuries. Boys on bicycles then zipped to the immigrant neighbourhoods south of Bloor with the story that a Jew had been killed. Thousands of young men (mostly) responded and a post-game dust-up morphed into a full-scale street fight.  It was the ‘culmination of a summer of conflict, and remains a disturbing, even legendary, part of the city’s history.’ You can read all the details in Levitt and Shaffir’s The Riot at Christie Pits. Or, for the Youtube generation, watch this:

You will note the showcasing of a Toronto library. ;)

With so much of any city’s space occupied by private property – whether for residence, commerce, finance, education, or governance, public space becomes more and more important to the vibrancy (even the existence) of civic life. Toronto parks have a long and proud tradition of stepping into that role; a tradition built on circumstance and perhaps chance, but also on people’s willingness to fight for it. Dufferin Grove comes by its community feistiness honestly.

                                       

 

Sources

The Great Good Place: cafés, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, bars, hangouts, and how they get you through the day. (Oldenburg, Ray, 1989)
307.0973 O47  - Humanities and Social Sciences, 2nd Fl., Toronto Reference Library

Old Toronto: a selection of excerpts from Landmarks of Toronto, by John Ross Robertson (Robertson, J. Ross, 1954)
971.3541 R - Canadiana, 6th Fl., North York Central Library

Riot at Christie Pits. (Levitt, Cyril et. al., 1987)
971.3541 L - Canadiana, 6th Fl., North York Central Library

Toronto Star's Pages of the Past - online archive includes over 30,000 complete issues. The digitized full-image version of the complete contents of the Toronto Star newspaper since 1894. Available at any Toronto Public Library branch (with valid library card)

Yesterday's Toronto 1870 - 1910. (Shapiro, Linda, 1997)
971.3541 SHA - Canadiana, 6th Fl., North York Central Library