Local History & Genealogy

Getting Started

This guide has had minor revisions in Sept 2013.

The Toronto Reference Library houses research material for genealogists and local historians, including books, microforms, pamphlets, maps, government documents, periodicals and online databases.

Collection highlights:

• Extensive collection of British Isles city and county directories
• Ireland's Griffith’s General Valuation of Rateable Property
• Earlier Tithe Applotment Books and their Indexes (all in microform)
• Cemetery records
• Directories of nobility

Searching the Library Website:

Suggested Subject and Keywords

• Names, Personal [location]  e.g. Names Personal Ireland
• [location] Genealogy Sources  e.g. Great Britain genealogy sources
• [location] Emigration  e.g. Scotland emigration
• [location]  Genealogy Handbooks e.g.  Wales genealogy handbooks
• [place name] Directories  e.g. Dublin directories
• [place name] Registers e.g. Yorkshire (Eng) registers

Suggested Titles:

General Guides

• Ancestral trails: the complete guide to British genealogy and family history
• Census: the expert guide
• Easy family history: the beginners guide to researching your family history
• Essential maps for family historians
• The family tree detective: a manual for tracing your ancestors in England & Wales
• How to trace your family tree in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
• Migration records: a guide for family historians
• The National Archives: a practical guide for family historians
• Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (online resource)
• Tracing your [occupation/location/social status] ancestors: a guide for family historians  (series)
• Who do you think you are? Encyclopedia of genealogy

Ireland 

• Basic guide to Irish records for family history 
• How to trace your Irish ancestors
• Irish Palatine pioneers in Upper Canada
• New genealogical atlas of Ireland
• Tracing your Irish ancestors: the complete guide
• Tracing your Irish family history

 Scotland

• A dictionary of Scottish emigrants to Canada before Confederation
• Researching Scottish family history
• Scots in the USA and Canada 1825-1875
• Scottish family history on the web: a directory
• Scottish family tree detective
• Scottish genealogy
• Tracing your Scottish ancestors: a guide to ancestry research in the National Archives of Scotland

Online Resources:

• FreeBMD
• Genuki
• Scotlands People $$
• Scotlands Places

In-Library Resources:

• Ancestry Library Edition (available in any Toronto Public Library branch) has an extensive collection of censuses, births, marriages and death records for Great Britain, as well as some Irish resources.

Journals and Magazines (at the Toronto Reference Library)

• Family tree magazine [Great Britain]

• Genealogists’ magazine [Great Britain]

• Gonfanon [Royal Heraldry Society of Canada]

• Scottish genealogist 

For further assistance contact:

Answerline: 416-393-7131
[email protected]

Toronto Reference Library, 2nd floor, Humanities and Social Sciences Department, 416-393-7175