Ontario History

Ontario Wiki Topics
Beginning Research
Getting Started Guided Research Record Finder Research Strategies
Record Types
Adoption and Guardianship Business Records and Commerce Cemeteries Census Church Records Civil Registration Court Records Directories Emigration and Immigration Genealogies Land and Property Loyalists	Military Records Municipal Records Naturalization and Citizenship Newspapers Obituaries Online Records Periodicals Probate Records Public Records Schools and Education Records Social Organizations Taxation Vital Records
Ontario Background
Biography Gazetteers Historical Geography	History Maps Name Variations For Further Reading
Cultural Groups
Cultural Groups Black Canadians	First Nations
Local Research Resources
Archives and Libraries Societies FamilySearch Centers

Canada

Ontario

History

Brief History

• Located in Central Canada, Ontario is Canada's most populous province, with 38.3 percent of the country's population, and is the second-largest province by total area.
• Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the region was inhabited by Algonquian (Ojibwe, Cree and Algonquin) in the northern/western portions, and Iroquois and Wyandot (Huron) people more in the south/east.
• The English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed the area for England.
• In 1615, French missionaries began to establish posts along the Great Lakes. French settlement was hampered by their hostilities with the Iroquois, who allied themselves with the British. From 1634 to 1640, Hurons were devastated by European infectious diseases, such as measles and smallpox. By 1700, the Iroquois had seceded from Ontario.
• The British established trading posts on Hudson Bay in the late 17th century and began a struggle for domination of Ontario with the French. After the French during the Seven Years' War, those lands of Ontario not already claimed by Britain became British. The British annexed the Ontario region to Quebec in 1774.
• The first European settlements were in 1782–1784 when 5,000 American loyalists entered what is now Ontario following the American Revolution. The Kingdom of Great Britain granted them 200 acres land and other items with which to rebuild their lives.
• The British also set up reserves in Ontario for the Mohawks who had fought for the British and had lost their land in New York state. Other Iroquois, also displaced from New York were resettled in 1784 at the Six Nations reserve at the west end of Lake Ontario. The Mississaugas, displaced by European settlements, would later move to Six Nations also.
• The Constitutional Act of 1791 split Quebec into the Canadas: Upper Canada southwest of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence, and Lower Canada east of it.
• After the War of 1812, relative stability allowed for increasing numbers of immigrants to arrive from Europe rather than from the United States. By the end of the century, Ontario vied with Quebec as the nation's leader in terms of growth in population, industry, arts and communications.
• Upper and Lower Canada were merged into the Province of Canada by the Act of Union 1840, with the capital at Kingston, and Upper Canada becoming known as Canada West.
• The British North America Act took effect on July 1, 1867, establishing the Dominion of Canada, initially with four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The Province of Canada was divided into Ontario and Quebec so that each linguistic group would have its own province.

History Timeline

The following important events affected political boundaries, record keeping, and family movements in Ontario.

• 1610: The first sighting of what is now Ontario by Henry Hudson.
• 1668: Rupert's House,The first Hudson's Bay Company station was built on James Bay.
• 1670: The Hudson's Bay Company was chartered.
• 1759: Fort Niagara was captured by the British.
• 1783: The first United Empire Loyalists arrived in Ontario.
• 1784: After the American Revolution, large numbers of Loyalists arrived in newly-surveyed townships along the St. Lawrence River in upper Quebec.
• 1788: Present southern Ontario was divided into four districts: Hesse, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Nassau.
• 1791: The old Province of Quebec was discontinued and divided into two separate colonies, Lower Canada (now Quebec) and Upper Canada (now Ontario).
• 1792: The first parliament began. The four original district names were changed: Hesse to Western, Lunenburg to Eastern, Mecklenburg to Midland, Nassau to Home.
• 1796: The seat of governement was moved to York (later Toronto.)
• 1800: Districts were adjusted to include counties established for the purpose of levying militia and as voting precincts and land registration units. Other municipal functions such as probate registration remained with the districts.
• 1812: At the time war broke out with the United States, two-thirds of the population were non-Loyalists who had been attracted by the offer of free land.
• 1815: Many immigrants arrived from Scotland. A large number settled in Lanark County.
• 1824-29: The construction of the first Welland Canal.

• 1841: The Act of Union established a single combined legislature for Lower Canada (to be called Canada East [Quebec]) and for Upper Canada (called Canada West [Ontario]).
• 1849: In Canada West (southern Ontario), the counties became functioning governmental units when the old districts were abolished. However, townships within counties remain the basic building block of local government in Ontario until after 1954.
• 1857: Ottawa became the capital of the Province of Canada.
• 1867: The Province of Ontario was formed from Canada West and joined the Confederation when the Dominion of Canada was created, uniting Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
• 1876: Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone at Brantford.
• 1883: Nickel ore was discovered at Sudbury.
• 1910: The provincial hydro-electric commission was formed.
• 1912: Provincial boundaries were moved northward to Hudson Bay.
• 1954: The municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was created from the southern half of York County, Ontario.
• 1954: The construction of the St. Lawrence Deep Waterway began.
• 1967: Many additional counties, townships, and other local governments began to be abolished in Ontario as various large "regional municipalities" and other metropolitan governments were created.

A detailed history of Ontario is:

Middleton, Jesse Edgar. The Province of Ontario: A History, 1615-1927. Five Volumes. Toronto, Ontario: Dominion Publishing Company, 1927-1928. (FamilySearch Library book 971.3 H2mj; Volumes 1, 2, 5 on microfiche 6048255-57; Volumes 3, 4 on 1320801 items 5-6.) Volumes 3-5 are biographical.

Bibliographies of local histories for Ontario are:

Aitken, Barbara B. Local Histories of Ontario Municipalities, 1951-1977. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Library Assoc., 1978. (FamilySearch Library book 971.3 A1 no. 86.)

Aitken, Barbara B. Local Histories of Ontario Municipalities, 1977-1987. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Library Assoc., 1989. (FamilySearch Library book 971.3 H23a; not on microfilm.)

Websites

• Niagara Falls Chronicles of Our Early Settlers, 1600-1900
• Handbook of Brockville History, including marriages 1784-1880]
• http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/maps/counties/region.aspx
• http://history.lakeheadu.ca/wp/?pg=59
• -- History http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/browse?type=lcsubc&key=Ontario%20--%20History