Genealogical Research

Prior to your first visit to the Library, research your family history by interviewing other family members, and by tracking down family records. Some sources that often provide information are photographs, scrapbooks, school yearbooks, letters, and official documents such as marriage licenses, birth certificates, deeds, and wills.

The novice, or the first-time genealogist, should also look at ‘how-to’ guides available in print, CD-ROM, and over the World Wide Web. There are many excellent guidebooks, all very current in the library system. One of the more interesting is Sharon Carmack’s Guide to Discovering Your Female Ancestors.

• City & County directories and telephone directories;
• Local newspapers dating back to the 1840s – the Guelph Mercury Centennial Edition, published July 20, 1970 is of particular interest for the biographies of early residents;
• Published family histories;
• School Yearbooks, including John F. Ross Vocational Instititue and Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, 1925-1989
• City of Guelph Board of Education Records, 1841 - 1989

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• Allan, D. About Guelph; Its Early Days and Later. Guelph: the author, 1939.
• Burrows, C. Acton. Annals of the Town of Guelph, 1827-1877. Guelph: Herald Steam Printing, 1877.
• Byerly, A. E. The Beginnings of Things in Wellington and Waterloo Counties. Guelph: Guelph Publishing Company, 1935
• Coulman, D. E. Guelph: Take a Look at Us! Cheltenham: Boston Mills Press, 1976
• Johnson, Leo A. History of Guelph 1827-1927. Guelph: Guelph Historical Society, 1977
• Stead, Hilary. Guelph: A People's History, 1927-2002. Guelph: Guelph Historical Society, 2002.
• Stewart, R. A. M. Picture History of Guelph. Guelph: R. Stewart, 1976 & 1978
• Historical Guelph: The Royal City, the Journal of the Guelph Historical Society.
• Tweedsmuir Histories: Local histories compiled by Women’s Institute members. There are 14 covering a geographic from Morriston to Fergus and Eden Mills to Breslau.
• Wagner, Karen. Family Research in Wellington County. Guelph: Wellington County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, 2002.

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The Library holdings include a large collection of genealogical publications that range from descriptions of records housed in various archival institutions to transcriptions of popular genealogical sources. For example, the Library has Loyalist Settlements: 1873-1879; Checklist of Parish registers, 1986; and the Passenger and Immigration Lists Index.

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Assessment rolls (1852 - 1966 with some gaps) : document basic information about an individuals property, including land and building value, residence or business, religion, age, number of people living on the property, and occupation.

Collectors rolls (1878 - 1939 with some gaps) : document basic information about an individuals property, including land and building value, residence or business, religion, age, number of people living on the property, occupation, and additional information on tax payments and arrears.

N.B. Collector's Rolls differ from Assessment Rolls in that they show the amount of tax money collected and owing while Assessment Rolls record the assessed value of the property

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The Library provides access to Crown Land Records through a microfiche index arranged by surname and township. The Crown Land Records Index is provided by the Archives of Ontario, and covers the following record sources:

• RG 1, Series C-1-3 Crown Land Registers for Fiats and Warrants
• RG 1, Series C-I-4 Locations Registers 1790-1901
• F 61 Peter Robinson Papers
• F 129 Canada Company Sale & Lease files 1780-1920
• Period covered for above records is c.1780s to 1920.

A further source for land records are the County Historical Atlases, which reproduce cartographic land records. However, they are not comprehensive, and it is difficult to date some of the contents.

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The non-civil vital statistics holdings consist of non-governmental records relating to births, marriages, and deaths in Guelph and Wellington County.

For the City of Guelph there are plot records (transcriptions of office records associated with burials) and monumental inscriptions (transcriptions of words that appear on the gravestones in cemeteries) for Woodlawn Cemetery, as well as indexes and inscriptions for the Catholic cemeteries. There are also indexes and transcriptions for a number of other cemeteries in Wellington County.

The Library also holds an index to and transcriptions of burial records for the Tovell Funeral Home (1909-1930), which was located in Guelph.

Also available are births, deaths, and marriage notices and transcriptions compiled from the Guelph Advertiser 1847-1849, Herald 1850-1851, and the Guelph Herald and Wellington District Advertiser and the Guelph Weekly Herald 1842-1906.

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Civil vital statistics are official government records for births, deaths and marriages. The Library has a current index for the following years: Births (1869-1905), Marriages (1869-1920), and Deaths (1869-1930).

*The Archives of Ontario has an outstanding online guide for using vital statistics for research. These guides should be read by every genealogist interested in Ontario government records!

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The Library holds the following census returns on microfilm:

• Gore District: 1818-1845
• Wellington County – 1851, 1861, and 1881 (Town & Township of Guelph are missing for1851)
• All of Ontario 1871,1891, 1901.

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The Wellington County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society also makes a significant amount of its research and many of its books available in the Library for reference purposes. The Genealogical Society also maintains and updates the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid on a dedicated computer. To contact the Society please refer to the genealogy and archives links page.

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