Canada, Ontario Births - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This index covers 1869 through 1912.

Births were not recorded by civil authorities before 1869.

These records consist of birth records from Ontario, Canada. The linked search engine allows you to search for ancestors by first and last name, place, and year. Registrations were kept on printed forms and then bound into volumes. The entries are arranged chronologically by date of registration.

A provincial act to register births, marriages, and deaths went into effect on July 1, 1869. This act created the Office of the Registrar General, and in each county or incorporated city or town, a clerk of the peace acted as the district registrar. Each municipality (city, village, town, township, or district) had a division registrar who sent all their books to a district registrar. This district registrar then transmitted the records to the registrar general at the provincial level. In 1875, the office of district registrar was eliminated and the division registrars began sending their registrations directly to the registrar general.

In 1896, the process was altered. Division registrars received a copy of the registration forms from the person who reported the event. These forms were then indexed and entered into new registers. The division registrar made a copy of the form and every six months sent them to the Office of the Registrar General. After 1908, the division registrar made two copies of the original forms, who then kept one locally and sent the other quarterly to the registrar general. Later, the registrar general began indexing the registers

Births were recorded in Ontario to better serve public health needs and to provide demographic and personal identification.

Civil registrations of births were official records and are some of the most reliable sources of information available for those who were born in Ontario.

Other records may be obtained from the Office of the Registrar General. An application form is required. The fee covers a search of records from a five-year period, including two years on either side of the date you request. Write to:

Registrar General 189 Red River Road P.O. Box 4600 Thunder Bay, ON P7B 6L8 CANADA

Record Content
Birth records may contain the following information:


 * Full name of child
 * When the child was born
 * Gender
 * Name and surname of the father
 * Name and maiden surname of the mother
 * Occupation of father
 * When registered
 * Name of accoucheur (doctor or midwife attending the birth)
 * Signature description and residence of the informant
 * Where the birth was registered
 * County where the record was created

How to Use the Record
To begin your search, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:


 * Ancestors name
 * Approximate year of birth
 * Names of parents

Search the Collection
Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line video at FamilySearch Search Tips.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Use the birth date along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * The parents’ birthplaces can indicate former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * If you want to find more information about your family, it is often helpful to extract the information from the records of all the children with the same parents.
 * If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile birth entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents.
 * Continue to search the birth records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby.
 * When you have located your ancestor’s birth record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.

You may find some information on pre-1869 births and deaths in genealogies, histories, church records, newspapers, and collections of personal papers.

Compare the information in the birth record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citation for this Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.

Suggested citation format for a record in this collection.

Related Websites
Ontario Birth Registrations

Related Wiki Articles

 * Ontario
 * Ontario Civil Registration- Vital Records

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