Welland County, Ontario Genealogy

Guide to Welland County ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.



History
Welland County (area, excluding cities was 226,970 acres) is a historic county in the Canadian province of Ontario.

The county was formed in 1845 from Lincoln County. The county was named from the Welland River. The river got its name from John Graves Simcoe who named it after the River Welland which forms a border of Lincolnshire, England. Niagara Falls, and the Townships in this county were among the earliest settlements in Upper Canada.

In some census and election records from the late 19th century, the townships of Pelham and Wainfleet (which can be seen on the map below) were enumerated as part of Monck County. However, Monck never existed as a county in the political sense, but only as an electoral district.

In 1970, Lincoln and Welland Counties were amalgamated to form the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

Birth

 * 1869 - 1911 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1858 - 1913 - Ontario, Canada Births, 1858-1913 at Ancestry.com--index and images. ($)
 * 1869 - 1912 - Ontario Births, 1869-1912 at --index. ($)

Marriage

 * 1801-1858 - at FamilySearch — index and images.
 * 1801-1928, 1933-1934 - Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928, 1933-1934 at Ancestry.com--index and images. ($)
 * 1858-1869 - at FamilySearch — index and images.

Death

 * 1869-1937, and some 1939-1947 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1869-1938, 1943-1944, and some 1939-1947 - Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938, 1943-1944, and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947 at Ancestry.com--index and images. ($)

Writing for a More Recent Birth, Marriage, or Death Record

 * ServiceOntario, Birth Records is the only government-authorized source for obtaining birth certificates. Go to the section entitled "Order a Birth Search".  This is the most economical, searches the widest time period, and allows searches for people not immediately related. A letter of information is provided rather than a certificate.
 * ServiceOntario, Marriage Records offers a marriage search option and a historical certificate option.
 * ServiceOntario, Death Records offers a death search option and a historical certificate option. Also official death certificates are available to a wider range of relatives than birth and marriage certificates.

FamilySearch Library Microfilmed Records
Some of the church/civil records have been microfilmed by FamilySearch.These microfilms may be available for viewing at Family History Centers around the world. To find a microfilm:
 * a. Click on records for Canada, Ontario, Welland County. You will see a list of available records for the county.
 * b. You will also see above the list the link Places within Canada, Ontario, Welland County. This will take you to a list of towns in the counties, which are links to records for the specific town.
 * c. Click on any topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * d. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

Church Records
Church records can include baptisms, marriages, burials, membership lists, financial business, and other records for a particular congregation. They may be available online or on microfilm, but frequently they are still with the local church or in centralized archives by religion. The Canadian census records asked for the religion of those listed, so you will be able to narrow down which archives to consult. For help with writing a letter requesting copies of records, see Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy.
 * Link to Anglican church archives
 * Link to Baptist church archives
 * Link to Catholic church archives
 * Link to Lutheran church archives
 * Link to Moravian church archives
 * Link to Presbyterian church archives
 * Link to United Church of Canada (including Methodist) church archives

Online Church Records
These records are incomplete. ($).
 * collection includes indexed Ontario church records.
 * Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1802-1967
 * Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1802-1967
 * Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1802-1967
 * Ontario, Canada, Roman Catholic Marriages, 1827-1870, ($).
 * Various individual church records at FindMyPast, ($).

Cemetery Records
See, Ontario Cemeteries for information on cemetery record collections not yet digitized, but available in published sources and on microfilm.

Online Cemetery Records

 * Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid website has a free, searchable database of over 2 million burials in Ontario. It can be searched by name, cemetery, county and town, but its references do not include dates of death.  Although it does not include any gravestone inscriptions, it can be used to locate graves in Ontario.
 * Ontario Cemetery Ancestory Index
 * Ontario Name Index (TONI)
 * The Canadian Gravemarker Gallery
 * The Ontario section of Canada GenWeb Cemetery Project
 * Ontario, Canada Headstones.com
 * Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
 * Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

Parent County

 * The county was formed in 1845 from Lincoln County.
 * Lincoln County was formed in 1792. In 1845,
 * Southern portion of Lincoln County was separated to form Welland County.

Boundary Changes

 * In some census and election records from the late 1800s, the townships of Pelham and Wainfleet were enumerated as part of Monck County. However, Monck never existed as a county in the political sense, but only as an electoral district.
 * In 1970, Lincoln and Welland Counties were amalgamated to form the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

Neighboring Counties
Lincoln | Haldimand | United States: Niagara County, New York | Erie County, New York

Cemeteries

 * Cemeteries of Welland and Lincoln Counties Lists of cemeteries in Bertie, Crowland, Pelham, Thorold, Stamford, Humberstone, Wainfleet, and Willoughby of Welland County as well as Caistor, Clinton, Gainsborough, Grantham, Grimsby, and Niagara of Lincoln County.
 * Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid A pointer database consisting of the surnames, cemetery name and location of over 3 Million interments from several thousand cemeteries, cairns, memorials, and cenotaphs in Ontario Canada.
 * Ontario Genealogical Society, Niagara Peninsula Branch has created a map showing the locations of cemeteries in Welland County.

Census Records

 * Ontario Census Project: Index to surnames in Welland County 1851-1901
 * 1852 Census of Canada West, District 40, Welland County
 * 1901 Ontario Census: Welland County searchable and indexed database of census records
 * 1911 Ontario Census: Welland County searchable and indexed database of census records

Directories

 * 1891 Farmers Directory, Willoughby Township, Welland County index of names in 1891
 * 1891 Farmers Directory, Bertie Township, Welland County
 * 1891 Farmers Directory, Crowland Township, Welland County
 * 1891 Farmers Directory, Humberstone Township, Welland County
 * 1891 Farmers Directory, Thorold Township, Welland County
 * 1891 Farmers Directory, Pelham Township, Welland County
 * 1891 Farmers Directory, Stamford Township, Welland County
 * 1891 Farmers Directory, Wainfleet Township, Welland County

Maps

 * 1880 Map of Willougyby Township, Welland County Land ownership boundaries and index of peoples.
 * 1880 Map of Bertie Township, Welland County Land ownership boundaries and index of peoples.
 * 1880 Map of Crowland Township, Welland County Land ownership boundaries and index of peoples.
 * 1880 Map of Wainfleet Township, Welland County Land ownership boundaries and index of peoples.

Marriage

 * 1858 - 1869 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * Ontario Marriage Registration About 75,000 marriages online.
 * 1858 - Welland Co. Marriages, 1858 (complete)
 * 1859 - Welland Co. Marriages, 1859 (complete)
 * 1860 - Welland Co. Marriages, 1860 (part)
 * 1862 - Welland Co. Marriages, 1862 (part)
 * 1864 - Welland Co. Marriages, 1864 (part)
 * 1865 - Welland Co. Marriages, 1865 (part)
 * 1866 - Welland Co. Marriages, 1866 (part)
 * 1867 - Welland Co. Marriages, 1867 (part)

Death

 * Ontario Death Registration

Birth

 * 1869 - 1911 at FamilySearch — index
 * Ontario Birth Registration Searchable index of Ontario births from 1869+

Websites
The Forebears website will give you an extensive list of websites that could have information for people who lived in this county. Some sites cover just the county, some cover all of Ontario, and some cover all of Canada. Some sites are databases of names and facts about people; other sites cover background information such as maps, history, geography, or genealogy strategies and methods for the region.


 * Forebears, Welland County


 * Ontario Genealogical Society Provincial Index : 1,106,235 names in 277 megabytes of hypertext files.
 * Ontario GenWeb Portal Website
 * RootsWeb/Ancestry.com Message Boards: Welland County
 * Niagara Genealogy: Welland Conty GenWeb