Ontario Biography

Biographies of many prominent Ontarians are included in Jesse Edgar Middleton's The Province of Ontario: A History (Volumes 3-5), referred to in the "History" section of this outline.

Two other significant collections of biographical sketches for Ontario are found in:


 * The Canadian Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-made Men, Ontario Volume. Toronto, Ontario: American Biographical Publishing Company, 1880 (FHL book 971.3 D3c; film 934809 item 3.)


 * Fraser, Alexander. A History of Ontario: Its Resources and Development. Two Volumes. Toronto, Ontario: Canada History Company, 1907 (FHL book 971.3 H2f; fiche 6046760.) Biographical sketches are in the end of Volume 1 and all of Volume 2.

See the Biography section of the Canada Research Outline for national biographical dictionaries listing Ontarians.

Canadian encyclopedias include biographical sketches.

Town, county, and local histories often partially consist of biographies of residents. For example:


 * Pioneer Life on the Bay of Quinte: Including Geneaologies [sic] of Old Families and Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens. Toronto, Ontario: Rolph and Clark, [1904]. (FHL film 982201.)

There is no major province-wide index limited to biographies. Three master indexes—Biographical and Genealogical Card Index for Ontario, People of Ontario,and Central Canadians—include citations to scattered biographies and many other sources. They are described in Ontario Genealogy. Book and manuscript collections of biographies are located at the institutions listed in the "Archives and Libraries" section of this outline.

Online Resources

 * http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowContributor.asp?VolId=10