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Text File | 1993-08-24 | 16KB | 464 lines

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Purpose ------- This database is intended as a "pointer" database. It consists of the names, locations and in some cases the professions of over 11,000 residents of the Home District (later York and Simcoe Counties in Ontario) in the year 1837. The Directory was originally published by T. Dalton and W.J. Coates. What's Different? ---------------- The original publication was indexed (more or less) on the surnames of inhabitants by Township. To search for all occurrences of a surname one had to read the listings for all townships. This file allows you to import the data into your favourite database program so that you can search electronically with greater speed and accuracy. The database as issued is pre-sorted on surname and given name. Value to Your Research ---------------------- This file is of particular benefit to Ontario researchers because it provides information almost a full generation back of the first full census in 1851. Many family origins began in the Home District and can be traced through this information. Little of the land north and west of the Home District had been surveyed and opened for settlement at this time. Lastly, for those family historians who have no knowledge of the origins or locations of certain surnames, this database may provide a clue to further research. This will be of particular benefit to those researchers south of the border, who cannot easily access Ontario resources. Though family connections are not defined in the data, one may be able to surmise relationships by plotting lot locations of identical surnames on a township map. - 3 - Beware of File Size! ------------------- The size of the compressed file is deceptive. When uncompressed the DBF file expands to 1.8 mb! Make sure you have enough hard drive space before you uncompress and import the file into your favourite database program. Field Sizes ----------- The following are the field sizes which will allow you to safely import the data without losing any of the field contents: Surname: 20 Given: 20 Concession: 15 Lot: 5 Township: 20 Soundex: 5 Remarks: 70 Z1c, GSDS note: --------------- It has been found that this .DBF file imports perfectly using the File Express flatfile database program when a Dbase style is specified for the input file. Use the field size exactly as specified above. Believe it or Not! ----------------- This data file has been proofread. As you begin to use it you will soon recognize that the original transcribers employed some very creative spellings for both surnames and given names, and in some cases for street names. For this reason, you are well advised to conduct your searches electronically using Soundex codes in place of actual spellings. Soundex Field ------------- Thanks to the ingenuity of George Pardue and his program SOUNDEX802, we have been able to include the convenience of Soundex searches as one of the main features and benefits of this information base. As most family historians soon discover, surname spellings have to be taken with a degree of tolerance and creative flexibility. Electronic database searches on the Soundex code (rather than on a single spelling of a surname) may yield some surprising matches which would otherwise go undetected. - 4 - Other Notes ----------- The original publication made extensive use of abbreviations. Where a given name is an obvious abbreviation, the name has been expanded in this database to its normal full version (so that sorted reports have better consistency). If there was any uncertainty to the meaning of the abbreviation, however, the abbreviation was left as originally published. At times it appears that a surname and given name have been reversed by the printers; in those cases the record has been keyed in unaltered. The street names in the City of Toronto have in many cases changed from those listed in the data file. One will have to consult other references to correlate the old street names with the new or current names. Whither Next? ------------ As mentioned earlier, this information is intended only to get you pointed in the right direction. This is offered as a convenience to all of us 'mail order researchers' who are thousands of miles from the 'old homestead' and its genealogical treasures. Your logical next steps include: a. a search of cemetery records near the listed lot locations (available from the applicable branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society); b. a search of census records for a particular township (available on interlibrary loan or from the resources of the LDS Family History Centres); c. a search of land records for a particular concession and lot number; and d. the acquisition of township maps to pinpoint the lot locations (maps are available from the Ontario Ministry of Transport and Communication, or from county atlases available in most libraries). - 5 - Addresses --------- For those, like ourselves, who are far from these cemeteries and who wish to follow up on possible leads, the following collection of addresses is provided as a convenience. Only a few of these cover the Home District, but this list is such a valuable resource to out-of-province researchers that all branches of the O.G.S. have been included. Ontario Genealogical Society (Central Offices) 40 Orchard View Blvd. Suite 251 Toronto, ON M4R 1B9 Brant County Branch O.G.S. (Brant County) Box 2181 Brantford, ON N3T 5Y6 Bruce & Grey Branch O.G.S. (Bruce & Grey Counties) Box 66 Owen Sound, ON N4K 5P1 Elgin County Branch O.G.S. (Elgin County) Box 416 St. Thomas, ON N5P 3V2 Essex County Branch O.G.S. (Essex County) Box 2, Station A Windsor, ON N9A 6J5 Halton-Peel Branch O.G.S. (Halton & Peel Counties) Box 70030 Oakville, ON L6J 6M9 Hamilton Branch O.G.S. (Wentworth & Haldimand Box 904 Counties) Hamilton, ON L8N 3P6 Huron County Branch O.G.S. (Huron County) Box 469 Goderich, ON N7A 4C7 - 6 - Haldimand County Branch O.G.S. (Haldimand County) Box 38 Cayuga, ON N0A 1E0 Kawartha Branch O.G.S. (Haliburton, Northumberland, Box 162 Peterborough & Victoria Peterborough, ON Counties) K9J 6Y8 Kent County Branch O.G.S. (Kent County) Box 964 Chatham, ON N7M 5L3 Kingston Branch O.G.S. (Frontenac, Lennox & Box 1394 Addington Counties) Kingston, ON K7L 5C6 Lambton County Branch O.G.S. (Lambton County) Box 2857 Sarnia, ON N7T 7W1 Leeds & Grenville Branch O.G.S. (Leeds & Grenville Box 536 Counties) Brockville, ON K6V 5V7 London Branch O.G.S. (Middlesex County) Box 24017 London, ON N6H 5C4 Niagara Peninsula Branch O.G.S (Lincoln & Welland Box 2224, Station B Counties) St. Catherines, ON L2M 6P6 Nipissing & District (Nippissing District) Branch O.G.S. Box 93 North Bay, ON P1B 8G8 Norfolk County Branch O.G.S. (Norfolk County . . . now Box 145 Haldimand-Norfolk County) Delhi, ON N4B 2W9 - 7 - Ottawa Branch O.G.S. (Carleton, Lanark, Renfrew Box 8346 & Russell Counties) Ottawa, ON K1G 3H8 Oxford County Branch O.G.S. (Oxford County) Box 1092 Woodstock, ON N4S 8A5 Perth County Branch O.G.S. (Perth County) Box 9 Stratford, ON N5A 6S8 Quinte Branch O.G.S. (Prince Edward & Box 301 Hastings Counties) Bloomfield, ON K0K 1G0 Sault Ste. Marie District (Algoma District) Branch O.G.S. Box 1203 Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 6N1 Simcoe County Branch O.G.S. (Simcoe County) Box 892 Barrie, ON L4M 4Y6 Sudbury District Branch O.G.S. (Sudbury District) 200 Brady St. Sudbury, ON P3A 5P3 Thunder Bay District (Thunder Bay District) Branch O.G.S. Box 373, Station F Thunder Bay, ON P7C 4V9 Toronto Branch O.G.S. (York County) Box 518, Station K Toronto, ON M4P 2G9 - 8 - Waterloo-Wellington (Waterloo & Wellington Branch O.G.S. Counties) Box 603 Kitchener, ON N2G 4A2 Whitby-Oshawa Branch O.G.S. (Ontario & Durham Box 174 Counties) Whitby, ON L1N 5S1 Southern Ontario Map --------------------- The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has printed a fine full colour wall map of Southern Ontario showing all county and township boundaries, along with the major towns and villages. It is Map #21-6 "Southern Ontario." Order it from the Map Information Centre, Ministry of Natural Resources, Room M1, 73 Macdonald Block, 900 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, M7A 2C1. The cost at the time of this writing was approximately $7.50, but you are advised to check before ordering. Many of the O.G.S. branches also offer 8.5" by 11" maps of county and township boundaries. The Nipissing Branch offers a particularly good package, which includes all the northern townships as a bonus. Township Maps ------------- The Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications offers a superb series of monochrome maps in the scale of 1:100,000. (Two maps are normally required to cover an entire county.) The value of these maps is that they show the township boundaries and individual lot and concession numbers. The Ministry's address is: Map Office, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, 1201 Wilson Avenue, Downsview, Ontario, M3M 1J8. The maps mentioned above are up-to-date, modern maps which reflect current municipalities, boundaries, highways, etc. If you do need to consult something older try for the reprinted county atlases of 1878, available in most large libraries. - 9 - Something to Share? ------------------ The Victoria Genealogical Society has an active and enthusiastic group of Ontario researchers, but we are far from Ontario. As a result we have had to hunt for, collect and build our own information sources, such as this particular database. We would be most appreciative of additions to our Society Library holdings. Our address is: Victoria Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 45031, Mayfair Postal Outlet, Victoria, BC, V8Z 7G9.