How can I find out the county I want to look in? I know the areas, but not the counties

By using the Ontario Locator. It has a listing of Ontario place names and what townships & counties they are located in.

In order to do research I need to understand how Canada "breaks down" The United States has states; each state has counties; counties have cities; cities have townships. How does it work in Canada? Like Keppel, Grey, Wiarton, Ontario, Canada.

Canada has provinces & territories and each one breaks down differently. As this is the OntarioGenWeb only Ontario will be explained here (please see CanadaGenWeb for links to the other GenWebs across Canada for information on their individual breakdowns). Like U.S. states Ontario also has counties which have townships. Cities are geographically within townships but are large enough to have their own municipal government. For more information on how Ontario breaks down and how this effects your genealogy research please see Research By Area

A census lists my ancestor as being born in "Canada ENG" - where is that?

That's difficult to answer as it has many meanings. The assumed answer would be Ontario, but that may not be entirely correct. It's safer to guess that it means your ancestor was born in Canada and their mother tongue was English. It doesn't narrow down the location but it also doesn't have you looking at just Ontario when you should also be looking at other English speaking areas of Canada (like the Maritimes). On the flip side if your ancestor was born "Canada French" assume it means they were born in Canada and their mother tongue was French (this again would not restrict your search to Quebec but to all French speaking areas)

I have found "Galt" ON through Mapquest, but it takes me to Cambridge, ON and then there is no other reference to Galt on the map. Is the city/town of Galt no longer?

Galt still exists but is now part of the city of Cambridge. See Ontario Locator for a synopsis of the amalgamation.

I have a listing on a US census for a birth place of Canada W. I was wondering if anyone would know what the W stands for.

Canada West. From 1791-1841 Ontario was known as Upper Canada. From 1841-1867 Ontario was known as Canada West.

Do you know where I could find a recent (ie 2000 or later) map of Ontario that shows all the counties/districts?

The Ontario map we offer on the maps page shows all the counties/districts pretty much as they are today. It does not show municipalities which is what you'd get if you were able to find a current map showing this information (Rand McNally offers maps of this sort in book form but only for Southern Ontario).

What is the difference between town and township?

A township is a division of a county, while a town is a populated area with less people than a city but more than a village. Townships are generally much larger than towns and usually contain many towns and villages within their geographical limits.

I have an address for my great aunt from 1973 which is 1228 Anoka St. Ontario, Canada. How do is figure out what city?

Try Canada Post's Postal Code Search

I have a grandmother who was born in 1921 in Ontario Canada, but I don't know which town. I have her name and month/year (April 1921) of birth but that's it. I think she died in the early 1980s, but again do not know where. I'm not even sure where she is buried. Where can I get more information on her that may help me get further than her name?

For *any* suspected Ontario burials start with OCFA
[From Forebears Research] -- Buy her birth certificate from Thunder Bay. Then use the correct version of her name to try for marriage in Ohio, or check US border crossing films for her parents whose names will appear on her birth certificate. If she died in the US, search the SSDI.

Where would one look to find farms that were around in the 40' + 50's? Ont Fed Agri doesn't have that info.

It depends what you are looking for. If you're looking for a list of all farms in Ontario, you're out of luck. If you're looking for a specific farm and know the approximate area where it may be located, check the city directories of surrounding areas, check land records, and most of all check the libraries in the area for a history of that township. Some genealogy societies have compiled land histories that document whom has lived on what plot of land and when. Most of these publications are available in local libraries or through the genealogy society that published them.

At what point exactly did Ontario County disappear into Durham?

It became part of the Regional Municipality of Durham in 1971. See the Ontario CountyGenWeb site for more info on Ontario County

Where is the "Victoria Ward", Ottawa, Ontario, Canada?

The Archives of Canada offers maps of census districts here: http://www.archives.ca/02/020122/0201220405_e.html. You can see where Victoria Ward, and other census wards are located by viewing the maps.

1851 London Township-St Patricks Rural Ward & 1878 London "East" just east of the city limits - are these 2 areas the same and known as Nilestown today?

No. St. Patrick's rural ward extended from Highway 4 (Richmond Street) on the west to the West Nissouri Township boundary on the east and Telfer Road (now Nine Mile Road) in the north to the North branch of the Thames River in the south. London East was the area east of Adelaide Street, and Nilestown is located in North Dorchester Township -- a bit of a distance away

Which area was considered as Western Canada during the 1830's and 1840's?

Ontario :-) From 1841-1867 Ontario was known as Canada West and the Province of Canada's western edge was the current Ontario-Michigan boundary line. From 1791-1841 Canada West was known as Upper Canada. Before 1791 it was part of Quebec

Could you please explain the breakdown of counties to townships, etc? What does "Concession" mean on the census list I retrieved?

A township is a geographic and/or municipal division of a county. Within each township boundary there will be numbered line roads which run in a common direction and numbered concession roads which run (usually) at right angles to the line roads. The exact location of an individual property -- a farm, for example -- can be determined by its Lot Number and the Number of the Line Road or Concession Road running across the front of the property -- usually a Concession Road. Many farm properties were further divided into halves or quarters -- i.e. "the north half, Lot 34, Concession 3". In the Prairie Provinces of Canada a township is an area of about 93 square kilometres and is divided into 36 sections. This does not apply elsewhere in Canada, Ontario, for example. It should also be noted that line and concession markings do not always indicate the existence of roads but, whatever roads were built, usually followed those surveys

In addition, Townships are used in genealogical research to narrow down the area in which to search. As most governmental records are first divided by county, then by township (such as census records) this would mean your first step in research would be to check township instead of the entire county. Using this method of township, then county, research cuts down on time spent needlessly looking in the 'wrong' area. Concessions are used to give an exact location of settlement. They are especially useful if your ancestor settled in a rural area (which means most of Ontario in the 1800's). Pictoral examples of Townships & Concessions

How can I find out about boundary and jurisdiction changes for East Hawksbury Twp (now Prescott Co) c1851?

The best source of information about Ontario Counties and Tps is Alan Rayburn's book entitled Place Names in Ontario, published by the U of Toronto Press in 1997 -- available at most bookstores for about $ 22.00. Hawkesbury Tp in Prescott Co was created in 1798. It was divided into East and West in 1884. There is also a community called Hawkesbury. It had a Post Office beginning in 1819 and became the Town of Hawkesbury in 1896. In the early days it was the site of a very large lumbering operation run by George and William Hamilton