My grandparents were married in Toronto on June 1, 1911, the same day as the census. I cannot find them listed anywhere, and have just checked the new version of the 1911 census. I've even checked page by page hotel census' in Niagara Falls in case they went there on a honeymoon! Perhaps they just missed it altogether and didn't bother. Any advice welcome.

June 1, 1911 is the official date of the census - the day enumeration began and the date each enumerator was told to use in questioning (e.g. As of June 1st how old were you?).  The enumeration process actually took several months.

If a person is missing from the census there could be several explanations besides them not being home.  They could be mis-indexed under names that would not be obvious or they could have moved before enumeration took place in their area to an area where it had already been completed.

 

Check the Toronto City directories for 1911-1912 to get the address where they lived.  Then use that address to locate who was enumerated there in the 1911 census.  

It's also possible they were enumerated as single or they were living in someone else's household and were mis-indexed under that surname - check their relatives or do a search without surnames.

My father, Josef, died in 1972 in Toronto. A British citizen he had lived in Canada for about 20 years. We have his death certificate but want to know what department would have reported his death to the authorities in Great Britain, and how. Also if any effects, such as a passport, would have been sent to the UK or retained and archived in Canada.

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Which ward is Fort York in? In 1851, I found my g-g-gfather in the Barracks, but I didn't copy the record or keep a source, and now I can't find it again.

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My GG-Grandfather died at 999 Queen St. in 1914. How would I find out where he is buried? His wife had no money to do so.

Have you obtained his death registration? It may state place of burial. It's also possible he was buried at 999 Queen St which was a hospital. Submit a query to Toronto OGS and request a lookup of their cemetery records.

Can anyone tell me how to go about searching for the burial place of my father's aunt who was a Franciscan Sister? She was born in Maine, USA, and died there in the 1930s. In 1930, she was a nurse in the hospital in her hometown of Eagle Lake, ME, located in the northern part of the state. I can find no death records but, before my father passed, he mentioned that he thought she was buried somewhere in Canada. He remembered something about her brother having to take her to her Mother House, in Canada, for burial. Since I have no idea as to the location of the Mother House, how would I go about locating her burial place?

According to Wikipedia the motherhouse in Canada is located in Toronto. Their website is called the Sisters of St Joseph of Toronto, contact them and ask about burials.

My maternal grandfather came to Toronto in 1927 by boat from either Hamburg, Germany or Marseilles, France. Where would he have landed? How would he get to Toronto?

From Anonymous -- Assuming that he entered Canada through a Canadian port, it would have been Halifax during the winter months, or Quebec City during the rest of the year. Passengers rarely stayed on the boat beyond Quebec City - it was far faster to go the rest of the way by train. If you can find the passenger list, the railway would likely be identified, as tickets were to the final destination. If he was not from the UK, his port of entry might be shown on his citizenship record, if it still survives. (Some still do, while for others only an index card remains. You can request a copy of the file through Access to Information from Citizenship and Immigration). As well, if he ever entered the US through the Niagara Region at any point up until the late 1940s, there may be clues on the US Border Crossing records, which you can access through Ancestry.ca.

My grandfather attended Univ. of Toronto.(before 1900) How can I find out when he attended and if he got a degree?

Contact the University of Toronto and ask where you can obtain information on your grandfather's time at the university. Most universities have archives that keep information on their alumni. You can find the UofT on the internet by using a search engine.

A great aunt died of alcoholic dementia at 999 Queen Street,Toronto. How could I find the address of her husband when she died and where she was buried in the hope of finding what became of him.

Records from the Queen Street Mental Health Centre are held at the Archives of Ontario. Depending upon the year your great aunt died, you may be able to access those records (more info). As for her husband, unless you know the city/town where he/they lived there isn't much you can do if they were living past the 1901 census (if living prior to the 1901 census check census records). If you know the city check their local directories or telephone books.

Where was the first bank located?

In Toronto. For more see Bank of Upper Canada. The first bank in Canada was located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Where can i find information about a gt.uncle who emigrated to canada in the 1920's. He lived in Toronto and worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The Canadian Pacific Railway has an archives in Montreal and they will send you records for employees. I received my grandfathers records from them.
Canadian Pacific Limited
Windsor Station
P.O. Box 6042, Station A
Montreal, PQ H3C 3E4
Archivist is Stephen Lyons [514-395-6962]
(From Marj Kohli)

Passenger lists at the National Archives are now indexed between 1925-1935. The database is is now available online at the National Archives site. Follow this link or go to www.archives.ca and click on ArchiviaNet, and look for it on the list of databases. Earlier records are in the process of being indexed, but it may be some time before they're ready. Also there is info available on railway employees - Althea Douglas has a guide book entitled "Canadian Railway Records: A Guide for Genealogists". (From Suzanne Schaller)

Where can I find Militia Rolls and/or information about the East York Militia?

These rolls can be viewed at the Library & Archives of Canada (From David Agar)

I have an ancestor listed on the 1837 Toronto census as living in York County on "Yonge Street Road from Toll Gate to Montgomery's Tavern". Where can I locate what churches might have been in that particular area in 1837 and do any of them still exist?

You might want to check the book call Toronto Landmarks. It is available on film at your local LDS Family History Center, on the shelf at some public libraries, through inter-library loan, and the Ontario Archives. This book contains Toronto City Directories for 1836-37 and 1846-47 as well as a wealth of other info. The directories will list churches in the Young ST area at the time. Then go to the Church archives that will hold your record

I know my ancestors lived in Toronto. What I didn't know was how large it was! How do I begin my search ? I do have a old address but I have been told there is no city directory for the year 1854.

If your ancestors lived in Toronto longer than one year check the city directories for other years. City of Toronto Archives has a nearly continuous run of City directories from 1834 to 1940. Directories were not published for years 1835-36, 1838-42, 1845, 1848-49, 1852-55, 1857-58 and 1864-65. Also available are assessment rolls from 1834 on. It should be noted that information published in a directory for a given year was probably collected the previous year. To locate a person in the Toronto census it is necessary to locate their address in the census year (i.e. for 1861 census, check 1861 and 1862 directories. Suggested reading: Doris Bourrie, CGRS, Researching Canadian Census Records, Heritage Productions, Toronto or www.genealogystore.com . The GenWeb site dedicated to York County & Toronto will also be of help

The Toronto Public Library has a page called Historicity through which you can search old directories with keywords.

1861 York Co. census, found our Hanrahan ancestor in Whitchurch twp. The previous census is missing. What documents can I use instead to search back for this ancestor?

Wills, church records, assessments, tax records, directories. There are a lot of records beside the census available! See our research pages as well as York CountyGenWeb for research tips.

How can I determine the Census District, and Sub-district of a particular street address in Toronto in the 1901 Census?

The streets for 1901 census especially in Toronto are challenging, but not impossible...to this end, I have printed from Weldon Library (University of Western Ontario), the maps in the "Electoral Atlas of Canada" for major cities, which show exactly the districts of Toronto, for example and their boundaries.
  The difficulties are two-fold: 1a). Many streets no longer exist, so the use of the City Directory in the Regional Room (2nd floor) first will give a cross street for the number you need. (For example, 369 Richmond is between the streets of King and Dundas, on the west side) This info can then be looked up on a current map, and if it exists, just move to the same region on the Electoral map and look for the intersection, etc.
  If the street you have is newer than the 1901 Atlas maps, then you need to be a bit creative - again, go back to the directory and use the alpha by name part to get the then current address and try to locate it with its nearest cross street on the Atlas map.(in other words, find where they lived then by looking up their name) 1b). If you have no address, use the directory first, obviously.
  The greatest challenge is in the Toronto East versus York East and it has been my experience that MUCH is in York east....or perhaps that's just where most of mine have been. 2a). It is important to do one thing, esp. for large cities - print the matching map from the Atlas and put a pin on the map where you section of film begins. Go a few turns and put another pin onto the map and you will begin to see a pattern emerging.
  It is supposedly a clockwise block and then the next block, also clockwise, and each should begin in the north west corner of the block and proceed east, south, west and north back to the starting corner. The census taker should then walk east along the block face to the next new block and continue in the same way - east, south, west, north etc. until he has done every block If you are following the progression, you can see the pattern, usually.
  Remember to read only the addresses and if your "address" isn't in the list, skip the names that go with those addresses. (It is set up always a couple pages of addresses followed by several pages of the names that reside there and repeating.) 2b) Match the street to the ward and select the film that lists that ward (in the directory of census films) I sometimes use the 1871 and 1881 references to find the lesser units, but I always use the 1901 ref for the bigger cities. I hope this helps.
  I will gladly teach anyone who comes to the Family History Centre (London, Ontario) during my Tues. morning shifts how to do this and the maps I have printed off for major centres are all there. We have only the 1923 directory, so if their street isn't listed in it, we may be stuck. (From Forebears Research & Associates )

Where can I get prison records from Mimico Reformatory in the 1950's?

Try the Archives of Ontario in the Preliminary Inventory of the Ministry of Correctional Services (RG20) area. There you can find jail files for inmates 1939-1957... also probation & parole files, adult & juvenile case files, records for industrial schools, jails, detention centres and industrial farms. There is a 30 year restriction on personal information and some files may be closed altogether.

My Great Grandfather attended a university in Canada about 1850. Where could I find a list of universities operating during that time?

The Universities operating in Ontario in the 1850's were the University of Toronto (est 1827), Queen's University (est 1841), and College of Bytown (now known as University of Ottawa, est 1848). Universities elsewhere in Canada included Quebec's McGill University and Bishop's University (est 1843), New Brunswick's University of New Brunwick (est 1785) and Mount Allison (est 1839), and Nova Scotia's University of King's College (est 1789) and Dalhousie University (est 1818).

I am trying to find a family on the 1851 and 1861 censuses. The parents were married in 1849 in St. Paul's RC Church in Toronto but I don't know the ward or township of that church and it might lead me to the township of the family. How can I find St. Paul's location?

[From Pat Jeffs] St Paul's RC Church was in St David's Ward. The 1851 census for Toronto was lost, so the only possibility is 1861

[From Susan] There is a website called ontarioroots.com that has a transcription of the tax rolls for Toronto for 1853. It was created because of the lack of an 1851 census. All heads of households are listed, whether home owners or tenants. To to the site and look on the left for "tax rolls". There's a search engine.