Place:Cooksville, Peel, Ontario, Canada

Cooksville is a fairly large community in the former Toronto Township in Peel County in south-central Ontario, Canada. Since 1968 Cooksville has been located in the municipality of the City of Mississauga.

Cooksville is a neighbourhood at the intersection of Dundas Street and Hurontario Street.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Cooksville was an important stage coach stop along the Dundas highway, which was carved out of the wilderness after a survey by Asa Danforth Jr. in 1798.

The settlement was originally named Harrisville in honour of Daniel Harris, Cooksville's first settler, who immigrated from the United States in 1807. Later in 1836, the settlement was renamed to the present name Cooksville after Jacob Cook.^[1]

The entrepreneur, Jacob Cook, won the contract to deliver the mail from York to Niagara, operated several stage coach lines, was the local magistrate and built the Cooksville House, the first licensed tavern in the area at the northwest corner of Dundas and Hurontario streets in 1829.^[2] A heritage Mississauga sign on Hurontario Street north of the intersection claims it was the first Canadian location of winemaking in 1836.

Cooksville grew in size and influence until the Great Fire of 1852 razed much of it.^[2] That year, the McClelland-Copeland General store opened and is now the areas longest surviving building. A severe tornado hit the area on June 24, 1923, destroying mostly rural farmhouses around the town. On the west side of the town there was a 182 acre brickyard that sprawled south of the CP rail line from 1912 until its closure in 1995, employing many Cooksville residents over that period. The Italian Heavyweight champion boxer, Primo Carnera had worked at the yard for a short period during his youth. Today, the converted site is a medium density residential and retail zone along Shoreline Dr., just south of the infamous 1979 Mississauga train derailment site at the CP crossing (Mavis Road).

Cooksville was the residence of HIH Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia while in exile in Canada.

Although never incorporated and not being the city's largest historic community, its central crossroads location meant much of the new suburban growth in Mississauga before amalgamation in the 1960s occurred in areas around Cooksville. For much of that time it had the highest concentration of high-rise condominium and rental buildings in Mississauga, and was originally proposed to be the location of Mississauga's City Centre. However, lobbying by prominent developer Bruce McLaughlin to build a new municipal office after a fire in 1969 badly damaged the original township hall and the opening of Square One Shopping Centre to the north, resulted in the city centre growing around the mall, and in Cooksville being overtaken in density by the City Centre.

Research Tips

The primary source for basic documents (vital statistics, land records, wills) for people who lived in the Province of Ontario is the Archives of Ontario, 134 Ian Macdonald Blvd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M7A 2C5.

Early Records

Civil registration did not begin in the province until 1869. Before then there may be church records of baptisms and burials. For the most part these are still held by the denomination who recorded them. Copies of marriage records made pre-1869 had to be sent by individual clergymen to the registrar of the county in which the marriage took place. These marriage records are available through Ontario Archives, on micorfilm through LDS libraries, and on paid and unpaid websites, but because they were copied at the registrars' offices, they cannot be considered a primary source.

Vital Records after 1869

Birth, marriage and death registrations are not open to the public until a specific number of years after the event occurred. Births to 1915 are now available [October 2014]; dates for marriages and deaths are later. Birth and death registration was not universally carried out in the early years after its adoption. Deaths were more apt to be reported than births for several years. The more rural the area, the less likely it would be that these happenings were reported to the authorities.
Images and indexes of civil registrations for the "viewable" years can be found on paid websites, and indexes only on FamilySearch. The FamilySearch Wiki on Ontario Vital Records explains how these records are organized and their availability.
In September 2014 Ancestry.ca announced that its paid website has been subjected to a "houseclean" of its Ontario BMD database, adding data that had been omitted and making many corrections. Its provision now includes

• Births, with 2,172,124 records covering 1869-1913.
• Marriages, with 3,393,369 records for 1801-1928 including Ontario county, district and Roman Catholic origins as well as province-wide civil registration.
• Deaths, with 2,190,030 records comprising Ontario civil registrations of deaths, 1869-1938 and registrations of Ontario overseas deaths for 1939-1947.

Land Records and Wills

Information on how to access land records and wills is best sought on the Archives of Ontario website. An ancestor's land holding might be found on Canadian County Atlas Digital Project if he was in occupancy circa 1878.

Association for the Preservation of Ontario Land Registry Office Documents (APOLROD). A list of Land Registry Offices for all Counties of Ontario.

Censuses

The original censuses are in the hands of Library and Archives Canada, known to Canadians as "LAC". Copies of original microfilms are online at the LAC website for all censuses up to 1921. Each census database is preceded with an explanation of the geographical area covered, the amount of material retained (some census division material has been lost), the questions on the census form, and whether there is a name index. Census divisions were redrawn as the population increased and more land was inhabited.
Other websites, some paid and some free, also provide Canadian census originals and/or indexes online. One can also view censuses on microfilm at the LAC, at the Archives of Ontario (see address above), or at large libraries throughout Canada.

Hard-to-Find Places

• National Resources Canada's Index of Geographical Names: Query by Name. This database includes even the smallest places all over Canada and provides geographical co-ordinates and maps which extend out from the "found place". Correct spelling of a place is essential.
• Archives of Ontario have a web page titled "The Changing Face of Ontario" (which is very hard to find without this link). This provides maps of Ontario and its divisions in the 19th century (pre Confederation in 1867) and also includes links to series of historical maps of the individual counties as they were between 1867 and the 1970s when a huge reorganization of municipalities began. The Districts of Northern Ontario and Maps of Southern and Central Ontario circa 1951 show the townships of each county.

E-books, Books and Newspapers

• The Internet Archive, particularly texts from Canadian universities, can contain interesting material
• Our Roots is a Canadian website similar to The Internet Archive
• Global Genealogy is an online bookshop specializing in Ontario material who will ship anywhere in the world.
• The Ancestor Hunt is a blog listing old Ontario newspapers that are available online, both free and pay websites. This is a very extensive list.
  
  

Some websites with more local information on Peel County

• The Halton-Peel Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society
• Peel County GenWeb
• Peel Information Network A digital archive
• Internet Archive has a large collection of Ontario references and is always worth checking. Enter the town or township in the seach engine.
  

source: Family History Library Catalog