Place:Wiarton, Bruce, Ontario, Canada

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

Wiarton is a community in Bruce County, Ontario, at the western end of Colpoys Bay, an inlet off Georgian Bay, on the Bruce Peninsula. It was formerly located in the township of Amabel. Since 1999 the community is part of the municipality of South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario.

History

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

Wiarton was built on lands acquired from the First Nations in the area. It was named after the birthplace of Sir Edmund Head, the Governor General of Canada from 1854 to 1861. In 1880, Wiarton was incorporated as a village, then with a population of 750. By 1894, Wiarton had become an incorporated town.

The Government of Ontario has erected two historic plaques in Wiarton, offering a glimpse into the past of this area. The first discusses the fact that the Bruce Peninsula is a barrier to water transportation between Lake Huron and southern Georgian Bay. To avoid a difficult detour to the north, aboriginal peoples developed a portage route across the base of the peninsula. "For centuries, the Bruce Peninsula portage was an important link in the Great Lakes transportation network." The second plaque discusses developments in the 1800s, starting with 1855 when "a town-plot was laid out here on recently acquired Indian land and named Wiarton, reputedly after the English birthplace of Edmund Head, Governor General of Canada (1854-61)".

Until 1997, when the service was transferred to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wiarton was known around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, as the home of Wiarton Coast Guard Radio, providing continuous weather reports to mariners and residents.

In 1999, Wiarton was administratively amalgamated into the new municipality of the Town of South Bruce Peninsula.

Historical timeline, 1850 to 1906

Although specific dates vary depending on the source, the following are excerpted from a reliable source, History of the County of Bruce, Ontario, Canada, by Norman Robertson, published in 1906.^[1]

• Mid 1800s: Settlers are arriving and opening businesses. Since there is no wharf for shipping, the community developed on top of the hill, the business centre being at the corner where Gould Street is crossed by Division Street.
• 1868: B. B. Miller opens a hotel and post-office; two others open stores.
• 1870s: Wharves are constructed and mills erected; many places of business move to Berford Street; by 1879, Gould Street is largely residential.
• 1868-70: A steam ship from Collingwood, named the Hero, arrives once or twice a week. By 1869, the steamer Champion makes daily trips to Owen Sound, for improved trade such as the marketing of grain. A dock and warehouse are built. A pharmacy, sawmill and stores open.
• 1870: A published directory indicates "Population about 200, grain and lumber form the principal trade here. It has a mail four times a week". There are two hotels by this time.
• 1876: Population is now about 400. A stagecoach is making regular trips to and from Owen Sound. The electric telegraph has reached the town. There is now a grist mill, two steam mills, a planning mill and a tannery. Four churches are holding services.
• 1877: A stone school house and two additional churches are built
• 1880: Wiarton becomes an incorporated village with a population of 752.
• 1882: The railway reaches the village; this will soon make Wiarton into "the commercial entrepot for the peninsula".
• 1891: The old public school building is expanded and made into a high school.
• 1893: Wiarton is incorporated into a town, effective the 1st of January 1894. The first mayor is B. B. Millar.
• 1900: After council meetings at makeshift premises, a new town hall opens. By now, several large furniture manufacturing facilities, a woolen mill, and a foundry are operating. The Dominion Fish Co. has its central packing plant in Wiarton where some 120,000 pounds of fish are received each week, to be cleaned, frozen, packed and shipped.
• 1902-1904: The Wiarton Beet Sugar Manufacturing Company, Limited is built, opens and declares bankruptcy during this time, leaving huge debts.
• 1906: Robertson recaps the recent history: "Wiarton has made more rapid progress than any other village or town in the county of Bruce. True, it has had its setbacks, such as occurred when the Grand Trunk Railway opened the Owen Sound branch and made that point its principal northern terminus, and again when the sugar refinery failed. Still, it is the busiest town in the county, and the townspeople are hopeful and confident of continued and prolonged prosperity. We trust that these fond hopes may be fully realized."
• 1949, the Wiarton Red Cross Outpost is replaced with the Wiarton Hospital.

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.
  
  

Bruce County Genealogical Society provides a great deal of information on the county and its municipalities.

source: Family History Library Catalog