Place:Young's Point, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

The text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia.

Young's Point is a "dispersed rural community" in the former Smith Township in Peterborough County in Ontario, Canada. Since 1998 Young's Point has been located in the municipality or Township of Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield.

Young's Point is a small village in Ontario, Canada, established in 1825. It is about 25 km north of Peterborough.

The village gets its name from its founders. The Young family settled the area and build the dam and a grist mill here. References are recorded in Roughing it in the Bush, the book by Susanna Moodie who lived nearby in the 1830s. Later generations ran a store and built and operated the steamboat service for both cargo and passenger service to nearby Stoney Lake. The Stoney Lake Navigation Company office was near the original Young family homestead. A cairn now stands at lock 27 on the Trent-Severn Waterway. The Lockside Trading Company is housed in a building constructed by one of the later generations of the Young family.

Young's Point is the home of Lock 27 of the Trent-Severn Waterway network. The lock has a lift of seven feet and was built in the early 1870s. To the south you can travel through Katchewanooka Lake towards Lakefield and on to Peterborough, to the north travel through Clear Lake and on to Stoney, Buckhorn and Pigeon Lakes and beyond.

The Old Bridge Inn was built in 1887 and originally run as a general store (the Kearney Store).

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 Peterborough County

• Peterborough Historical Society
• Peterborough County GenWeb
• Internet Archive ebook History of the county of Peterborough, Ontario.... (published 1884)
• Peterborough County Genealogy and History by Michael Stephenson
• Newcastle District Genealogy and History by Michael Stephenson
• Timeline for the City of Peterborough

source: Family History Library Catalog