Place:Caledonia, Haldimand, Ontario, Canada

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

the text in this section is partly based on an article in Wikipedia

Caledonia is a small riverside community and former town located on the Grand River in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada. As of September 2006, there were approximately 4,000 households in the community of Caledonia.

Caledonia is located at the intersection of Highway 6 and Haldimand Highway 54 (within the town, these streets are called Argyle Street and Caithness Street respectively) on the Grand River. On Highway 6, the town is 10 km south of Hamilton and 10 km north of Hagersville. On Haldimand Highway 54, the town is 15 km east of Brantford, Ontario and 10 km west of Cayuga, Ontario.

Until 1974 Caledonia was an independent urban community geographically located in Seneca Township. For its earlier history see below.

History

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

Caledonia was once a small strip of land between Seneca and Oneida villages. The Grand River passed through Caledonia dividing it into two sides, North and South. In 1834, Ranald McKinnon was hired by the Grand River Navigation company to build a dam in Seneca and a dam in Caledonia. Completed in 1840, the dams made water power available. Mills sprung up all over Seneca village, and five mills were built in Caledonia by 1850. One renamed Caledonia Mill which has been rebuilt and is now used for office space.

The Hamilton to Port Dover plank road was brought through Caledonia in 1838. A bridge was built across the river in Caledonia and Seneca in 1842. These wooden bridges lasted around 19 years before they were swept away by the ice on the river. The Seneca bridge was never rebuilt. As of 2011, the Grand River Bridge built in 1927 serves Caledonia's traffic.

In 1844, Caledonia was incorporated as a village and later as a town. By 1860, the Grand River Navigation company was bankrupt, and their land was sold to different organizations. Seneca village was failing; many people from Seneca moved to Caledonia. Navigation on the river ended by 1880. A whole new way of transportation arrived around 1883; the Grand Trunk Railway passed through Caledonia. Oneida had become part of Caledonia and the town limits were expanding. By 1960 Caledonia was a bustling town.

On April 1, 1974, the town was amalgamated into the new town of Haldimand within the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk. Although the largest community in Haldimand, the town hall was located in nearby Cayuga. In 2001, Haldimand and all other municipalities within the region were dissolved and the region was instead divided into two single tier municipalities with city-status but called counties. Caledonia is now an unincorporated community in Ward 3 of Haldimand County.

In 2006, the Grand River land dispute involving First Nation land claims brought Caledonia to national attention. The land at the centre of the dispute in Caledonia covers 40 hectares, which Henco Industries Ltd. planned to develop as a residential subdivision to be known as the Douglas Creek Estates. It is part of the 385,000-hectare plot of land originally known as the "Haldimand Tract", which was granted, in 1784, by the Crown to the Six Nations of the Grand River, for their use in settlement. Henco argues that the Six Nations surrendered their rights to the land in 1841, and Henco later purchased it from the Crown. The Six Nations, however, maintain that their title to the land was never relinquished.

• Caledonia Mill
• Caledonia Old Town Hall (Edinburgh Square)
• Grand River Bridge
• Grand River Dam
• Grand Trunk Railway Station
• Haldimand House
• Oasis Drive-In
• Caledonia Opera House

Toll House

The Caledonia Toll House is the second oldest building in Caledonia, Ontario still standing; the first being Haldimand House. The toll house is currently a private residence.

The toll house was there when the original iron bridge collapsed and the new concrete one (still used today) was built.

With the historic Caledonia Bridge in need of complete replacement, the beautiful historic toll house which is currently a home and business has been expropriated as part of the Ministry of Transportations plan to replace.

For more information on the history of some of the historic buildings in the town, see Wikipedia under Landmarks.

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 Haldimand County

• Haldimand County Rootsweb. There's more to this website than immediately hits the eye. The township notes used in WeRelate were found here. It also has a very good explanation of the Ontario Land Records System including a list of all the FHS films township by township.
• The Haldimand Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society

Two books referenced in Wikipedia in printed form which can be found on Our Roots, an online e-book site

• Nelles, Robert Bertram, County of Haldimand in the days of auld lang syne originally published in book form by Hamly Press Book Printers of Port Hope, Ontario, 1905, and reproduced online by www.ourroots.ca
• Harper, J. Russell, The Early History of Haldimand County, originally published in book form by Grand River Sachem of Caledonia, Ontario, 1950, and reproduced online by www.ourroots.ca

source: Family History Library Catalog