Place:Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

NOTE: The Town of Simcoe is the county seat of Norfolk County and should not be confused with the County of Simcoe, also in the Province of Ontario.

the text below is based on an article in Wikipedia and on an article by the Ontario Government: The Changing Shape of Ontario

Norfolk County is located on the north shore of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is now "a rural city-status single-tier municipality". The county seat and largest community is Simcoe. The population in 2011 was over 63,000.

Surrounding its many small communities is some of the most fertile land in Ontario. With a mild climate and lengthy growing season, the region has long been the centre of the Ontario tobacco belt. However, many farmers have begun the process of diversifying their crop selections to include lavender, ginseng, hazelnuts, and wolfberries as tobacco consumption continues to decrease.

History

the following section is based on Wikipedia, Ontario GenWeb and The Archives of Ontario online article: The Changing Shape of Ontario

The first settlers to arrive in what was to become Norfolk County were United Empire Loyalists moving north from the newly formed United States who arrived in 1789. Norfolk was one of the original nineteen counties of Upper Canada established as territorial designations in 1792. Judicial matters remained in the hands of districts established to administer judicial needs at the local level. In 1792 Norfolk was established in the Western District which was divided in 1798 putting Norfolk in the London District. In 1837 the Districts were divided again and Norfolk was placed in the Talbot District. The need for more districts occurred as the population of the province increased and disagreements needed to be settled more quickly in more local areas. The districts of Upper Canada (Canada West after 1841) were abolished in 1849-50 when judicial matters previously covered by the districts were given over to the counties and the counties became the local tier of government across the province.

Norfolk's economic history has been closely associated with that of the neighbouring Haldimand County. The two counties remained separate until 1974, when they were united as the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk.

In 2001, Haldimand and Norfolk were separated again in a second round of municipal restructuring, and their individual municipalities were merged into two single-tier municipalities. The Townships of Delhi and Norfolk (established in the first regional reorganization of 1974), Town of Simcoe, and the western half of the City of Nanticoke were amalgamated to form the Town of Norfolk. The newly formed municipality's first by-law was to change the name back to Norfolk County.

Although both Haldimand and Norfolk now use the name "county" for historical reasons, each is governed as a single municipality with a city type of government, rather than one which would equate with an ordinary county.

Historic townships

Prior to its amalgamation with Haldimand in 1974, Norfolk consisted of eight townships and the independently incorporated town of Simcoe, the county seat. Walsingham was originally one township, but was been split into North and South Walsingham in 1881. Although no longer political entities, archives have retained the names of the historical townships in their filing organization, and they are required to define locations of property.

• Charlotteville, facing Lake Erie between Charlotteville and Woodhouse, principal community: Vittoria
• Houghton, a triangle in the southwest corner, principal community: Fairground
• Middleton, the northwest corner, principal community: Delhi
• North Walsingham, south of Middleton and north of South Walshingham, principal community: Langton
• South Walsingham, facing Lake Erie between Houghton and Charlotteville, principal community: Port Rowan
• Townsend, on the northeast corner of the county, principal community: Waterford
• Windham, north of Charlotteville and west of Townsend, principal community: Windham Centre
• Woodhouse, facing Lake Erie between Charlotteville and the Haldimand County border, principal community: Port Dover

The map of Norfolk County circa 1951 from Ontario Archives locates the individual townships, city, towns and villages of the county. (Click at the bottom of the page to see the map enlarged.)

A sketchmap from Ontario GenWeb provides a simple illustration of the location of the former townships.

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 Norfolk County ===

• The Norfolk Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society publishes transcriptions of the county's cemeteries on CD as well as in paper form. They also have local voters' lists available.
• Norfolk GenWeb has amongst its variety of offerings a substantial list of biographies of early settlers.
• Our Roots has numerous online reprints including

• The story of the counties of Ontario, by Emily Poynton Weaver, published by Bell & Cockburn of Toronto, Ontario
• The Bexfields from Norfolk by Alfred Harold Bexfield
• Pioneer sketches of Long Point settlement, or, Norfolk's foundation builders and their family genealogies

source: Family History Library Catalog