Place:Portsmouth, Frontenac, Ontario, Canada

Portsmouth is an urban community in the former Kingston Township in Frontenac County in Ontario, Canada. Since 1999 Portsmouth has been located in the City of Kingston.

NOTE: Portsmouth may have always been considered to be part of the City of Kingston.

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

Portsmouth Village is a formerly incorporated village in Ontario which was annexed to become a neighbourhood of Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 1952.

The village was founded in 1784 by United Empire Loyalists. It began to grow with the establishment of Kingston Penitentiary nearby in 1833 and was formally incorporated in 1858. A town hall was created by William Coverdale in 1865 and is used today by various special interest clubs. The shoreline was soon home to numerous tanneries; breweries, including Molson and Labatt; shipyards; sawmills; and the nearby penitentiary and asylum, Rockwood Asylum (now closed). The penitentiary, Kingston Penitentiary, and asylum are the only establishments from this era that remain today.

Economic opportunities declined at the turn of the 20th century, and the village was annexed by the city of Kingston in 1952. Portsmouth Village is home to Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, which held the yachting and boating events of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

Today the area retains its historic village feel while being a part of the city of Kingston.

The district is bounded by Johnson Street to the north, Portsmouth Avenue to the west, Lake Ontario to the south, and Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard to the east. Numerous amenities are available including a school, arena, and several historic churches and parks. There are also numerous local businesses along King Street West. The north-eastern portion of Portsmouth is home to the West Campus of Queen's University as well as Richardson Memorial Stadium, home of the Queen's Golden Gaels.

Portsmouth is west of Kingston City Hall. St. Lawrence College and Lake Ontario Park lie on the western boundary of the village at Portsmouth Avenue, along with Cataraqui Golf and Country Club, which operates a nationally renowned golf course and a curling club.

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 Frontenac County

• The Kingston Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has a list of publications and may be of help in searching local material.
• http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onfronte/ the website of Frontenac GenWeb is looking for a host and thus may not be as uptodate as it might be.
• The Kingston Public Library has a list of printed books about Kingston and Frontenac County
• The Internet Archive has the Illustrated historical atlas of the counties of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, Ontario

source: Family History Library Catalog