Place:Simcoe, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

Simcoe is a "small urban community" in the former Township of Woodhouse in Norfolk County in Ontario, Canada. Norfolk no longer has a "township" structure.

The following notes are taken from Communities in Norfolk County, Ontario and Simcoe, Ontario.

Simcoe is the administrative centre of Norfolk County, and its largest community with a population of 16,000. Simcoe is located at the junction of Highway 3 and Highway 24, due south of Brantford, Ontario, and accessible to Hamilton by nearby Highway 6. The town is northwest of Nanticoke in Haldimand County.

Simcoe was founded in 1795 by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. The town was incorporated in 1878 and had its own town council and mayor until December 31, 2000 when the town and all other municipalities within the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk were dissolved and the region was divided into two single tier municipalities with city-status but called counties.

In 1878, a Simcoe equipment and boiler maker company named West & Peachey Company invented an amphibious steamboat called an Alligator which was used by logging companies all over Eastern North America. The firm built 230 alligator tugs between 1889 and 1932. Today, the only operating alligator tugboat remaining in the world, the W D Stalker, is located in Simcoe.[

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