Place:Southampton, Bruce, Ontario, Canada

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

Southampton was formerly an incorporated town located in Saugeen Township in Bruce County, Ontario. In 1999 it was merged, along with Saugeen Township into the new municipality of Saugeen Shores.

Southampton is a community of approximately 3100 people on the shores of Lake Huron and located at the mouth of the Saugeen River.

Early Settlement

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

Long before settlers arrived to the area, Southampton was an important trading area, according to a historic plaque erected in town by the Government of Ontario, titled Fur Trading at Saugeen:

The community was originally known as Saugeen by the early residents, by the Canadian Post Office and by Custom House Departments. However, the Crown Land Departments labelled the village as Southampton and the name stuck as the town was incorporated, named after Southampton, the English sea port. The first European settlers of the area, around 1848, were Captain John Spence and William Kennedy, who wanted to establish a fishing company.

While it proved unsuccessful, Spence became a sailor and Kennedy joined a search for the Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin. Nevertheless, in 1851 there were at least a dozen families living in the community. In the same year, the Post Office was established, the first and only in Bruce County for several years. Three years later, a Bank of Upper Canada was built.

In 1846, Smith's Canadian Gazetteer describes Saugeen (Southampton) as little more than a pioneer settlement:

The pioneers of Southampton wanted the village to become the county town or county seat, as the village held the only Crown Land Department and Post Office in the county. However, the town of Kincardine had a larger population and seemed the strongest rival. Furthermore, Southampton did not have enough population to meet the requirements for incorporation. The town petitioned the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the elective officials passed an exceptional Act of Incorporation on July 24, 1858 to allow the community to be considered for the county seat. Despite their efforts, Walkerton eventually won the battle.

In the mid-1800s, John Denny built a dam, a grist mill, a sawmill, a woolen mill and an inn on the Saugeen River. (Only the latter building remains at 484 Carlisle Street; the current dam was built in the 1970s.)

The Chantry Island Lightstation Tower was completed in April 1859, first lit on April 1, with Duncan McGregor Lambert as the first keeper. (The tower and the keeper's home have been extensively renovated and are open for tours, several days a week late May to mid-September, operated only by the Marine Heritage Society. Otherwise, access to the island is prohibited because it is a federal bird sanctuary.)

Records from 1869 indicate that the population had increased to 600. Large amounts of wheat, pork and lumber were being shipped from the village. A bank agency was operating. Good roads were available to other communities. A steam ship made runs to Goderich and Collingwood in summer; stagecoaches operated in winter.

Southampton was incorporated as a town in 1904; at the time, its population was over 2400. The economic base included commercial fishing, warehousing, furniture factories, a tannery and mills.

The town built a hospital in 1947, a post office in 1952, a library in 1956, an arena in 1961 (replaced in 1977) and a new firehall in 1974.

In the early 2000s, a historically significant shipwreck was discovered on the beach. Relics of the ship, "General Hunter", can be found in the Bruce County Museum.

Railway history

The history of Southampton is intertwined with the history of the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway (WG&B). The original 1856 charter for what was then known as the Canada North-West Railway called for a line "... from Southampton on Lake Huron to Toronto on Lake Ontario with branch to Owen Sound[.]" The railway was intended to both serve the local area and to provide a through route to the west via the Great Lakes steamer trade. It remained a paper railway for several years, and in 1864 was rechartered as the Wellington, Grey and Bruce, with a key provision allowing it to be taken over by the Great Western Railway, as well as a change of southern terminus to Guelph, to connect to the Great Western's Galt and Guelph Railway. Construction began at Fergus in 1867, and it was formally leased by the Great Western in 1869. The line slowly marched northwest through the late 1860s and early 1870s, reaching Palmerston around 1871. The final stretch of the line, from Harriston to Southampton, was subsidized by the provincial government at $2,000 per mile; it is this final stretch which would later become the CN Southampton Subdivision. The full line to Southampton finally opened on December 7, 1872.^[1]

The line would survive repeated mergers over the next fifty years: first, the Great Western's acquisition by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1882, then the consolidation of numerous railways into the Canadian National Railways (CNR) system in the early 1920s. The CNR managed the former Wellington, Grey and Bruce mainline using its division and subdivision system, with the section from Harriston Junction to Southampton being known as the Southampton Subdivision. The CN Stratford-to-Southampton passenger service was converted to Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) in 1958. The CN passenger timetable for 1960–61 shows a fragmented network of mostly six-day-a-week Railiner services in the area, with six round trips per week between Palmerston and Southampton, requiring a transfer at Palmerston to travel further. Regular passenger service on the line disappeared by 1970.

Around this time, the Douglas Point Spur was constructed, branching off the main Southampton Subdivision line at Port Elgin. It was primarily used for transporting fuel oil from Sarnia to the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station at Douglas Point. CN abandoned the former WG&B mainline in stages throughout the 1980s, beginning with the oldest section running from Fergus to Palmerston; the Southampton Subdivision from Harriston Junction to Southampton was abandoned in 1988, including the Douglas Point Spur.^[2]

Historical timeline, 1848–1904

Although specific dates vary depending on the source, the following are excerpted from a reliable source, History of the County of Bruce, Ontario, Canada, by Norman Robertson, published in 1906.

• 1848: The first settlement by Capt. John Spence and William Kennedy,
• 1851: First post-office, known as Saugeen, opens.
• 1852: First school opens in the village.
• 1853: First manufacturing industry was a steam sawmill.
• 1857: Denny's grist mill is already operating; he would add a grist mill in 1857, a sawmill in 1859 and a woolen mill in 1865.
• 1857: The village has over 130 houses; the business area is north of High Street, on Huron and Grosvenor Streets. There is a planning mill, a steam sawmill, and a saw and grist mill. There is no large pier but each warehouse has a landing wharf. A large pier would be built in the 1860s, called the Bogus Dock.^[3]
• 1858: An Act of incorporation is passed on July 24, making Saugeen a village.
• 1859: The Chantry Island Lightstation Tower is first illuminated on 1 April.
• 1880: A large tannery is opened by Bowman & Zinkan.
• 1885: Commercial fishing has grown, now employing 70 men, manning 18 boats. Steam boats are starting to become common.
• 1886: A fire in November destroys over fifty buildings.
• 1889 or 1890: Post office is renamed Southampton.
• 1895: As a port of entry, Saugeen is changed to Southampton. The Knechtel family begins opening large furniture factories.
• 1897: Saugeen Electric Light and Power Company begins providing electricity from Denny's dam.
• 1889: First bridge (430 feet long) at the mouth of the Saugeen River is completed.
• 1903: A smaller lighthouse, with front and back "range" lights and foghorn, opens at the harbour at the mouth of the river.
• 1904: Southampton is incorporated a town on December 26; the population is over 2400. Alexander Emerson Belcher is the first mayor.^[3]

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.
  
  

Bruce County Genealogical Society provides a great deal of information on the county and its municipalities.

source: Family History Library Catalog