Registrations of Births and Stillbirths - 1869-1911

Registration Number Below 200,000:

If the Registration Number listed in the Indexes to Births and Stillbirths (RG 80-4) is below 200,000, the birth was registered in the same year that it occurred.

Use the table below to find:

• First, the year of the registration, and
• Second, the volume within that year which contains the registration number

Registration Number Between 200,000 and 399,999:

If the Registration Number listed in the Indexes to Births and Stillbirths (RG 80-4) is between 200,000 and 399,999, it was a delayed registration recorded after the year that the birth occurred. Remove the first digit (the "2" or the "3") and look up the registration using the rest of the number.

Use the table below to find:

• First, the year of the registration (not the year of the birth), and
• Second, the volume within that year which contains the registration number (minus the first "2" or "3").

The "Archives of Ontario Microfilm Reference" column in the table will list the reel of MS 929 microfilm that you should borrow or purchase. When you receive the reel, find the correct year on the microfilm and look up the registration number within it. In order to view this reel you may:

• Consult the appropriate reel in our reading room on the ground floor, 77 Grenville St., Toronto.
• Borrow the reel through the Interlibrary Loan Department of your public library. Quote MS 929 and the appropriate reel #. These reels cannot leave the borrowing library, so make sure to request them from a library that has a microfilm reader.
• Borrow the film from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through their Family History Centres. The Family History Centres have a different numbering system than the Archives of Ontario. These Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) conversion numbers have been provided in the right hand column of the table below or, for a complete list of all GSU conversion numbers, consult the microfilm conversion list.
• Purchase the appropriate microfilm reel directly from the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS). Quote MS 929 and the appropriate reel #. For information on how to place an order, visit the Ontario Genealogical Society website or contact the OGS at:
  
  
  Ontario Genealogical Society
  40 Orchard View Blvd. Suite 102
  Toronto ON M4R 1B9
  Phone: 416-489-0734 Fax: 416-489-9803
  E-mail: provoffice@ogs.on.ca

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Remember

• You will be looking at birth registrations rather than certificates. Birth registrations are the raw data from which certificates would have been produced. If you have never seen a registration, you may wish to view Examples of Birth Registrations.
• Not every registration is listed in numerical sequence. Year-end registrations that were late in arriving to the Registrar General's Office were sometimes copied onto blank pages in the newly bound volumes for that year. Non-sequential registrations are listed in the table below.

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