Records of the Department of Immigration (RG 11)
Two groups of RG 11 records are available on interloan microfilm:
Series RG 11-1 to series RG 11-7 (formerly "Toronto Emigration Office Records" or "Hawke Papers"): Records 1831-1892 from the Toronto and Kingston emigrant offices. (Post-Confederation records originate from the Dominion (federal) office in Toronto.)
Series RG 11-8, RG 11-10, RG 11-14, RG 11-15, RG 11-16, RG 11-17, RG 11-20, RG 11-22, RG 11-23, RG 11-24 and RG 11-25: Records dated 1869-1901 from the provincial Department of Immigration and its predecessor Agency.
Series RG 11-1 to series RG 11-7 (formerly known as the Toronto Emigration Office Records or Hawke Papers)
NEW: The Archives has recently acquired an important set of immigration records from Columbia University. Formerly known as the Toronto Emigration Office Records or by the informal name of "Hawke Papers", they were created by the Toronto and Kingston Emigrant Offices between 1831-1892. They have now been assigned the archival reference codes RG 11-1 to RG 11-7.
The records include letterbooks (outgoing correspondence) of the Chief Emigrant Agent for Upper Canada / Canada West (A. B. Hawke), arrival / destination and assisted immigration registers, an emigrant hospital register from the Irish immigration following the Great Potato Famine (includes names of orphans and widows), and a report from an inspection of British Home Children. A detailed description of the whole set of records is included at the beginning of each microfilm, Reel.
To view the microfilm you may:
- Consult the appropriate MS reel # at our reading room on the ground floor, 134 Ian Macdonald Blvd., Toronto.
- Borrow the reel through the Interlibrary Loan Department of your public library. Quote the appropriate MS reel #. These reels cannot leave the borrowing library, so make sure to request them from a library that has a microfilm reader.
| Description | Archives of Ontario Microfilm Reference |
|---|---|
Series RG 11-1 Chief Emigrant Agent's letterbooks |
MS 6909 |
| Series RG 11-1 Chief Emigrant Agent's letterbooks | MS 6910 |
| Series RG 11-1 Chief Emigrant Agent's letterbooks
RG 11-1-0-5 Letterbook of A.B. Hawke (1856-1863); RG 11-1-0-6 Letterbook of A.B. Hawke and J.A. Donaldson (1863-1869) |
MS 6911 |
Series RG 11-2 Kingston Emigrant Agent's letterbook RG 11-2-0-1 [includes letterbook of A.B. Hawke Jr. at Kingston (1849-1850); 1-pg. list of Home Children (1865); list of immigrants arriving via Quebec, New York, Boston (3 pgs., 1865); Toronto area accommodation (1871-4) and employment (1870-4) listings] |
MS 6912 |
Series RG 11-3 Toronto Emigrant Office assisted immigration registers RG 11-3-0-1 Assisted immigration register (1865-1870); RG 11-3-0-2 Assisted immigration register (1870-1877); RG 11-3-0-3 Assisted immigration register (1877-1883); RG 11-3-0-4 Assisted immigration register (1873-1874) [also includes memos from the provincial Immigration Branch secretary and others] |
MS 6913 |
Series RG 11-4 Toronto Emigrant Office arrival and destination registers RG 11-4-0-1 Arrival and destination register (1857-1868) RG 11-4-0-2 Arrival and destination register (1860-1867) RG 11-4-0-3 Arrival and destination register (1881-1889) RG 11-4-0-4 Arrival and destination register (1883-1887) RG 11-4-0-5 Arrival and destination register (1889-1892) RG 11-4-0-6 Arrival and destination register [189-?] [also includes forms containing statistical returns] |
MS 6914 |
Series RG 11-5 Toronto Emigrant Office financial records RG 11-5-0-1 Ledger (1831-1841) RG 11-5-0-2 Ledger (1835-1836) RG 11-5-0-3 Journal of accounts (1861-1868, 1878-1879) RG 11-5-0-4 Copybook of receipted accounts (1862-1871, 1877) [also includes accounts of the Crown Lands Department; news clippings from the Russo-Turkish War, and a 4-pg. list of Home Children] |
MS 6915 |
| Series RG 11-6 Toronto Convalescent and Fever Hospital admission and discharge register (1847-1848) | MS 6916 |
Series RG 11-7 Report of inspection of home children (1875, 1886) |
MS 6917 |
Series RG 11-8, RG 11-10, RG 11-14, RG 11-15, RG 11-16, RG 11-17, RG 11-20, RG 11-22, RG 11-23, RG 11-24, RG 11-25
Records of the Department of Immigration, 1869-1901
This microfilm contains the surviving records of the Immigration Branch of the Ontario Department of Agriculture and Public Works (1869-1873) and its successor, the Department of Immigration (1873-1901).
Large proportions of these records in RG 11 are of genealogical interest.
The provincial government, mainly in the period 1869-1880, created these records to document special bonus schemes (1872-75) and later other special assisted passage schemes.
Some of the nominal lists were created by the federal immigration services and formally transferred to Ontario at an early date, under the joint provincial/federal mandate for immigration services prescribed by the British North America Act, and special agreements under which federal agents administered immigrant arrivals for the province.
To view the microfilm you may:
- Consult the appropriate reel of MS 847 at our reading room on the ground floor, 134 Ian Macdonald Blvd., Toronto.
- Borrow the reel through the Interlibrary Loan Department of your public library. Quote MS 847 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.
| Description | Archives of Ontario Microfilm Reference |
|---|---|
RG 11-10: Passage bonus receipts for emigrants, 1873 - 1875 RG 11-23: Applications for refund bonuses from emigrants to Ontario, 1872 - 1876 |
MS 847, Reel 1 |
| File 1.1 (Abbey, Jane) to File 3.109 (Crooks, Robert) |
MS 847, Reel 1 |
| File 4.1 (Crosbie, George) to File 7.104 (Hopkins, Joseph) |
MS 847, Reel 2 |
| File 8.1 (Hopkins, William & Hannah) to File 11.100 (Moore, William) |
MS 847, Reel 3 |
| File 12.1 (Moorhead, George) to File 16.60 (Sweetman, Benjamin) |
MS 847, Reel 4 |
| File 16.60 (Sweetman, Benjamin) to File 19.49 (Zores, Alexander) |
MS 847, Reel 5 |
RG 11-25: Registers of applications for emigrant passage warrants, 1872-1888 |
MS 847, Reel 5 |
| Volume 1, (1872-1887)
Volume 2, Index to Vol. 1 (1873-1883) Volume 3, Index to Vols. 1 & 4 (1884-1887) |
MS 847, Reel 5 |
RG 11-17: Emigrant arrival and destination records, 1862-1881 |
MS 847, Reel 6 |
|
Box/Vol. 1, 1874-1878 (Statistical) Box/Vol. 2, Kingston Agency, 1862-1878 |
MS 847, Reel 6 |
|
Box/Vol. 3, Montreal Agency, 1878 Box/Vol. 4, Quebec Agency, 1871 (Statistical) |
MS 847, Reel 6 |
| Box/Vol. 5, Quebec Agency, 1871 (Statistical)
Box/Vol. 6, Quebec Agency, 1872 (Statistical) Box/Vol. 7, Quebec Agency, 1873-1874 (Statistical) |
MS 847, Reel 6 |
| Box/Vol. 8, Quebec Agency, 1872-1873
Box/Vol. 9, Quebec Agency, 1873-1874 Box/Vol. 10,Quebec Agency, 1874-1875 |
MS 847, Reel 7 |
| Box/Vol. 12, Assisted Immigrants, 1875, 1879-1881 (Statistical)
Box/Vol. 13, Paris Agency, 1873 |
MS 847, Reel 8 |
RG 11-20: Miscellaneous records of the Department of Immigration, 1869-1896 & n.d. |
MS 847, Reel 8 |
RG 11-15: Immigration bonus certificates and advanced bonus lists, 1872-1874 |
MS 847, Reel 8 |
| RG 11-14: List of emigrants receiving refund bonus, 1872-1875 | MS 847, Reel 8 |
RG 11-8-1: Department of Immigration numbered correspondence files, 1873-1897 |
MS 847, Reel 9 |
| #4442 (1875) - #4983 (1895) | MS 847, Reel 10 |
| #5455 (1876) - #5964 (1877) | MS 847, Reel 11 |
| #5965 (1877) - #6353 (1877) | MS 847, Reel 12 |
| #6354 (1877) - #6884 (1878) | MS 847, Reel 13 |
| #6653 (1878) - #7115 (1878) [Some Overlap] | MS 847, Reel 14 |
| #7116 (1878) - #7441 (1879) | MS 847, Reel 15 |
| #7441 (1879) - #8750 (1879) | MS 847, Reel 16 |
| #35 (11875) - #70 (1875) | MS 847, Reel 16 |
| #70 (1875) - #78 (1875) | MS 847, Reel 17 |
| #67 (1880) - #789½ (1880) | MS 847, Reel 17 |
| #790 (1880) - #2701 (1883) | MS 847, Reel 18 |
| #2702 (1883) - #3195 (1884)
#365 (1884) - #1109 (1887) #786 (1890) - #2235 (1894) |
MS 847, Reel 19 |
| #2235 (1894) - #3025 (1895) | MS 847, Reel 20 |
| #3026 (1895) - #4097 (1897) | MS 847, Reel 21 |
RG 11-8-2: Department of Immigration un-numbered correspondence files, 1869-1897 & n.d. |
MS 847, Reel 22 |
| #1 (1869) - #359 (no date) | MS 847, Reel 22 |
RG 11-16: Emigrant assisted passage certificates, 1872-1873 |
MS 847, Reel 23 |
RG 11-22: Immigration refund bonus certificates, 1873-1874 |
MS 847, Reel 23 |
| File 1.1 (Abraham, Robert) to File 4.45 (Cyples, William) | MS 847, Reel 23 |
| File 5.1 (Dale, Thomas) to File 8.95 (Lamont, Hugh) | MS 847, Reel 24 |
| File 8.95 (Lamont, Hugh) to File 11.125 (Owens, William) | MS 847, Reel 25 |
| File 12.1 (Page, Patrick) to File 14.103 (Thompson, Emily) | MS 847, Reel 26 |
| File 15.1 (Thompson, Henry J.) to File 16.46 (Young, William & family) | MS 847, Reel 27 |
RG 11-24: Emigrant six dollar bonus certificates, 1875 |
MS 847, Reel 27 |