Municipal Records

Registry Office, Toronto, July 1926
M. O. Hammond
Black and white negative
Reference Code: F 1075, H 1360
Archives of Ontario, I0001593

This microfilm contains records created or collected by local government while performing their duties.

Primarily created between 1845 and 1900, these records include: assessment and collector's rolls; local census records (pre-1851); voters lists and poll books; and local Town and Township council records.

• Introduction
• Definitions
• Microfilm Listing By District/County

As mentioned above, this microfilm contains records created or collected by local government while performing their duties. Primarily created between 1845 and 1900, these records include: assessment and collector's rolls; local census records (pre-1851); voters lists and poll books; and local Town and Township council records. These microfilm reels represent only a small portion of the Archives' holdings of Municipal records. Contact the Archives about other early Ontario municipal records.

Use the table below to identify the pre-1850 district or post 1850 county that you are interested in. Clicking on the appropriate district or county link will take you to a breakdown of the records available for that jurisdiction.

Once you have identified the reel(s) of film that you wish to view, you may:

• Consult the reel(s) at our reading room,
  134 Macdonald Blvd., Toronto.
• From the Interlibrary Loan Department of your public library, order the appropriate microfilm reel(s). Quote the MS number and the appropriate reel #. These reels can not leave the borrowing library, so make sure to order them from a library that has a microfilm reader.

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Definitions

The following definitions will help define the content of these records:

• Minutes: a record summarising the business discussed by a municipal council or committee. Minutes can include appendices containing the relevant reports and correspondence.
• By-laws: an order or regulation relating to local government, passed by a municipal council or committee, which is enforceable by the courts.
• Aggregate Assessment: an official census or survey by the clerk of the peace of a district. While often listing detailed statistical information, aggregate assessments contain no names.
• Census: an official enumeration of households and inhabitants within a defined geographical area, with related demographic and economic statistics, and certain information schedules such as industry and agriculture.
• Assessment Roll: an official valuation by household, owner, or tenant of real property or assets for the purpose of municipal taxation, with related statistics, such as lot sizes. Later in the nineteenth century, these records were often used by municipalities to record utility charges, licences, etc.
• Collector's Roll: similar to the information found in assessment rolls, to which is added a record of payments received from the owners for taxes due on rateable property.
• Special Assessment: based on rateable property (a poll tax), levied on inhabitant householders and collected to pay the county member of the house of assembly, often for the member's attendance the previous year to the levy date.
• The abbreviation "n. d." means "no date".

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