Other records of vital events

Find non-provincial government records of Ontario births, marriages and deaths from 1749 to 1981.

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About the records

We hold a wide variety of non-provincial government records of births, marriages, deaths as well as baptisms and other religious rites for individuals in Ontario.

Our holdings of these records are not comprehensive. They only cover certain parts of the province at certain periods of time. Unlike government-created birth, marriage and death registrations (known as “vital statistics”), these records were kept locally and usually for community purposes.

These records may provide evidence of the existence of individuals whose vital events were not registered by the province, particularly those who lived and died in what we now call Ontario before 1869.

Congregation records

Religious congregations often documented births, marriages, deaths and burials of their members.

We hold records for Christian and Jewish congregations from across the Province of Ontario as well as some from outside the province and country.

Municipal records of vital events

Some Ontario municipalities assumed responsibility for collecting information about the births, marriages and deaths of their residents. We have records for a few townships spanning 1848-1949.

Note: Some of these records are covered by the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and must be reviewed by a Privacy Analyst before they’re made available to researchers. Check the record description for access restrictions.

Court records

Some court records contain information relevant to researching births, including birth registrations, bastardy affidavits and disputes about parentage or marriages that were solemnized by or filed with a court clerk. We have records for some counties.

Note: Court records less than 100 years old are restricted unless stated otherwise in the record description.

Cemetery recordings

This is a collection of recordings of information on tombstones across Ontario created by Ontario Genealogical Society volunteers between 1973-2001.

The recordings include:

  • cemetery name
  • religious denomination
  • map of cemetery
  • history of cemetery
  • list of individuals interred
  • alphabetical list of surnames on headstones / monuments and inscriptions
  • miscellaneous genealogical information

Find these records in Collection Search. Find microfilm listings on our archived Microfilm Interlibrary Loan webpage.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for or want to conduct further research, you can try researching related records.

Birth, marriage and death registrations

The Government of Ontario has officially registered the births, marriages and deaths of residents since 1869.

Get research help

We can point you to resources to help you with your research. Contact us.

For professional research help, we have a list of private companies and freelance researchers who can do research on your behalf.