Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Browsing the Ontario, Canada County Marriage Records

FamilySearch added or updated several record collections today, including two from Ontario:

*  Ontario, District Marriage Registers, 1801-1858

*  Ontario County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869

These are Browse Only collections so they have to be searched manually, using the Waypoints provided plus some patience.

I knew that James Abraham Kemp and Mary Jane Sovereen were married in Norfolk County, Ontario on 10 March 1861 from other records.  Could I find the record in these record collections?

1)  Here is the Ontario, County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869 record collection page:

Since it is a Browse Only collection, I have to click on the "Browse through 9,447 images link.

2)  I clicked on the Browse through ... link and saw the first Waypoint screen, which is for the Counties:


3)  On the screen above, I clicked on the link for "Norfolk" and saw the second Waypoint screen, which is for the Volumes available for this county:


There is only one Volume available, but since it includes the years 1858 to 1869, it may have the record I am seeking.

4)  I clicked on the link for "1858-1869, Vol. 44" on the screen above, and saw the first image for this digital volume:


There are 204 images in this Volume, and they appear to be somewhat chronological.

5)  I navigated to the year 1861, and found my record on image 62:


I said the records were somewhat chronological. All of the records for the year ending 1861 are together, but there are a number of sets of records because they reflect the entries of different ministers and churches.  A user may have to search through 5 to 10 pages for a given year.  If the user does not know the year, then a review of every image will be necessary.  It helps that the name of the groom is in the first column.

6)  I downloaded the page, crafted a source citation, and added the image to the marriage event in my RootsMagic family tree database.

7)  If you have Ontario marriages before 1869, these two record collections may have the record you seek, and they are FREE to use.

This was my "Genealogy Fun" for the day.  I hope you had fun today also.

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1 comment:

April Robertson said...

Thank you Randy! Gave me an objective today to go through my Legacy database and see if I'm missing any marriages from Ontario which I know I have a lot of.