The following census (and related) materials are available for online searching:

• Crown Deeds of Hope Township
• Elias Smith's 1799 Hope Township report
• Augustus Jones' 1799 Hope Township report
• 1801-1806 Port Hope/Hope Township Oaths of Allegiance
• 1802-1807 Hope Township tax assessment rolls index
• 1803-1851 Hope Township census indices
• 1842-1847 Hope Township assessment records indices
• 1847 Port Hope assessment index
• 1851 Canada East/Canada West/NB/NS census returns
• 1861 Port Hope/Hope Township census indices
• 1871 Port Hope/Hope Township census returns
• 1881 Canada census returns
• 1891 Port Hope/Hope Township census returns
• c1898 Port Hope Bell Telephone Directory
• 1900 Port Hope Bell Telephone Directory
• 1901 Canada census returns
• 1911 Canada census returns
• 1920 Hope Township voters' list (with a township map)

• The 1856 Port Hope Business Directory, the first directory specifically for Port Hope, containing names and members of local organizations, lists of business owners and dozens of advertisements.
• The 1902 R.G. Dun Mercantile Agency Reference Book, covering Durham County businesses' value and credit.
• Glen C. Phillips' The Ontario Photographers List: Vol. I (1851- 1900) and Vol. 2 (1901-1925). These reference books include a listing of Port Hope photographers, a helpful aid when trying to date ancestral studio photographs.

VITAL STATISTICS:

An index of births, marriages and deaths (3891 entries) as reported in the 1832-1899 Port Hope newspapers.

The births, marriages and deaths indices (4300+ entries) for the 1900-1920 newspapers have been compiled under the supervision of Barbara Trumper. On the same site:

• Port Hope Extracts from the 1857-'58 Canadian Directory
• Port Hope/Hope Marriage Notices (1804-1854)
• Port Hope volunteers - Loyalists, 1812 War, 1837 Rebellion, Fenian raids, Riel Rebellion, Boxer Rebellion, Boer War and the Royal Flying Corps (WWI)

• The Hamilton Township census returns - including Cobourg - for 1804-1848.
• The Hope Township assessment reports for 1842-1847, showing lot/concession ownership; and
• The Public Schools midsummer promotion results, taken from the 05 Jul 1926 Evening Guide

Laurie Winter contributed this partial list of 133 baptisms (1854-1884), which she transcribed during family research, from the registers of Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church (Port Hope).

Walt Sammis transcribed the 148 baptisms (1875-1914) recorded in the Garden Hill Presbyterian Church register, added to our resources with the kind permission of the United Church Minister, Reverend William Service.

Bernadine Dodge, Trent University Archivist, has graciously allowed us to list the Port Hope/Hope Township extractions from a number of the holdings in the Archive's extensive collection, including this listing of 273 births (1869-1872), taken from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics fonds (#83-016).

A listing of 238 Port Hope/Hope Twp. marriages (1869-1872), extracted from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics fonds (#83-016), housed at Trent University Archives. Also included are several recently-discovered marriage entries in the 1825-1848 range.

Extracts from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics Additions fonds - 1838-1855 (#84-004), consisting of baptism records, marriage lists and burial lists. The transcription maintains the original spelling - except where known errors have been corrected - so you might want to manually check the database as well as using the search engine.

A listing of 260 Port Hope/Hope Township inquests taken from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Court Records fonds - 1832-1912 (#84-020). As this transcription also maintains the original spelling, you might want to manually search the database.

Local family Bible data

CemSearch - an ever-enlarging database of burials (335,708 as of 29 Jun 2006). Information is also provided about the local cemeteries.
Simpson Memorials (Port Hope) has a webpage showing the location of the area cemeteries.

A lot map for Zion United Church Cemetery (1839-1972), located in Hope Township on Con. 3, Lot 31, contributed by Robert Symons

John Smith, of the East Durham Historical Society, has spent countless hours at the Archives of Ontario indexing the death records for Port Hope/Hope Township (1869-1930) and transcribing each entry! He is willing to share his information with researchers, but please don't abuse his kind offer! He can be reached at jsmith1295@rogers.com.

116 death/funeral notices from 1861-1916

Local funeral home records - dating from 1864

Elizabeth Hancocks, of Generation Press, has graciously given permission to list the Port Hope/Hope Township entries from her book, Surrogate Court Index of Ontario, Canada (1859-1900) Volume 4, Northumberland & Durham Counties.

The Port Hope Archives holds a collection of 1,068 probates (1821-1995), mostly of area residents. Copies can be obtained from the Archives.

MILITARY:

1st Regiment of the Durham Militia (15 Dec 1837)

1st-6th Durham Battalions of the Militia of Canada (1847)

1st Battalion of the Durham Regiment of Militia (1856)

Port Hope Light Infantry Volunteer Company (01 May 1866)

Photograph of the 46th Battalion band, taken at the Commons, SE of the viaduct (1869)

Photograph of the Fenian Raid veterans of the 46th Battalion of Port Hope (c1870)

With the Midland Battn. during the North West Rebellion of 1885 - a personal diary written by William E. Young

List of Officers of the 136th Durham Overseas Battalion (15 May 1916)

List of Appeals - decisions of the Appeal Tribunal in Port Hope and Hope Township cases (25 Jan 1918)

List of Hope Township WWI soldiers (24 Dec 1918)

Book of Remembrance: Local Participants in the Great War (1914-1918). Only two copies of this 1919 book were made, both now located at the Port Hope Archives. This modified transcription includes the photographs, submitted by the families of those who lost their lives and on permanent display at the Town Hall.

In 2007, to mark the 90th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge, Barbara and I had the privilege of working on the reissue of the Book of Remembrance (500 copies) with updated information, the soldiers' photographs, letters home from the Front as published in the local newspaper and additional photographs from the Archives' collection. Please contact us for further information. Once these are sold, it's unlikely that there will be a second printing.

The attestation papers for the Canadian Expeditionary Forces can be found online at Library and Archives Canada.

As a companion to the Book of Remembrance, we've indexed 134 letters written home from the WWI front and published in the local newspaper. Many of these were used in the 2007 reprint above.

MISCELLANEOUS HISTORICAL:

Letters, diaries and logs penned by residents of the Port Hope area (dating from 1819), including the 1890 log of Sylvan Glen Camp

A description of area travel and its costs in 1825

Early Council: the Chief Magistrates of Port Hope from earliest (1834) to present date (a work in progress...)

Members of the Port Hope Board of Police (1843)

A rare photo of several Great Lakes captains living in Port Hope in 1885

Thanks to Marcia, gggggranddaughter of Louis Bertolotto, we are now convinced that the "L. Bertolotto" of 1830s London, England, flea-circus fame is the Louis Bertolotto buried in Port Hope's Union Cemetery (1887). As there are reportedly three enlarged photographs somewhere, we would like to hear from anyone with information about the location of these pictures. We have also provided a link to Walt Noon's site, containing everything you ever wanted to know about flea circuses!

A newspaper article (1889) listing 495 local citizens who had emigrated from the area, mostly to the United States

A listing of the 1891 Port Hope Fire Brigade members

Portions of the Port Hope Model High School Register (1891-'92) and the complete Training Register (1884-1904) for those in teacher training

A listing of Port Hope teachers and their salaries (1917)

Three newspaper articles describing the local I.O.O.F. Decoration Day services (1918, 1923 and 1926)

A transcription of the original 1930 programme for a local amateur production of the musical, Page the Prince

SOURCES OF INFORMATION:

The Port Hope Archives is located in the refurbished former County Registry Office at the foot of Walton Street and is a constantly-enlarging source of information. Donations of local documents and photographs are welcomed. Call to confirm that it's open, especially on the weekend.

The Port Hope Public Library has a considerable number of resources, including microfilms of the available census returns and newspapers. The Ancestry (Library Edition) databases have been newly-added, but can only be accessed at the library.

The Cobourg and District Historical Society Archives has a number of interesting items relating to Port Hope's past.

Garnet Clayton's site features a considerable amount of Port Hope material, much of it gathered by his late father and local historian, Cal Clayton.

Sites we've found particularly useful for our own research.

While happy to search out and transcribe local resources for this site, we simply haven't the time to fill requests for photocopies of births, marriages, obituaries and census returns. However, this service is available at the Port Hope Public Library for a nominal cost.
(Note: if the page/column indicated is in the latter pages of the newspaper - 4/4 or 8/2 for example - it's likely a typical BMD announcement with little detail beyond that which we've recorded online.)

Please let us know if some link isn't working.

Happy searching...and good luck!

Barbara Kyle & Peter Bolton, UE
Port Hope, Ontario, Canada
hunter@nhb.com