The Web Haunt of
Barbara Kyle and Peter Bolton,
genealogical optimists!
This site was originally created in March 2000 with the hope of connecting with hitherto unknown family. Along the way, we discovered a raft of genealogical resources for Port Hope and Hope Township (Ontario, Canada) - now the Municipality of Port Hope - and began transcribing them for on-line searching. If you have any local resources you'd like to share, let us know!
icons below to access the desired pages.)
While hoping that the resources listed below will be of use to you, we are also hopeful that more presently-unknown relatives with the surname of...
We've set up a page where we'll be glad to list the local surnames you're researching. Send us your information and hopefully you'll be able to connect with one of YOUR relatives!
PLEASE NOTE: We are building a local family history section at the Port Hope Public Library and we'll be most pleased to receive any published information you might have on your lineage. Hard copy material will go onto the shelves and electronic files will be entered into the computer resources. We hope to hear from YOU!
These are the electronic ones we've received to date. They have been edited to exclude the names of living people. The Port Hope Library has the complete files as submitted.
As Barbara and I are currently at the Port Hope Library on Monday and Friday mornings (10-12) correlating vital statistics information taken from the 1962 microfilms of the Evening Guide with CemSearch, we will be available, should you like to discuss your research with us. As there will be occasions when we're not there on those days, please contact us before you come.
Speed up your browsing of our 196 pages with this site search engine. As spelling varies considerably on many of the earlier documents, you might still want to do some manual searching. As well, the engine doesn't search the above personal family files (*.pdf, *.doc, etcetera) that people have sent us.
The following census (and related) materials are available for online searching:
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:
Shirley Horner has indexed the births, marriages and deaths (1400+ entries) for the 1921-1927 newspapers. As well, on her site you can search:
The Library has received more Evening Guide newspaper microfilms, covering the period from 1955 to the present. There are no issues from 1928-1954, 1957 or July 1958-June 1959, although frequent items in these latest ones (In Memoriam, 20 Years Ago and 40 Years Ago) will provide some limited information for those missing years.
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.
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
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Last update: 30 June 2009

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