Resources
The
Reading Room
The Port Hope Archives
is happy to provide our researchers and visitors with a space to conduct their
research or browse the maps on the wall.
The PHA has a great selection of titles on local and
The PHA’s photograph
collection is available for easy viewing by our visitors. A set of grey binders contain photocopies of
the original image. This allows visitors
to view a representation of the photograph prior to pulling the original from
storage.
Vital Statistics Indexes on Microfilm
The Port Hope Archives has the Indexes,
produced by the
Ø Births: July 1869 to
December 1910
Ø Marriages: 1869 to
1925
Ø Deaths: 1869 to 1935
Each year another year of records is made
available.
For more recent registrations, please contact the Office of the Registrar General.
Land Records
The PHA has land documents from 1867 to 1955 for research. These
documents are the property of the Government of Ontario, and available to the
public through the Port Hope Archives. The PHA also has copies of the land
abstract books (indexes) to be able to locate land documents. Only a few of the probates registered during
these years are in this collection.
Land records for years
others than those at the PHA are available on microfilm at the Archives of
Ontario or at the Land Registry Office in Cobourg.
The types of documents found in the land records include, but
are not limited to: deeds, mortgages, probates,
discharge of mortgages and trust deeds.
To conduct property history, the legal lot description is
required. Land abstracts and deeds do not provide the year of construction.
Land documents provide owners; dates of transactions, amount of land included
in the transaction and the instrument numbers to locate the documents. For more information on conducting property
research, please contact the PHA directly.
In 2006, volunteers of the Port Hope Archives indexed the more
than 15,000 land records held at the Archives.
The database is searchable by Grantor, Grantee, Instrument
Number and by remarks and is available in the Archives’ Reading Room.
Probates
A probate can be a very important resource for genealogists and
property researchers. Not everyone had a
will, but those who did may provide valuable information for their descendants.
With this in mind, the Port Hope Archives is happy to offer researchers a
collection of more than 1000 probates.
The probates for this index were compiled from
three main sources: a local Port Hope lawyer, the land records and private
collections. Check out the probates
index for more information. The collection is constantly growing, so be sure to
check often to see if your ancestor is there!
The Collection
The Port Hope Archives collection is varied, and is only
partially searchable (cataloguing is an ongoing project). We try our utmost to
provide researchers with the requested resources.
Family Files
The Archives has begun to collect family history information and
is available in the Reading Room. Researchers are welcome to use the
information and leave their own information to be added
to the files. The files are composed of
genealogies, news clippings, research conducted by the archivist and volunteers
on various families and copies of photographs.
This is a growing collection and we would love to add your family’s
history!
CemSearch
Available on the
Reading Room computer is CemSearch, a cemetery
database managed by the Lakeshore Genealogical Society. At present, more than
316,000 entries are included in the database. Areas included are:
Clarington, Haliburton, Hastings and Prince Edward,
Lennox & Addington, Muskoka District,
Northumberland,
© Port Hope Archives 2008