Birth Marriage and Death

Civil Registration

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the provinces and territories began keeping civil registration of births, marriages and deaths, often called vital statistics. Before that time, these events were recorded in parish registers. In Ontario, civil registration dates from July 1, 1869. The Archives of Ontario holds records of births from 1869 to 1917, marriages from 1869 to 1932, and deaths from 1869 to 1942. Incomplete marriage registers prior to 1869 are also available.₁

Example of a death registration in Stormont (1920)

Example

Records held by the Archives

The source of all vital statistics as civil registrations in Ontario are from the Office of the Registrar General which are then transferred annually to the Archives of Ontario after a deemed time frame has elapsed to prevent the disclosure of personal information for historical or archival purposes. These records are excellent sources of rich genealogical information which often contain parents' places of birth, maiden names and more...

• Births: 1869-1917
• Marriages: 1801-1932
• Deaths: 1869-1942
All of these records are publicly available on microfilm from the Archives of Ontario.