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Free online databases Print E-mail
As genealogists we can never have enough information available online.
compiled by Carolynne Veffer 2008-05

Free online databases with NAME SEARCHES, which you can access from any where, any time.   There are other great resources that require payment e.g. Ancestry.ca, InGeneas or online newspapers e.g. The Toronto Star, but they aren't included here.

General

Online Telephone Listings  http://findaperson.canada411.ca/

Library and Archives Canada now provides a generic search of all their content.  Plus one specifically for "ancestors".    

http://search-recherche.collectionscanada.ca/archives/search.jsp?Language=eng

http://search-recherche.collectionscanada.ca/ancestors/search.jsp?Language=eng&QueryTextValue=

Census


What more needs to be said?  Census records - the latest available is 1911.  

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/02012201_e.html#a

1871 - Federal Census - Ontario Index

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/1871-ontario/001016-100.01-e.php

1901 - Federal Census

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/Province.jsp?province=ON

1911 - Federal Census

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census11/Test6.jsp?province=Ontario

Birth, Marriage & Death Records


Unfortunately none of these is available online in a searchable database (except divorces - see next entry).  Canada does not have the equivalent of the US online Social Security Death Index.  

Canadian Divorce Records: 1841 - 1968

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/008/022008-100.01-e.php

Burial/Cemetery Records

JOWBR: The JGS of Canada (Toronto) has added over 50,000 for all the Toronto Jewish cemeteries.
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/cemetery/

Benjamin's Funeral Home:  There are currently two Jewish Funeral Homes in Toronto:  Benjamin's and Steeles Memorial.  Benjamin's has a great online search for burials since the mid-80s.  It can be a real treasure trove of information if you get a hit:  relatives' names, Hebrew name, father and/or mother's Hebrew name, cemetery and section, date of burial etc.

http://www.benjamins.ca/index.cfm?fa=home.AdvancedSearch  

Ontario Genealogical Society:   http://ogs.andornot.com/CemeteryIndex.aspx

Immigration/Passenger Records


1925-35 database (not just for Ontario - all passenger lists - courtesy of the hard work of volunteers at the Ottawa and Montreal JGSs).  

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/immigration-1925/001012-100.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=ndc16e8laq46on6lqff405d7q5

Rotenberg Ledger (this time thanks to the hard work of JGS of Canada (Toronto) volunteers).  These are available on this website under Resources/Rotenberg Ledger.  Not exactly passenger lists - it's an agency through which people bought ship and rail tickets.  The dates cover 1911 to 1917.  

http://www.jgstoronto.ca/Rotenberg.html

Immigrants from the Russian Empire:  Documents created between 1898 and 1922 by the Russian Consular Offices in Canada.  It includes passport applications and questionnaires.  

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/li-ra-ma/001046-100.01-e.php

Nanaimo Historical Society: This Society has a growing database of Canadian passenger lists. Currently it includes Quebec Ports from Sep 1907 to Oct 1910.

http://members.shaw.ca/nanaimo.fhs/  

Canadian Naturalization Records - 1915 to 1932 
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/022/022-505.004-e.html

City Directories

Toronto City Directories:  This can help you pinpoint when a person arrived in Toronto.  There is a full set of directories in the Toronto Reference Library at Bloor & Yonge.  But there are a number now available online at the Ontario Archives site.  And two at the Ontario Jewish Archives site (1925 & 1931).  

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28Toronto%20City%20Directory%29

Ontario Jewish Archives (1925 and 1931 Directories):  This one is easier to search than the Ontario Archives site.  But Ontario Archive has more years available.    

http://www.ontariojewisharchives.org/

Military Records


Canadian Virtual War Memorial

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem

Jewish War Veterans of Canada    http://www.yorku.ca/cjv/db/directory.php

Commonwealth War Graves Commission    http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

World War I Soldiers   http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/cef/001042-100.01-e.php

Soldiers of the South African War http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/south-african-war/001002-100.01-e.php

Canadian Merchant Navy War Dead Database

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/secondwar/atlantic/merchant_search

Canadian Post-War Military and Dependants Graves  http://admieapp.forces.gc.ca/pwg-tag/index.asp?lang=e

Heroes remember e.g. Robert Horowitz, Barnet Danson - not many Jewish entries

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/hrp/alpha

Court Martials of the First World War

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/courts-martial/001006-100.01-e.php

Patents - 1869 to 1894

You never know.  Your ancestor may have been an inventor (and come to Canada very, very early - there are a few Cohen patents).  

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/patents/001038-100.01-e.php