Birth records from Ontario 1742 to 1826

Max J. Evans

My problem is described in the Discussions section of the FamilySearch record for Jane Stevenson (KWJC-BSP), my great-great grandmother.

Can anyone point me to Ontario records for this period of time?

lindastowemiller

That is an interesting problem. Short answer is government (town, province, census, etc.) records started later, plus you are looking at a relatively short time period in Canada, so your best bet would be church records, which are somewhat tough to come by on-line (ideally with an index), unless your people are Catholic, which yours probably aren't. So you would need to search church records, probably by locality, which is tough because it doesn't appear we know exactly where in Ontario to look.

That being said, here are some thoughts:

The most specific early information on Jane's birth, etc., comes from her very nice obituary, which is information provided by her descendants based on what she told them (as they remember it, as she remembers it). If she was orphaned and left Canada for a new country/home at age 7, her information is based on what she was told, almost certainly by people who were not present at the actual event (her birth). So while helpful, it is not absolutely certain in its accuracy. In addition, there are (as you noted) questionable things: the siblings birth information is not consistent, and was the family separated or did Jane know their whereabouts and stay in close contact with them throughout her life (also, some are born in Canada, some in New Jersey, not clear from the birth order if the dates/places are accurate.

Further, it is not clear what happened to the father. I would recommend focusing on the mother - if that is possible - since the mother's passing seems to be what caused Jane to relocate.

Which brings up the whole question of names, and exactly who the actual people involved are. Joshua Taylor gave an excellent presentation at RootsTech about identifying exactly who is who, and gave a (painstaking) methodology for gathering information about each possible candidate and sorting them out. Here is a link: Who is My Ancestor? Tracing Individuals with Similar Names • RootsTech • FamilySearch It is easy for people to link to people in Family Tree with similar names, or from similar areas, and that gets passed down and believed and given credibility, when it may be questionable, especially in circumstances where the early records are limited and dependent on a child's memory or belief. I would suggest you slowly construct factual data about the possible parents, with timelines and known/verified places and relationships - which, while not easy, will serve you well and save you from goose-chases. Can you find the actual marriage record for Jane (not the indexed version) - are there witnesses from her side that hint to possible relatives? Trace the (purported) siblings and verify both concrete dates/places in their lives, and possible interactions/contacts with Jane - to verify these are actual real people, siblings, and possibly they may point to verifiable facts about Jane.

I searched the internet and found some articles about Loyalists from New Jersey; the times don't really work, but it gives good background information on attitudes and such. Good background information for you to have, although the loyalist possibility doesn't look strong. People from other areas did move west from New England after the "year without a summer" - 1816, but I'm not sure New Jersey was an affected area, or that folks went to Canada (they did go to western New York, we know).

So I would focus on gathering verified factual information, ignoring the enticing possibilities that aren't verified, exploring the mother and siblings, looking for relations positively identified later who are linked with evidence/documentation to Jane. Make sure you focus only on factual information that is verified by actual documents made at or near the time of the event (vs a child's recollection told to her descendants).

This is a big challenge, but if you are careful and tenacious (which you seem to be), you might get an actual breakthrough - and it will be the right family.

Just my thoughts. Good luck and best wishes!