Place:Pelham, Welland, Ontario, Canada

Watchers
NamePelham
TypeTown
Coordinates43.033°N 79.283°W
Located inWelland, Ontario, Canada
See alsoPelham (township), Welland, Ontario, Canadatownship surrounding Town of Pelham until 1970
Niagara, Ontario, Canadamunicipality into which County of Welland amalgamated in 1970
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names


Until 1970 Pelham was a small town in the township of the same name in Welland County, Ontario.

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

In 1970, the Town of Pelham unified five historical communities: Fonthill, Ridgeville, Effingham, North Pelham and Fenwick into a single town covering 126.42 square kilometres. This integration brought together a mix of farming and growing commercialism.

The town's southern boundary is formed by the Welland River, a meandering waterway that flows into the Niagara River. To the west is the township of West Lincoln, to the east the city of Welland, and to the north the city of St. Catharines. North Pelham contains the picturesque Short Hills. Two important creeks have their headwaters within Pelham; Coyle Creek, which flows south into the Welland River, and Twelve Mile creek, a spring-fed stream that flows north into Lake Ontario.

Research Tips

The primary source for basic documents (vital statistics, land records, wills) for people who lived in the Province of Ontario is the Archives of Ontario, 134 Ian Macdonald Blvd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M7A 2C5.

Early Records

Civil registration did not begin in the province until 1869. Before then there may be church records of baptisms and burials. For the most part these are still held by the denomination who recorded them. Copies of marriage records made pre-1869 had to be sent by individual clergymen to the registrar of the county in which the marriage took place. These marriage records are available through Ontario Archives, on micorfilm through LDS libraries, and on paid and unpaid websites, but because they were copied at the registrars' offices, they cannot be considered a primary source.

Vital Records after 1869

Birth, marriage and death registrations are not open to the public until a specific number of years after the event occurred. Births to 1914 are now available [October 2012]; dates for marriages and deaths are later. Birth and death registration was not universally carried out in the early years after its adoption. Deaths were more apt to be reported than births for several years. The more rural the area, the less likely it would be that these happenings were reported to the authorities.
Images and indexes of civil registrations for the "viewable" years can be found on paid websites, and indexes only on FamilySearch. The latest year published is not yet available online. The FamilySearch Wiki on Ontario Vital Records explains how these records are organized and their availability.

Land Records and Wills

Information on how to access land records and wills is best sought on the Archives of Ontario website. An ancestor's land holding might be found on Canadian County Atlas Digital Project if he was in occupancy circa 1878.

Association for the Preservation of Ontario Land Registry Office Documents (APOLROD). A list of Land Registry Offices for all Counties of Ontario.

Censuses

The original censuses are in the hands of Library and Archives Canada. All of the original census (1851-1911) images are online with the exception of that for 1861. Not all of them are indexed. Later censuses are not yet available. Census divisions were redrawn as the population increased and more land was inhabited.
Other websites, some paid and some free, also provide Canadian census originals and/or indexes online. One can view censuses on microfilm at the Archives of Ontario or at big libraries throughout Canada.

E-books and Books

  • The Internet Archive, particularly texts from Canadian universities, can contain interesting material
  • Our Roots is a Canadian website similar to The Internet Archive
  • Global Genealogy is an online bookshop specializing in Ontario material who will ship anywhere in the world.

Some websites with more local information on Welland County

  • Niagara GenWeb provides a combined site for Lincoln and Welland. In places it appears to be "under construction" but another click away is a list of early settlers for a township with the date they settled, birthplace, post office address and business. There is also a surname database, a query page, a list of the census microfilms with LAC code numbers (not FamilySearch), a list of cemeteries in the county, biographies of settlers, libraries and county offices, land records, links to family websites and other links.
  • The Niagara Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society have a list of their publications both online and off- and their research facilities. Niagara Branch will be hosting the OGS annual province-wide conference in 2014.
  • Niagara Falls City Hall has a cemetery search website
  • Willougby Historical Museum appears to be a place to visit.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Pelham, Ontario. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_3_0": ["original content was at <b><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelham%2C_Ontario\" class=\"extiw\" title=\"wikipedia:Pelham,_Ontario\">Pelham, Ontario</a></b>. The list of authors can be seen in the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pelham%2C_Ontario&amp;action=history\" class=\"external text\" title=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pelham%2C_Ontario&amp;action=history\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b>page history</b></a>. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" class=\"external text\" title=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License</a>.\n</td></tr></table>\n\n<!-- Saved in parser cache with key wikidb:pcache:idhash:164369-0!1!0!0!!en!2 and timestamp 20140725013002 -->\n<div class=\"printfooter\">\nRetrieved from \"<a href=\"http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Place:Pelham%2C_Welland%2C_Ontario%2C_Canada\">http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Place:Pelham%2C_Welland%2C_Ontario%2C_Canada</a>\"</div>\n               <a name=\"bottom\" id=\"bottom\"></a>\n               <div id=\"catlinks\"><p class='catlinks'><", "<div class=\"visualClear\"></div>\n<div id=\"wr-footer\">\n\t<div id=\"wr-footer-bg\"></div>\n   <div id=\"wr-poweredby\">\n      <div id=\"f-poweredbyico\"><a href=\"http://www.mediawiki.org/\"><img src=\"/w/skins/common/images/poweredby_mediawiki_88x31.png\" alt=\"MediaWiki\" /></a></div>   </div>\n   <div id=\"wr-footer-content\">\n\t\t<ul id=\"f-list\">\n      <ul>\t\t\t\t   <li id=\"lastmod\"> This page was last modified 15:31, 17 September 2012.</li>\n            </ul><ul>\t\t\t\t   <li id=\"copyright\">Text is available under the <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License</a>; additional terms may apply. See <a href=\"http://werelate.org/wiki/WeRelate:Terms_of_Use\">Terms of Use</a> for details.</li>\n            </ul><ul>\t\t\t\t   <li id=\"privacy\"><a href=\"/wiki/WeRelate:Privacy_policy\" title=\"WeRelate:Privacy policy\">Privacy policy</a></li>\n            \t\t\t\t   <li id=\"about\"><a href=\"/wiki/WeRelate:About\" title=\"WeRelate:About\">About WeRelate</a></li>\n            \t\t\t\t   <li id=\"disclaimer\"><a href=\"/wiki/WeRelate:Genera"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["", "f- and their research facilities. Niagara Branch will be hosting the OGS annual province-wide conference in 2014.\n  \u2022 Niagara Falls City Hall has a cemetery search website\n  \u2022 Willougby Historical Museum appears to be a place to visit.\nThis page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Pelham, Ontario. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License."]}