Genealogy, Ancestry & Local History

Sign Up for a Family History Course

Barrie FamilySearch Centre is hosting a six week family history course at the Downtown Library starting June 2, 2025. It is designed to help you discover your family, your history, and interesting facts about your ancestors.

During this 6-week session, you will:

Open a free FamilySearch account and start building your family tree
Gather personal family history, look for documentation/sources
Build research skills
Learn how to merge information
Discover the steps of genealogical research
Complete at least a four generation fan chart suitable for printing and framing

Space is limited. Register by visiting our Events Calendar.

Historical Research and Ontario Genealogical Society

We are pleased to hold the research collection of the Simcoe County Branch of Ontario Ancestors: The Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) at our Downtown Library. The OGS collection contains books, microfilms, and other documents covering the history, geography, culture, and socio-economic structure of Simcoe County including census data, along with marriage/birth/death records; this collection is available for in-library use only.

View our Digital & Print Research Resources below for a list of recommended websites and databases.

August 2023: Our newspaper microfilm collection is no longer available on-site and is now housed at Simcoe County Archives. We have entered into an agreement with the Archives to digitize this collection. Please check the Barrie Historical Newspaper Archive for older online articles from the local press.

Genealogy Coach

During a one hour Genealogy Coach session, library staff can help you learn how to:

Find resources to locate census documents or birth, marriage, and death information in local Barrie newspapers
Access the Simcoe County Branch, OGS, Settlers Database finding tool
Navigate AncestryLibrary.ca or FamilySearch.org

Reminders:

Coaching sessions are learning opportunities to introduce patrons to library resources that they may not be familiar with; library staff are not paid genealogy researchers
For advanced searches, we recommend contacting the Ontario Ancestors - Simcoe County Branch or the County of Simcoe Archives
Due to the popularity of these sessions, we ask that you book only ONE individual Genealogy Coach session per month

Digital & Print Research Resources

Atlases, Maps, Gazetteers

Search the Library catalogue for specific titles from each topic.

Atlases and Maps:

Gazetteers:

Biographical Dictionaries

Online version - Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 1000-1930, 1931-2000 some biographies are online

Births, Marriages and Deaths

Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Barrie Newspapers. Available online for 1847-1979, through Barrie Historical Newspaper Archive.
Office of the Registrar General

Cemetery Records

Inventory of Cemeteries in Ontario: a Genealogical Research Guide
Monumental Transcriptions: Records of 60 Burial Grounds in Central North Simcoe County
Individual cemetery transcriptions for Simcoe County (indexes available online through Simcoe County Settler's Database) including Barrie Union, Alliston, Orillia, Innisfil and others.

Census Returns

Ancestry Library online - Census, vital statistics, church, court, and immigration records from Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and other areas
Personal name census for Ontario 1842-1911. Search 'Census of Canada' in the library catalogue
Name indexes to the 1871 census for all Ontario counties and 1861, 1871 and 1891 for Simcoe County. Search 'Index to the census of Ontario' or 'census of simcoe county' in the library catalogue.

Church Records

Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register: Simcoe County 1825 - 1910
Histories of churches, schools, personalities, communities in Simcoe County
Other selected registers. Search 'church register' in the library catalogue for a list of most of our holdings or search a specific church.

Court Records

Index to Probate and Surrogate Court Records in Simcoe County - 1828-1929

Directories

Genealogical Research Directory: National and International 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Other selected directories, such as Toronto 1837, Ontario 1857. Search 'Genealogy directories' in the library catalogue or a specific directory.

Land Records

Ontario Archives Land Record Index
Index to Upper Canada Land Books 1787-1841

Loyalist and Military Records

Various print resources, search the Library catalogue for specific titles for this topic.

Dictionary of Canadian Biography by National Archives of Canada and National Library of Canada
Ancestry Library Edition (in library use only)
Family Search Canadian Military Records
Loyalist lineages of Canada by Toronto Branch, the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.

Newspapers

Barrie Examiner, 1864 to 1979 online, with some gaps in coverage
Globe and Mail: Proquest Historical Newspapers 1844-2016
Inventory of Ontario Newspapers 1793-1986
Northern Advance, 1854 to 1940 online, with some gaps in coverage
Toronto Star: Proquest Historical Newspapers 1894-2018

Online Resources

Ancestry Library- Census, vital statistics, church, court, and immigration records from Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and other areas.
Archives of Ontario - Tracing Your Family History- Genealogical holdings of the Archives of Ontario and links for genealogical research, information regarding births, marriages and deaths, microfilm interloans, wills and estates.
Barrie Historical Newspaper Archive- Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Barrie Newspapers, 1847-1979
Genealogy and Family History- Military Records, Land Grants, Census Returns, as well as lists of resources arranged by provinces.
Cyndi's List- Comprehensive genealogical website covering worldwide resources, arranged by category and searchable by topic.
Family Search - LDS- Ancestral Files; 1880 Census of the United States; 1881 census of Great Britain; 1881 Census of Canada.
GenUKI- Comprehensive information about genealogical research in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including parish registers, birth, marriage and death certificates, surnames lists.
Historical County Atlases of Ontario- Digitized illustrated historical county atlases of Ontario, published in 1874-1881. Searchable by name or county.
History at Home: A Guide to Genealogy- Great primer for budding genealogical researchers with lists of recommended online resources.
Ontario Genealogical Society - Simcoe County Branch- Includes the online Settler's Database for many Simcoe County cemeteries, family names of the 1861 and 1891 census, Settlers Forms, Pedigree Charts, Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Records.
OurOntario- OurOntario searches across hundreds of sites. You can find audio, video, text, government documents, images and collections about Ontario, or from an Ontario organization. Great for searching historical local newspaper articles, birth/marriage/death notices and archival photographs. Includes pre-1980 Barrie Examiner and other local newspapers.
OurRoots– Full text of local histories from across Canada
RootsWeb- One of the largest genealogical websites, with a heavy focus on U.S. family research.
Dictionary of Canadian Biographies- a reference work of Canadian Biographies
Many Roads- 'Mega search engine' of the top 100 genealogy websites

Surname Index

Settlers Database online, also reference settlers' names contained in documents of the Simcoe County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society