Preamble
This site was created in March 2000 with the hope of expanding our family research. In the process, we began transcribing available Port Hope and Hope Township historical resources. We hope you find something of value in these 250+ pages.
In 2017, we were honoured to have the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) approach us to partner with them, ensuring our continued free future online presence. To visit their website, click the Ontario Ancestors logo.
Barbara Kyle & Peter Bolton
Updates
- 25 September 2024: A request from Brown/Lightle/Miller/Jewell researcher Lorraine Satchell
- 12 September 2024: The Story of Wesleyville United Church & Its People
- 03 September 2024: A brief history of the Port Hope Public Library
- 28 August 2024: Information about the local women presented in Susan Rafuse's thesis about women's involvement in WW2
- 06 August 2024: The Farmerettes (WWII)
Help!
I am hoping someone might lead me to the whereabouts of the Canada General Service Medal (hover over the sample on the right to enlarge) received by my great-grandfather,
Henry Skitch, a bugler with the 46th East Durham Battalion in the 1866 Fenian raids. His name is inscribed on the medal's rim. A long shot, but if I don't try...!
Peter Bolton
pjbue@hotmail.com
Families
The first section below gives the lineages of our family, while the second is there for you to help discover and share information about members of your ancestors who may have lived in the area.
To display a page, click or tap the 
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Our families
We are hoping that relatives will browse through these family pages, recognize a connection, and get in touch!
- Bolton, Gray, Powell, Thomas (Buckinghamshire/Middlesex)
- Skitch, Peardon, Bailey, Harris (Cornwall/Devon)
- Nicholas (Yorkshire)
- Holloway (England)
- Kyle, Carse, Oliver, White (Northumberland, England)
- Currie (Argyll, Scotland)
- Monaghan, Mills, Beatty, McCleary, Campbell (Ireland)
- Frederick, Rush (Loyalists from New Jersey)
- Greenleaf (Bergen Co., New Jersey)
- Marshall, O'Connell (Quebec)
Your families
Feel free to list the local surname(s) you are researching.
Local family histories we have received. If you would like yours added, please remove any living relatives from the file (privacy concerns).
Port Hope and Hope Township resource materials
This section provides links to information about Port Hope and Hope Township. Before manually exploring the various sections, try using the following tools.
Search the website
1. Search box
Spelling, especially with surnames, varies considerably on many of the earlier documents, so you may still need to do some manual searching.
Note There may be some pages that this free version does not search.
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2. Categorized index
This link provides you with a categorized index of all of the webpages on this site.
Census
The following census (and related) materials are available for online searching:
- Crown Deeds of Hope Township
- Elias Smith's 1799 Hope Township report
- Augustus Jones' 1799 Hope Township report
- 1801-1806 Port Hope/Hope Township Oaths of Allegiance
- 1802-1807, 1842-1847 Hope Township tax assessment rolls
- 1803-1841, 1850 Hope Township census indexes
- 1847, 1913 Port Hope assessment rolls
- 1851-1921 Port Hope/Hope Township census returns
- 1856, 1857/'58 business directories
- c1898, 1900 Port Hope Bell Telephone directories
- 1920 Hope Township voters list
- 2008 Port Hope/Hope Township assessment rolls
Vital statistics
An index of 36,000+ local births, marriages, and deaths, as reported in the 1832-2009 Port Hope newspapers.
152 Port Hope/Hope Township marriages (1804-1854) from Reid's Marriage Notices of Ontario, Wilson's Ontario Marriage Notices, and Marriage Bonds in Ontario.
133 baptisms (1854-1884) from Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church (Port Hope) registers
The entire BMD (1853-1920) image set for the Church online has not been indexed, so you will need to go through them page by page. You will need to open a free account with the LDS, at which point the above link will work.
148 baptisms (1875-1914) from the Garden Hill Presbyterian Church register
Port Hope/Hope Township extractions from Trent University Archive's extensive collection (#83-016), beginning with this listing of 273 births (1869-1872) from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics fonds and transcribed through the kindness of Archivist Bernadine Dodge.
238 Port Hope/Hope Twp. marriages (1869-1872) from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics fonds (#83-016). Included are several recently-discovered marriage entries in the 1825-1848 range.
Extracts from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics Additions fonds - 1838-1855 (#84-004): baptismal records; marriage lists; and burial lists. The transcription maintains the original spelling - except where known errors have been corrected - so it would be advisable to manually check the database, in addition to using the search engine.
260 Port Hope/Hope Township inquests from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Court Records fonds - 1832-1914 (#84-020). This transcription also maintains the original spelling, so you should manually search the database.
Examples of the inquest procedure are shown for Robert Best, who died of exposure in the northern section of Hope Township in 1867, and for James McCabe, a Kingston Penitentiary escapee, shot in Port Hope by Constable William Rankin in 1883.
Vital statistics from local family Bibles
495 local emigrants, mostly to the United States (1889)
CemSearch—an online database of 442,000+ interments. Information is also provided about local cemeteries.
142 death/funeral notices from 1861-1916
Local funeral home records dating from 1864
Elizabeth Hancocks, of Generation Press, has given permission to list the Port Hope/Hope Township probate entries from Surrogate Court Index of Ontario (1859-1900) Volume 4, Northumberland and Durham Counties.
1,400+ probates (1821-1997) of area residents
Military
WWII veteran and author, George Sweanor's Military Contributions of a Small Town, honouring over 2,200 Port Hope veterans who served in our nation's conflicts
A booklet prepared for the Annual Meeting of the Midland Regiment Association, held in Port Hope 05 May 1973. Many local members are listed, as well as a history of the Regiment and the service for that day.
Over the past thirty years, Gerry Collette has gathered information on artillery used in war and later presented to the towns from London to Kingston for use as memorials, including the two pieces in front of the Town Hall.
Conflicts prior to the two world wars
1st Regiment of the Durham Militia (15 Dec 1837)
1st-6th Durham Battalions of the Militia of Canada (1847)
1st Battalion of the Durham Regiment of Militia (1856)
The Prince of Wales' Canadian Dragoons (c1857), an article by Neil Dukas
Royal Hospital Chelsea out-pensioners in the Toronto District (1859)
Port Hope Light Infantry Volunteer Company (01 May 1866)
Photograph of the 46th Battalion band at the Commons, southeast of the viaduct (1869)
Photograph of the Fenian Raid veterans of the 46th Battalion of Port Hope (c1870)
With the Midland Battn. during the North West Rebellion of 1885—William E. Young's personal diary
From the 15 Nov 1935 Evening Guide, featuring a reprint of the 1915 Fenian Raid veterans' banquet
World War I
Officers of the 136th Durham Overseas Battalion (15 May 1916)
Decisions of the Appeal Tribunal in Port Hope and Hope Township cases (25 Jan 1918)
Hope Township WWI soldiers (24 Dec 1918)
Book of Remembrance: Local Participants in the Great War (1914-1918)
This transcription of the original 1919 book (only two copies were made) includes the photographs on permanent display at the Town Hall.
200 letters written at the WWI front and published in the local newspaper. Many of these letters are included in the Port Hope Archives' 2007 reprint of the Book of Remembrance.
Library and Archives Canada's digitization of 620,000+ Canadian Expeditionary Force WWI personnel service files
Library and Archives Canada's digitization of the images from the Circumstances of Death Registers for World War I soldiers. The records for Sims-Z have not survived.
World War II and the Korean War
Biographies and/or photos of the WWII and Korean War soldiers whose names are inscribed on the Port Hope Cenotaph
Service Files of the Second World War - War Dead, 1939-1947 at Library and Archives Canada
Photos of some of Port Hope's WWII veterans, published in the Evening Guide's 11 May 1945 issue
The Farmerettes: young women - and primarily students - 16 years of age and older, who assisted in all aspects of farm work, replacing the labour of men lost to military service.
Pushing the Boundaries:
Canadian Women’s Experiences in World War II
Susan Rafuse has graciously given permission to present her 2004 Master of Arts thesis. In her words:
"This thesis contextualizes the use of oral narratives with the academic and popular literature written during World War II and since 1945. The work focuses upon the experiences of various [local] Canadian women during the war. The thesis illustrates how the circumstances of the war provided many women with new found opportunities which were created from the disruption and loosening of numerous social conventions which defined the gender order."
Further information on the local women presented in the thesis can be found here.
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 30
A History of the Port Hope & District Pipes and Drums (1958-1987), by John A. Elliot
Letters, diaries, and logs
Written communication, dating from 1819, penned by residents of the Port Hope area, including the 1890 log of Sylvan Glen Camp
Education
Portions of the Port Hope Model High School Register (1891-'92) and the complete Training Register (1884-1904) for those in teacher training. There's also a link to a report card from 1880.
Hope Township School Section student Registers (1892, 1893, 1896, 1897)
Morrish School S.S. #5: A history by Marian Marvin, a teacher at the school in the 1930s
Port Hope High School Commencement Exercises (15 Dec 1899), held at the Opera House
Dr. L.B. Powers Public School (19254-1975): a commemorative booklet
Businesses
Port Hope breweries (c1817-1911), compiled by Doug Mannen
Port Hope hotels and their owners/operators over the years
Port Hope's daguerreotypists, ambrotypists, and photographers in the 1850s-1940s (a useful aid for dating ancestral studio portraits)
Municipal
Tax assessment rolls provide a property's address, legal description, and year of building construction. With this description (and some patience!), one can search the history of a property online.
Port Hope in 1834, with map
By-Laws of the newly-formed Board of Police (1834)
Early Council: the Chief Magistrates/Mayors of Port Hope from 1834 to the present day (a work in progress)
Port Hope harbour, as shown in an 1854 plan for the proposed Grand Trunk Railway, with links to an 1831 letter to the editor about the harbour conditions, and the 1846 projected harbour plans
Port Hope Fire Brigade members (1891), with some history of the Brigade
A brief history of the Port Hope Public Library, from a 1960 Evening Guide article
Highlights of the History of the Port Hope Hospital (1911-1963)
Churches
The local church was the social hub of the community, providing a regular opportunity for families to come together for worship and special events.
Communities
History of Elizabethville, by Vivian Quantrill
History of Perrytown, by Edith Carruthers
History of Port Britain, with an 1860 map, by Harold Reeve (1937)
Social and fraternal organizations
Subscription fundraising pamphlet for the local YMCA (1897)
Souvenir booklet produced for the 1901 Port Hope Old Boys Reunion, with thanks to Kit Kennard and the Port Hope Archives
The Durham Lodge, No. 78, IOOF annual report, year ending 31 Dec 1907
Ten community plays, performed by Port Hope citizens (1908-1933)
Local I.O.O.F. Decoration Day services (1918, 1921, 1923, 1926, and 1939)
Miscellaneous historical
Louis Bertolotto of 1830s London, England, flea circus fame, buried in Port Hope's Union Cemetery
A March 2000 inquiry into the frequency of the number 13 in Port Hope house addresses by noted Canadian medical author, Robert E. Popham. Click here to read a 13 October 2000 Evening Guide article about the investigation.
Additional sources of information
The Port Hope Archives is located in the refurbished former County Registry Office at the foot of Walton Street.
Note The Archives is closed indefinitely, pending amalgamation with the Northumberland County Archives & Museum (NCAM) at its new facility.
The Port Hope Public Library has a number of resources, including microfilms of the available newspapers. The Ancestry (Library Edition) programme can also be accessed at the library.
An extensive collection of photos and information gathered by the late local historian, Cal Clayton.
Sites, including the Upper Canada Land Petitions, that we have found useful for research.
If you are looking for information beyond what we have on this site, you might try the sources listed above. Happy searching!
Barbara Kyle & Peter Bolton, UE
Port Hope, Ontario, Canada
pjbue@hotmail.com
Your help is appreciated
In partnering with us, the Ontario Genealogical Society has assumed our costs of operating this site, as it has done with other sites that it feels should continue to exist when the original owners can no longer maintain them.
As is the case with all charitable organizations, it relies upon donations to help defray these increasing costs. If you would like to help, please click on the 'Donate' logo. Thank you!
Acknowledgement
Website structural development by Lee R. Batchelor
Technical Writer - Port Hope, Ontario
acre97@outlook.com
Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Captain Lawrence Robb Batchelor, 17th Duke of York’s Canadian Hussars, who courageously fought at and survived the battles of the Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele. Did he spend a few moments with some of the Port Hope boys before engaging in one of those battles? I would like to think so.
Material provided is for personal use only and not to be used for profit.
Copyright © 2000-2024 PJBolton