Norfolk County Archives

"Of all the national assets, Archives are the most precious: they are the gift of one generation to another."
Arthur G. Doughty, Dominion Archivist, 1904-1935

The Norfolk Historical Society Archives holdings include a wealth of research tools and aids for those seeking their family's Norfolk roots, such as the Walsh Papers, historical township records, old area records on microfilm, and several libraries, including a thriving Family Histories collection. Our Early American Library is recognised as one of the finest outside the United States.

More specifically, but far from conclusively...

Norfolk County Records
Family Records
Family files, genealogy books, family histories, newspaper clippings, descendants letters.
Family Histories
(Here's a partial list.)
Family Bibles
Cemetery Tombstone Transcripts
Dozens of Norfolk County tombstones transcribed,
and several local cemetery keeper logs.
All released Census Rolls for Norfolk County
Census Years: 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901
Land Records
Abstracts and Copy Books covering 1795 to 1950
Newspapers
Various early issues from 1840 to 1860
Simcoe newspapers from 1860 to 1967
Others from Waterford, Port Dover, Tillsonburg, and Jarvis.
Marriage Records
1795 to 1870 (8,000 indexed by name)
Various Vital Statistics collections
Church Histories and Newspaper Records
from 1870 forward
Rare Books to Video Tapes
Scrapbooks
Hundreds of on-going family queries from other genealogists
Tweedsmuir Histories on loan from Norfolk district Womens' Institutes, all indexed
Baptism, Marriage and Funeral Registers
from several area churches
Indexes to Ontario Vital Statistics
Birth Marriage and Death records  
from 1869 forward to 1921
Various local township records
Birth, Marriage and Death registrations, Wills, Voters Lists, Assessment Rolls, business transactions,  etc.
Document collections including thousands of early papers dating from 1795 forward
Wills
indexed from 1796 to 1900
Published histories of Norfolk County and a collection of Norfolk Historical Society member speeches on local history
Historical Maps
including 1856 and 1877
Assessments, Directories and Voter's List
from 1795 forward
Over a century of photographs
of Norfolk residents, groups, homes, farms and businesses
Hundreds of records and newspaper accounts of Norfolk and area men & women who served in World War One, all carefully transcribed & indexed for easy use
Beyond Norfolk Resources: 
Loyalist Library
of Early Ontario and Early Canada resources
supported by the Grand River Branch of the
United Empire Loyalists Association
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Collections
dozens of volumes of early records.
Early Amercian Library
hundreds of books, including Canada's largest American genealogy collection with research material covering the original 13 colonies plus depth sections on New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New England and Michigan.
Finding Aids
for all other counties in Ontario, other Archives, Libraries and Museums, such as the Archives of Ontario in Toronto, 
and the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa.


1000's of Photographs

Published books and unpublished manuscripts available for your reference
100's of books


Miles of microfilm

Numerous biographies

Cemetery Records

Hundreds of  WW 1 records transcribed from area newspapers

 

Museum
N. H. S.