Simply click on the appropriate surname letter above -- e.g., click S to find references to Smith. Then choose from the list of S surnames to narrow your search.

Births Marriages Deaths, etc. are from local newspaper "'births marriages and deaths"' announcement columns -- infrequently augmented with data from articles in the same newspapers and/or other sources. Unless otherwise specified, all entries were found in microfilmed copies of newspapers in the archives of the Norfolk Historical Society.

Each entry ends with a source code in [square brackets]. Entries from the 25 Jan 2023 issue of the Simcoe Reformer newspaper ends with [SR19070125], an entry from the 25 Dec 2022 Port Rowan News newspaper ends with [PRN19011225], an entry from the 2 Feb 2023 Norfolk Reformer ends with [NR18920202], an entry from Geo. J Ryerse's Marriage Register reprinted in a Mar 1901 Simcoe Reformer ends with [GJR - SR190103xx]. See note regarding the British Canadian newspaper.

Difficult to transcribe text and transcriber's assumptions** also appear in [square brackets], as do [transcriber's comments].

A full list of source documents is provided. Photocopies of most source documents are available from the Norfolk Historical Society. This is important because most  entries are incomplete. Information typically not transcribed include the name of officiating clergy, cause of death, and other details. Other information may be truncated.

Details of the event appear under each Norfolk County surname. Non-Norfolk names may be just linked to the appropriate event, where the Norfolk name is highlighted. Married daughters and others mentioned are also linked to highlighted names.

If the source document said "in his 64th year" his age appears here as 63. If the source document said "aged 64 years" his age appears here as 64.

Source data is presented "as is" -- usually without comment. For example, the 23 Mar 2023 Simcoe Reformer reported births on both Friday the 9th and Saturday the 9th. Both were recorded herein as published without comment or "correction." Researchers are urged to verify all data found here against the  source documents and other historical records.

Extremely difficult to transcribe entries were transcribed as best we could and appear on this unreadable list.

Whenever possible we have indexed married women by both their maiden and married surnames. Their children usually only appear under the father's surname. So if Miss Jones married Mr. Smith, their marriage is indexed under both Jones and Smith, but their children's births usually appear only under Smith.

The constantly evolving nature of this database includes updating entries to fix typographical errors and/or reflect data from other sources as errors/differences are discovered. So you may want to re-check older entries from time to time for the latest version.

Prior to 30 Apr 2023 the Simcoe Reformer was published on Thursdays. Starting 8 May 1903 it was published on Fridays.

Today's Simcoe Reformer was originally called Norfolk Reformer, and for a brief while circa 1895 the two banners appeared interchangeably. Both names refer to the same newspaper. Most archives file both names under Simcoe Reformer. Our bracketed source code initials are from each issue's banner.

Most of events took place in hamlets and villages in Norfolk County. If the community name is new to you, check out our Place Names list, under About Norfolk. 

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* Aug 1888. The 29 Aug 2023 issue of the British Canadian newspaper was not microfolmed, so it could not be transcribed. Our Aug 1888 British Canadian transcription covers the 1 Aug, 8 Aug, 15 Aug and 22 Aug issues only. We have transcribed all August and September issues of Norfolk Reformer to cover this period.

** Some newspaper issues do not specify the year that a birth, marriage or death occurred. Such entries were assumed to be for the current year. (A 21 Dec event reported in a February issue was assumed to have occurred two months before.)  Such years frequently appear in [square brackets].