Gore District Marriage Register of Upper Canada 1842-1856

By Dan Walker & Fawne Stratford-Devai

 The Gore District included the present counties of Wentworth, Halton, Brant Waterloo & Wellington, parts of Haldimand and Lincoln. Boundaries changed as the population grew. See the Background section below for those details.

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This book includes a complete transcription of the original Gore District Marriage Register created by the Clerk of the Peace. Each ministers' entries include the page number in the original register where those entries are located.

Towns and townships where marriages occurred and were reported in the Gore District Register include: Nelson, Nassagawaya, Esquesing, Trafalgar, Town of Oakville, East Flamborough, Erin, Saltfleet, Eramosa, Chinguacousy, Ancaster, Town of Brantford, Dundas, Brantford Township, Town of Hamilton, Cayuga, Oneida, Beverly, Barton, West Flamborough, Dumfries, Blenheim, Town of Palermo, Glanford, Brinbrook, Wilmot, Grimsby, Townsend, Gainsborough, Waterloo, Guelph, Town of Paris, Grand River, Tuckersmith, Whitchurch, Town of St. Catharines, Puslinch and a number of other areas.

Background: In March of 1816 the Gore District was created out of parts of the West Riding of York County, Home District and parts of the first riding of Lincoln County and the Haldimand County in the Niagara District. The Gore District included the present counties of Wentworth, Halton, Brant Waterloo & Wellington, parts of Haldimand and Lincoln counties. In June of 1840, the counties of Waterloo and Wellington were separated out of the Gore District to form the Wellington District. Effective in 1831 the marriage returns for the Gore District were required to be returned to the Clerk of the Peace in the District town of Hamilton. Returns were sent to the Clerk from clergy who performed marriages, with the exception of Anglican and Roman Catholic ministers. However, many Anglican and Catholics settlers married in churches of convenience or by passing circuit riders when churches of their own faith had not been established yet -- the result is that many of those marriages appear in these District Marriage Registers.

Unfortunately the early marriages for the Gore District have not been found. The District Marriage Register that survives includes only returns from 1842 onwards. As of January 1850 all Districts were abolished and the Gore District became the independent Counties of Wentworth, Halton, Haldimand and Brant and remain to this day.

The Gore District Marriage Register does not begin until 1842 which is quite late for a district that was created in 1816 and for which a district marriage register should have been started in 1831. In an attempt to capture some of this lost early information for the district, we have begun to assemble and publish all existing vital records (early birth, baptism, death and burial records as well as similar yet unknown vital records) for the Gore District

Check bordering Districts:  Complete District Marriage Register Series booklist  When searching for marriages recorded in Marriage Registers keep in mind that many returns were submitted by ministers who were circuit riders who often performed marriages at great distance from their home bases. Circuit riders reported marriages in the register of the District where they lived which was not necessarily in the same District where the marriage took place. That said, if you cannot find the marriage in the Gore District register you would be well advised to search bordering districts such as the Niagara District Marriage Register, the Brock District Marriage Register , the Talbot District Marriage Register, the Wellington District Marriage Register and the Home District Marriage Register.

Related article: District Marriage Registers of Upper Canada (Ontario) 1786-1870 - What are they and why are they important?

Details:

190  Pages 
8.5" X 11" 
Maps
Index 
Originally published by Norsim, Toronto, 1995
This revised and updated edition with new maps and introduction published by Global Heritage Press, Milton, 2000 
ISBN  978-1-894571-36-4 (coil-bound edition)