Canadian Necrology

Related Links

Links to related biographical and historical resources and other necrologies.

1. Related Canadian Biographical and Historical Resources

Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
A major retrospective Canadian biographical reference source. Currently, it covers persons who died between the years 1000 and 1930. Some biographies for later years are now online.

The Canadian Encyclopedia
An excellent starting point for background information on Canadian topics.

Local History & Genealogy, Toronto Public Library
A portal to current and historical information on Toronto. Primary and secondary sources from TPL’s collections and links to Toronto-based resources are included.

Briggs, Elizabeth and Colin J. Briggs. Before Modern Medicine: Disease and Yesterday's Remedies: Using Documents from the Hudson's Bay Company Archives, the Provincial Archives of Manitoba, and The National Archives of Canada. Winnipeg, Man.: Westgarth, 1998.
Provides a guide to the names of diseases prior to the twentieth century. Useful when working with William Henry Pearson's records.

Canada’s Early Women Writers
"Presents biographical and publication information for more than 470 women who lived in Canada or wrote about Canada, and authored an English-language book or pamphlet of fiction or poetry that was published before 1940." From the database's description.

2. Guides to Newspapers

Newspaper Collection, Library and Archives Canada (LAC)
Describes LAC's extensive holdings and includes links to their electronic collection, research aids, and virtual exhibitions.

Newspapers: Current and Historical, University of Toronto Libraries
A research guide to the newspaper holdings at the University of Toronto Libraries. The historical tab includes open access Canadian historical newspapers.

List of Online Newspaper Archives, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
International in scope, the section on Canada identifies free and pay newspapers and digitization projects by province.

3. Primary Sources for Early Toronto

History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario, Containing an Outline of the History of the Dominion of Canada, a History of the City of Toronto and the County of York, with the Townships, Towns, Villages, Churches, Schools, General and Local Statistics, Biographical Sketches, etc., etc  Toronto: C. Blackett Robinson, 1885.

Pearson, W. H. Dates of Decease of Those Who Were My Friends, or With Whom I Was Slightly Acquainted [manuscript]. Toronto: 1853-1920.

Recollections and Records of Toronto of Old: With References to Brantford, Kingston and other Canadian TownsToronto: W. Briggs, 1914.

Robertson, J. Ross. Landmarks of Toronto: A Collection of Historical Sketches of the Old Town of York from 1792 until 1833, and of Toronto from 1834 to 1914. Toronto : J. Ross Robertson, 1914.

Scadding, Henry. Toronto of Old: Collections and Recollections, Illustrative of the Early Settlement and Social Life of the Capital of Ontario Toronto: Adam, Stevenson, 1873.

4. Other Necrologies

Canadian Health Obituaries
The Osler Library has, for many years, maintained an obituary file of Canadian medical obituaries and death notices. This online database is an index which refers researchers to the full obituary. It does not contain the actual obituary.

American Friend Obituary Index
An index to obituaries and death notices that appeared in the American Friend, a Quaker magazine published between 1894 and 1960.

College of Physicians and Surgeons Obituary Database Columbia University
Contains approximately 6,300 death notices, primarily for graduates of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, dating from 1909 to 2006.

Gaylord Music Library Musicians Necrology Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Maintained daily, this necrology indexes the current music media as it arrives in Gaylord Music Library.

The JewishGen Yizkor Book Necrology Database
An index of people murdered during the Holocaust and listed in the Yizkor (Memorial) Books.

Pennsylvania Scrap Book Necrology and The Harrisburg Newspaper Index
The State Library of Pennsylvania has digitized two necrologies:

  • Pennsylvania Scrap Book Necrology: Over eighty-volumes of obituary clippings pasted into scrapbooks from 1891-1904, primarily covering Civil War veterans from Pennsylvania newspapers.
  • The Harrisburg Newspaper Index: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania newspaper announcements of marriages and deaths published from 1799 to 1827.

University of Michigan--Necrology File Index
Files on nearly all students who attended the University of Michigan who died prior to 1965.

Related Links