Area Archives & Repositories OFFLINE
Anglican Archives
The Archives of the Diocese of Ontario house many early church registers. Researchers should bear in mind that until 1832, only Anglican, Roman Catholic and Presbyterian clergy were allowed to perform marriages: people who were Methodist, Congregational or of other Protestant denomination may have been married in a Church of England. As of 2017, the Archives is open only by appointment. Send an email to archives@ontario.anglican.ca. Since it is managed entirely by volunteers, please wait patiently for a response.
Also please check the Anglican main website (at www.anglican.ca/about/organization/dioceses) to be sure you are contacting the correct Diocese. The “ONTARIO” diocese is only for part of Ontario. There are many Dioceses in our area, and the boundaries do not follow any municipal or provincial borders.
Some Loyalists who settled in “Kingston and District” actually located within Lennox & Addington County to the west of Frontenac County. The extensive Lennox & Addington County Archives, housed in the L&A County Museum — the building itself is an early jail — has recently been renovated and expanded. See the web page of the Lennox & Addington Historical Society at www.lennoxandaddingtonhistoricalsociety.ca for details on hours and holdings.
Queen’s Archives (in Kathleen Ryan Hall on Queen’s campus) houses many early documents from Kingston and the surrounding area, including Land Copy Books, the Land Grant Index, and the papers of several early families. The Archives is generally open Monday through Friday. For exact hours, directions, and information on their holdings, see their web site, archives.queensu.ca.
The Archives of Ontario website includes an excellent Research Guide to Loyalist records available in their collection: PDF Research Guide: The Loyalists
Kingston Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society
The Kingston Branch of OGS has their resources housed in the Central Branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library (see KFPL, below, for how to access). This non-circulating collection is available to all members of the public whenever the Central Branch is open. Included are many transcriptions of church registers in the area, indexes and transcriptions of census and cemeteries, and numerous family histories. The material includes a wide geographic range, including several books on the Loyalists as well as materials on early New England and New York settlers who may have become Loyalists.
Kingston Branch, OGS meets eight times per year. Their speakers provide excellent information on a wide range of genealogical topics. Details may be found at their web site kingston.ogs.on.ca.
There has been a tradition of scheduled Tuesday afternoon Geneology Research support ‘open-house’ at this location, from 2pm to 4pm with OGS and UEL members available to help however they can.
The Central Branch of KFPL at 130 Johnson Street, Kingston houses not only the collection of the Kingston Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society (see above) but also has a good collection of books on Kingston’s early settlement. The genealogy resources are located in the second-floor of the former Bishop’s House, in the west end of the library. The KFPL catalogue is available on-line at www.kfpl.ca. NOTE: The Kingston Branch Ontario Genealogical Society collection is incorporated into the main catalogue, and their books show the location “GENEAL”.
As of December 2014, KFPL also houses our own Kingston & District Branch UELAC’s library holdings on permanent loan, non-circulating (which means they must be used in the library and cannot be checked out). You will find them in the same area as the OGS library. Kingston UELAC collection library books are indicated in the catalogue with the location “UELAC”, and on the shelves by a label showing the Loyalist flag.
(A PDF listing of our books can be found at https://kingston.uelac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/title_list_sept_2015.pdf. This may assist you in planning a research trip to the Library.)
Suggested keywords for your KFPL research may be “Loyalist,” “genealogy” and “family history”.
Stauffer Library, at the north-west corner of Union Street and University Avenue, houses material that can assist genealogists looking for information on Loyalists, both those who settled in the Kingston area and others across the country.
Anyone can search the OMNI library catalogue at https://library.queensu.ca/search-tools/omni to find resources to use onsite. Note that on-line or borrowing access to some materials requires an Alumni, Queen’s staff or student ID. Members of the public living in the Kingston area may obtain a library card that gives borrowing privileges, for a fee.
The library also offers a guide to its genealogical resources, at guides.library.queensu.ca/genealogy.
http://library.queensu.ca/webmus/sc/menu.htm
If you’re just starting family history, Library and Archives Canada have a webpage on Genealogy and Family History. Within it, there’s a section How to begin your genealogy research which is a great starting point
This older index of Loyalist resources on the LAC website may be familiar, but this information is being transferred to the new LAC site shortly (still working as of January 2025).
Loyalist Collection at Brock University Library
This excellent library of Loyalist materials is located in St. Catharines, Ontario, but its catalogue is now available on the UELAC website, at www.uelac.org/Friends-Loyalist-Collection-BrockU/index.html. If you can’t find your information in the Kingston area, consider a visit to St. Catharines. For up-to-date information about open hours and location, check the Brock University Library home page.