How to Find War Documents, Part 2

First Edition Published August 17, 2015
Revised March 10, 2016:  Fort York
Revised April 6, 2019:  ourontario.ca Publications

Copyright by Fred Blair

How to Find War of 1812 Related Documents for Your Ancestors
Part 2:  Upper Canada Militia Payroll Documents

            This is a series of blogs on how to find Upper Canadian documents from about the time of the War of 1812, but some of these strategies could be applied to other British provinces.  This discussion will focus on documents from before, during, and after the war.

            By law, every able-bodied male from 16 to 60 was required to serve in a local militia regiment.  If you had a male ancestor living in Upper Canada during the war his name probably appeared on a militia document.  Knowing where he was living at the time would help you identify which regiments or corps he might have served in.  If you found militia documents where his name was recorded you might discover more about his life during the war.  This Page may help you locate those documents or may direct you to other sources.

Some of us have a family history that our ancestor was at a particular battle.  A militia payroll may provide documented evidence of that event.  However, if his name was not recorded among the combatants he may also have been there in a supportive roll or as a bystander.  A different type of document such as a diary or war loss claim may support your family history.

A number of men had exemptions from service and their names would have been less likely to have appeared in a militia document.  Quakers, Mennonites, and Tunkers had a religious exemption but could still be called upon to serve in supportive rolls.  Another group exempted were those who mostly provided an essential service to the community and included judges, clergy, members and officers of provincial councils, magistrates, sheriffs, coroners, retired officers, physicians, school masters, ferrymen, and one miller from each grist mill.  Men directly supporting the military like blacksmiths, carpenters, and teamsters could also receive a temporary exemption while employed by the British.

There are several collections of militia documents.  The largest collection is online at Collections Canada where they have 14 digital microfilms at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.02-e.php?&q2=35&interval=50&sk=0&&PHPSESSID=gt8bg2rht3q1m7nm6vcacotod2
I will write more about this website below.

            The Ontario Archives has a number of sets of documents at http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/1812/index.aspx where you will want to look at the resources listed in the War of 1812 Research Guide.  The Abraham and Robert Nelles Fonds have documents for the 4th Lincoln Militia.  Other fonds have records from other areas.

            Lorine McGinnis Schulze’s website, The Olive Tree Genealogy, has militia documents online at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/mil/1812/ .

            Ourontario.ca has some documents online at www.ourontario.ca.

            The Fort York National Historical Site has digitally published Lieutenant-Colonel William Chewett’s 3rd Regiment of York Militia Orderly Book and the York Garrison Account Books online at


and


            The Niagara Historical Society and Museum has some militia documents in its collection and additional material online at www.niagarahistorical.museum.  I have transcripts of the 1st Lincoln Militia documents from this collection.  These records were on ourontario.ca in 2012, but I could no longer find them there in 2015.

            The Wentworth Historical Society, Volume 4, published in 1905, on pages 111-112, 1812 muster rolls for the commissioning of Captain James Durand’s Flank Company of the 5th Lincoln Militia and for Captain Samuel Hatt’s Company of men from the 5th Lincoln and 2nd York Militias at the Capture of Fort Detroit, online at http://ourroots.ca/toc.aspx?id=3754&qryID=66e1bc61-a91c-4bd5-9c72-9a129660ae4e.

            I am always interested in adding to this list of sources, if you have found some that I have not listed here, please let me know.

The Collections Canada website has a table of contents for the militia payroll documents.  Click on the Help link just above and to the right of the microfilm list on the webpage above.  Unfortunately, this table of contents does not have page numbers.

To help you with the microfilm search, I have compiled a table of contents with some page numbers of the material that I have looked at.  It has been published in the Militia Payroll Index Page on this blog site. 

I also have militia indices and transcripts for the

2nd York Militia

3rd York Militia

5th Lincoln Militia and

a history of the Coloured Corps with veteran biographies.



You may need help interpreting what you find in a document or putting it in perspective with what was happening during the war.

The local militia regiments were generally named after the county or area that they were recruited from.  Lincoln County in the Niagara District had 5 Lincoln Militia Regiments.  There were also payroll related documents for militia staff officers, the Incorporated Militia, carpenters and artificers, dispatch riders, killed and wounded, artillery drivers, the Coloured Corps, and war accounts.  Some men served in more than one regiment or corps and you may want to look at some of the provincial units, like the Incorporated Militia, as well.  As well as payrolls, the collection includes muster rolls, officer’s signed pay receipts, quarterly and year end returns, and other interesting documents.

There is also a similar collection of Lower Canada Militia payroll documents in the Collection Canada online microform documents.

            For a number of reasons not all payroll documents survived or remained legible.  The British had a template for writing these documents and most payrolls conformed to that standard.  There was a title on each document that indicated the type of document, the commanding officer, the regiment, and dates of service.  A payroll usually recorded rank, name, periods of service, number of days served, rate of pay, total pay, and remarks.  At the end of each document there was usually a certification and the signatures of the commanding officers.  Payrolls did not usually indicate what the men were doing or where they were stationed.  Remarks and other comments on the document will also be of interest.  The term “deserted” appears frequently and had the same meaning as “absent without leave”.  Deserters had to pay a fine if they were prosecuted and found guilty.

Payroll periods began on the 25th of the month and concluded on the 24th of the following month, but the payrolls did not always begin or end on those dates and may have included 2 or more payroll periods.

            A small number of payrolls omitted required details while others were edited or certified months or years later.  Additional copies of militia documents were often transcribed at the time by hand.  An effort was usually made to correct errors on earlier copies, so these transcripts are never identical to the originals. 

            Hopefully this Page has helped you find militia documents for your ancestors.  If you did not find your ancestor’s name on one of these documents, it may have been recorded in one of the additional sets of documents discussed in my other How To Pages.  Questions about the militia documents are welcome at my email address in the header above. 


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