Searching for an ancestor born 1925 in Ontario Canada

Jodie asked Olive Tree Genealogy a question about her grandfather:

would there be any way possible that you might know of a William Bulger born June of 1925 in Toronto Canada? it is my grandfather and I am trying to track down ancestry information, sadly his parents died when he was young and there is little information on them, I don't even have a name and my grandfather passed in 1994, can you help or advise me on where to look?

Jodie - Births in Ontario after 1914 are available by contacting the Registrar General. Here  is the address

Office of the Registrar General

Box 4600

Thunder Bay, ON
P7B 6L8

www.serviceontario.ca

416-325-8305

1-800-461-2156 (toll-free, Ontario only)

Provide them with the date of birth, parents' names if known and any other details you have. That will provide you with his parents' names and other information. From there you can start going backwards. 

Presumably if he was born in 1925 his parents were likely born 1909 or earlier so you should be able to find them in census records (the most recent is 1911), marriage records (these are online up to 1928) and so on. Deaths are available online to 1938 so if his parents died before that year you should be able to find them too - and that may give you more information on their parents.

Finding Parents' Names When all You have is Birth and Death Year

Deb asked

I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to find info on a person who is buried in the Colborne Township Cemetery Ontario ? This cemetery is online with photos of the headstones. However the stone for the person that I am researching only has the year of birth and the year of death. I am trying to find the names of his parents but with out an exact date of date it is difficult to find an obit etc. His name is Clayton Steels . By the stone he we born in 1920 and died in 2005. I was hoping that a local Genealogy Society had a clipping file by year and name or something. Any ideas.

Olive Tree Response: Deb - there are several ways you could try to find Clayton's parents' names

1. Send for his birth registration (assuming he was born in Ontario). You can request a search  by contacting the Office of the Registrar General.

2. Hunt for an obituary or ask on a mailing list if anyone has access to the 2005 newspapers for the area where he lived and died

3. Write to the cemetery where Clayton is buried and request any information they have.

4. Check out the other STEELS family members who are buried in that same cemetery. There's a very good chance they are all related. In fact I see that James Steels (1881-1947) would be a good age to have a son born 1920. James' wife was Anna (1888-1969), her name is on his stone. Just something to take a look at.

5. If all the above ideas fail, take heart because in six years the 1920 Ontario births will be available to the public. 

Good luck, I hope your quest is successful.