Fonds consists of records created and accumulated by the Ferguson family of Uxbridge and later of North York, Ontario. Included are diaries, correspondence, literary journals, Christmas and greeting cards, cookbooks, and various publications.

The majority of the fonds consists of correspondence, which was written between Beatrice and Murray Ferguson, the Fergusons and their friends, and Beatrice and her mother Gertrude, as well as between Beatrice's grandparents Gertrude and Frank Botha. Included in the correspondence are letters written between Beatrice Botha Ferguson and her pen pals, one of whom was Canadian poet Louis Dudek. Fifteen volumes of the First Statement literary journal accumulated by Beatrice Botha Ferguson from 1942 to 1944 are included in the fonds, as well as fifteen volumes of diaries written by Beatrice that document a twenty-four year period from 1938 to 1962.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+4599?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds documents the official and private lives of several members of the Simcoe family in England and Upper Canada, predominantly in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The fonds also contains records from John Graves Simcoe's Lieutenant-Governorship of Upper Canada 1792-1796. The records document the administrative and military careers of four generations of men of the Simcoe family, as well as the family's private life, including management of the family estate in Devonshire, financial matters, and genealogical research conducted by later generations of the family.

Family members represented in the fonds include Captain John Simcoe, John Graves Simcoe, Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe, Francis Simcoe, Eliza Simcoe, and John K. Simcoe.

Records include personal and official correspondence, letter books, reports, returns, and commissions. The fonds contains a considerable quantity of graphic materials, including watercolour paintings, drawings and prints; maps and celestial charts; architectural and technical drawings; and artifacts attributed by Simcoe descendents to John Graves and Elizabeth Simcoe.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+47?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds consists of records created and accumulated by Sir James David Edgar, his wife Matilda, and various other members of the Edgar family.

Their records include correspondence, both political and personal, speeches, lecture notes, invitations, published material, scrapbooks and photographs. As J.D. Edgar was actively involved in politics, correspondents includes many prominent politicians of his day, including Alexander Mackenzie and Sir Wilfred Laurier; there are also letters regarding important political events such as the North-West Rebellion.

Fonds also contains records from other family members, such as the diaries of Maud Edgar, a hand-written Shawnee-English dictionary compiled by Thomas Ridout, a typescript copy of Thomas Ridout's Old Memoir covering the period 1786-1788, photographs of various members of the Edgar family, genealogical material, and correspondence with family in the United States and overseas.

The fonds is divided into 11 series.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+65?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds consists of personal and professional records of Charles Shirreff and other Shirreff family members. Included are correspondence, land records, genealogical information and biographical information regarding the Shirreff family, notices of appointments, diaries, and other records. Correspondence includes: letters received by Charles Sherriff before his emigration from Scotland; letters regarding Colonel John By; letters detailing Alexander Shirreff’s expenses while exploring the land between the Ottawa River and Lake Huron; letters regarding the purchase of land and the purchase of the Bytown Gazette; and letters regarding the Shirreff family’s claim to the earldom of Stirling. Land records consist of: land grants; a Scottish property transfer; a rent roll of Fitzroy Harbour lots; a statement of property at Fitzroy Harbour; maps of the land by the Carp River and part of Fitzroy Township; and a plan of the Fitzroy Harbour. Genealogical and biographical material includes newspaper clippings, manuscript histories of the family, and a history of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at Fitzroy Harbour.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+604?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds consists predominantly of correspondence, diaries and copies of manuscripts relating to the Ridout family in Upper Canada in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The records document the family's service in the War of 1812, and their administrative and business careers, as well as the family's private life, including financial matters and genealogical research conducted by later members of the family.

Family members principally represented in the fonds include Thomas Ridout, Surveyor General of Upper Canada; Samuel Smith Ridout; George Ridout; Thomas Gibbs Ridout; and his wife, Matilda Bramley Ridout.

Records also include commissions, militia records, a Shawnee-English dictionary, household expenses, records relating to land transactions and Masonic Lodges, and Ridout family Bibles. The fonds also contains silhouette drawings and a plan of Samuel Smith Ridout's farm.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+43?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds contains personal and business correspondence of Peter Russell, and includes some correspondence from other family members. Included are correspondence, memoranda and circulars, diaries, copies of wills, inventories of personal belongings, commissions, receipts, bills, accounts, bonds, a table of fees, articles of agreements, a copy of an Act to prevent the Exportation of Base Coin to H.M Colonies in the West Indies and America, statements concerning the salary of Peter Russell as Receiver-General of Upper Canada, and a letters patent erecting a District Court in the Home District (with large seal attached).

Fonds also contains an account book of Peter Russell for the years 1793 to 1808. Fonds also includes a copy book of correspondence sent and received by Peter Russell as President administering the government of Upper Canada from 1796 to 1798. Correspondents include Captain Claus, Superintendent of Indians and Indian Affairs, and Captain Joseph Brant. Also included in the copy book are copies of speeches which Russell made to members of the Six Nations concerning their land grants on the Grand River, and speeches made to members of the Chippawa Nation.

The fonds is arranged chronologically, with the account book and copy book being described at the end of the chronological listing.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+46?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds consists of records created or accumulated by members of the Eldon (formerly spelled Elden) family in Ireland and Ontario (initially Canada West), and includes originals and copies of text, photographs, certificates, testimonials, newspaper clippings, artifacts, and maps.

Records are predominantly associated with John Elden (ca. 1711-1785), Joseph Elden (1760-1846), Robert Eldon (1821-1894), Robert Henry Eldon (1861-1945), Frank Irving Eldon (1895-1969), and W. Donald R. Eldon (Don) (1926- ).

Material in this fonds relates to the personal and professional lives of the Elden / Eldon family including birth, marriage and death records; family photographs; land records including a 1767 Irish deed as well as copies of a registry map and land transfers for a Muskoka cottage; current Eldon Arms and Crest records; letters; education records including a yearbook and degree; work related records such as a linen seal (1802) and penmanship book (1725); and professional recognition including the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal (1935) and various certificates and testimonials.

Many of the records were used to illustrate a book prepared by Don Eldon for the Eldon family titled: New Lands, New Hopes: Emigrations of the Eldon Family (2009). Two other books by Don titled: War Poems of Frank I. Eldon: Reflections at the Front and after World War I (2008) and The Eldon Family Bibles (2003) are also part of this fonds. Don Eldon was editor of the War Poems book.

Most of the copies of photographs and text were made by the donor in recent years.

Fonds includes records relating to Frank I. Eldon and mostly his involvement in WW I.

The fonds is arranged into five series based on donor-assigned categories. Files are arranged essentially in the same order as the donor arranged them, with minor changes made by the archivist.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+4597?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds consists of records of four generations of the Osler family, including: correspondence; diaries and journals; commissions, certificates, and diplomas; genealogical material; legal notes; printed material; and photographs. Correspondence includes bound volumes of letters, as well as loose correspondence. The first volume contains correspondence and accounts of Featherston Lake Osler's parents, and that of the Bath family, British relatives of the Oslers through marriage. Volumes two and three contains correspondence and other records of the Reverend Featherstone Lake Osler regarding his life as a sailor, student, and minister at Tecumseth and Dundas. Volume four contains letters of Ellen Osler and newspaper clippings regarding her life and death. The fifth volume contains letters and other records of Edward Osler Jr., the Rev. Edward Lake, and Henry Bath Osler. Loose correspondence contains personal and business letters of various members of the Osler family, mainly Justice Featherston Osler and Britton Bath Osler. Letters also include correspondence with Sir John A. Macdonald, Alexander, and Oliver Mowat regarding the payment of judges and other legal matters.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+1032?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds consists of records relating to early Loyalist settlement in the Niagara region including documents relating to claims for compensation for losses incurred during and following the American Revolutionary War, as well as early military records including records relating to the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

These records document the military involvement for multiple generations of Cryslers and Crysler relations as volunteers and sometimes regiment leaders for various causes.

Extensive correspondence and diaries from the mid-1800s until the early 1980s provide a comprehensive perspective of pioneer and more recent farm and family life in the Niagara region.

Detailed financial accounts and receipts document a wide range of expenditures and produce sales in the operation of a fruit and dairy farm throughout much of the twentieth century.

Mortgages, deeds, wills and estate records provide much detail about property transactions relating to members of the Crysler family over two centuries of land ownership in Niagara Township.

Beginning in approximately 1920, several family members developed an interest in family and local history and compiled research notes and family trees about Cryslers and related families including: Clements, Durhams, Cosbys, Fields and others.

The fonds includes photographs in many formats of family members, friends, social occasions and family properties. In addition, the fonds includes ephemera in the form of greeting cards, advertising, posters, broadsides, maps, programs and other materials.

Pencil and watercolour sketches and artworks created in the mid to late nineteenth century portray birds, horses, family members and other subjects.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+4421?SESSIONSEARCH

Fonds consists of records of Marshall Spring Bidwell, Barnabas Bidwell, and other members of the Bidwell family. Records of Barnabas Bidwell include correspondence, certificates, legal documents, and financial records. Included are letters and court records regarding the deficit in the accounts of Berkshire County. Records of Marshall Spring Bidwell include correspondence, degrees, certificates, licences, deeds, mortgages, wills, property records, Crown land grants, and other records. Bidwell's business correspondence consists of letters sent to John Bogert or to the firm of Ford and Bogert, Barristers in Brockville. Other letters are from Bidwell to Henry Cassady, a Kingston lawyer who looked after Bidwell's Canadian affairs after his departure. Records of the Bidwell family include genealogical information, information on properties held by family members, as well as correspondence, notebooks, diaries, legal records, clippings, and other records of individual family members.

For a more detailed description, use this link to the Archives of Ontario's descriptive database: http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+19?SESSIONSEARCH