At the time of the War of 1812, York County was much larger in size and extended along the lakeshore from present day Whitby to Hamilton and Burlington. The York Militia had been divided into three separate regiments. The 3rd York mustered from the Townships of Whitby, Pickering, and Scarborough in the east, the Town of York and York Township, and the Township of Etobicoke in the west. The 1st York mustered from the townships to the north and the 2nd York mustered from the townships to the west.
Toronto Branch OGS is pleased to be able to collaborate with Fred Blair, creator of the website War of 1812 Canadian Stories, in presenting the profiles of those men who volunteered for the 3rd York Militia in the War of 1812.
Fred Blair’s work on the men of 3rd York Militia has been to: index the known militia rolls; transcribe these rolls into a digital format so that they could be easily searched; prepare an alphabetical muster roll of all the known veterans in the regiment; compile all the service records for each name in the alphabetical roll to form a service record for each veteran; add information from other War of 1812 documents to each veteran’s service record and carrying out research into the family history of many veterans. To read more about Fred’s work, click here.
Were your ancestors in a battle? The 3rd York Militia engagements were:
- August 1812, the Capture of Fort Detroit, Cameron’s and Heward’s Co.
- October 13, 1812, Queenston, Cameron’s and Heward’s Co. under Lieutenant Robinson
- April 27, 1813, American Capture of York
Some veterans were at other engagements with other regiments or corps.
The results to date of Fred Blair’s work on the 3rd York Militia War of 1812 Veterans can now be viewed as Alphabetical Profiles with Service Records.
Would you like to be a part of this project? Perhaps by helping with the research on 3rd York Militia members by transcribing, proofreading, photography, photo research, etc. Not all tasks require a deep knowledge of the War of 1812. We would also love to hear from you if you can provide information on your own 3rd York Militia ancestor.
We can always use more volunteers and since much of the work is done online, you don’t have to be in Toronto. Please contact the project coordinator for more information.
Banner photo: Veterans of War of 1812 at a garden party at Rosedale, the home of William Botsford Jarvis, for prize giving of Fifth Militia District Rifle Association, 1861 October 23 (Toronto Public Library JRR 772 Cab II)