Welcome to the Huron County Library Assessment Roll Project

Original 1842 Assessment List and Population Report Book

Welcome to the Huron County Library Assessment Roll Project web site. This site contains a transcribed and alphabetized version of the 1842 Huron District Assessment Rolls, the earliest official population and land assessment record for this area.

Just what are assessment rolls? Assessment rolls are comprised of 2 parts: the assessment list and the population return. Assessment lists were used by the government to "assess" the worth of a person's net assets and determine how much money they needed to pay in taxes; they contain such useful information as name, acreage owned, lot number and concession. Population returns were done at the same time as the assessment lists and serve as a sort of primitive census, showing the name of a "head of household", number of people of different ages and sexes in the family and religious affiliation.

As in the original assessment rolls, this online version is organized into Townships, which are accessible from the "Index of Townships" page. However, unlike the original documents, the entries in this online version have been organized alphabetically to make it easier to track down individual people. Furthermore, all of the entries from all of the Townships in the Huron District have been compiled into a "Master List", which lists name and Township. If you are searching for an individual, but aren't sure which Township they may have lived or owned land in, the Master List is a good place to start. From the Master List, you can click on the names of the Townships to go to each Township's page of more detailed listings. The Master List can be accessed from the Index of Townships page.

WARNING: Some of the assessment roll pages are quite large and may take a few minutes to be loaded and displayed by your web browser. The Master List page, at about 300Kb, and the Township of Goderich page, at about 100Kb, are particularly large.

It should also be noted that the Huron County Library still possesses a complete microfilm archive of the original assessment rolls, which you are welcome to use if you desire.

Other important notes, as well as a historical preamble, a picture gallery and a list of other relevant sites can be accessed from the "Preamble and Notes" page.


Preamble and Notes
Index of Townships
Back to Huron County Library



This web page was created by Patrick Rourke at the Goderich Branch Library during the summer of 1998, sponsored by Young Canada Works in Heritage Institutions.
Last Modified: Friday, August 28, 1998. To give feedback about this web site, email the Goderich Branch Library.
© 1998, Huron County Library