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Wesleyan Methodist Baptisms Query: Help

The associated panel permits searching my private copy of the database of Ontario Wesleyan Methodist Baptisms.

About 1996 Ida Reed decided she would like to have something to do at home in her spare time, so she purchased the four reels containing the Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register. It took her at least two years of continually transcribing from the machine to the computer, at all hours of the day. She bought her own microfilm reader in order to do this.

The data are © Ida Reed, 2001. The information may be copied for personal use only, not for resale.

Source for the 4 reels of film was:

Victoria University Archives
73 Queen's Park Cresent
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1K7

Telephone (416) 585-4563

United Church Archives.
email Archives

The 4 reels of film that comprise the source of Ida's work can also be obtained from the LDS church using the following film numbers:-

Vol. 1, baptisms, 1825-ca. 1860 FHL #1759292

Vol. 2, baptisms, 1840's-ca. 1870 FHL #1759293

Vol. 3, baptisms, 1850's-1870's FHL #1759294

[Locality index to vol. 3] FHL #1698106 Item 3

Vol. 4, baptisms, 1860's-1910 FHL #1759295

The Query Dialog

The input fields on the panel permit you to restrict the response to baptisms that match any combination of the following criteria:

Count: Permits specifying the maximum number of matching entries to display at a time. The default is 20 at a time.

District: If specified limits the response to baptisms registered within a particular district. The arrangement of districts changed from time to time since after all the political administration of the province or UpperCanada / Canada West / Ontario also changed over the years covered by the database. The value entered here is a string that matches against part of the name of the district. So entering 'Middlesex' matches against any district name that contains the text 'Middlesex'.

Area: If specified limits the response to baptisms recorded in the specific lower level geographical area, typically a township. The value entered here is a string that matches against part of the name of the area. So entering 'West' matches against any district name that contains the text 'West'.

Name: Given: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose given name matches the specified pattern. The value is a regular expression. In particular if a simple string is given it matches all names that contain the string. For example "fred" matches "frederick", "freddie", and "alfred", among other names.

Name: Surname: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose family name matches the specified pattern. The type of search depends upon the value specified here and if the Soundex option is selected. In particular if the value is composed of letters of the alphabet and spaces then only names that match exactly will be included, except if the Soundex option is specified. However if value contains characters that have a special meaning in regular expressions then a pattern match it performed. For example ".*smith$" matches names that end in "smith".

Soundex: If this option is checked then the Soundex algorithm is used to make the surname search based on sound rather than an exact match.

Father: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose Father's name matches the specified pattern. The value is a regular expression. In particular if a simple string is given it matches all names that contain the string.

Mother: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose Mother's name matches the specified pattern. The value is a regular expression. In particular if a simple string is given it matches all names that contain the string.

Residence: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose parent's residence matches the specified pattern. The value is a regular expression. In particular if a simple string is given it matches all places that contain the string.

Birth Place: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose birth place matches the specified pattern. The value is a regular expression. In particular if a simple string is given it matches all birth places that contain the string. For example "m.*x" matches "middlesex", "msx", and "msex", among others.

Birth Date: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose birth date matches the specified value. The date is expressed in the form "yyyy-mm-dd". For example entering "1863" will match births in 1863.

Baptism Place: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose baptism place matches the specified pattern. The value is a regular expression. In particular if a simple string is given it matches all baptism places that contain the string. For example "m.*x" matches "middlesex", "msx", and "msex", among others.

Baptism Date: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals whose baptism date matches the specified value. The date is expressed in the form "yyyy-mm-dd". For example entering "1863" will match births in 1863.

Minister: If specified limits the response to baptisms of individuals by a minister whose name matches the specified pattern. The value is a regular expression. In particular if a simple string is given it matches all names that contain the string.

Query Clicking on this button performs the query. This may also be requested by pressing the Enter key while the input focus is in a text field.

Clear Form Clicking on this button resets the input fields to their default values.

Status Clicking on this link displays a page with a high-level summary of the transcription effort.

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