“History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario” is a two-volume work published in Toronto in 1885 by C. Blackett Robinson. Volume one is a narrative history of the city and county, and the biographical sketches of early residents are spread through both volumes. This site presents those sketches in its own Biographical sketches section.
The book is a standard reference for nineteenth-century Toronto. Library catalogues give the title without the leading “A”, so searches in the Toronto Public Library or in WorldCat work better with the shorter form.
Bibliographic details
| Item | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Title | History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario | Toronto Public Library digital archive |
| Publisher and place | C. Blackett Robinson, Toronto | Toronto Public Library; WorldCat |
| Year | 1885 | WorldCat; Faded Page edition |
| Volumes | Two, with illustrations, maps, and portraits | Library catalog record |
| Named authors | Charles Pelham Mulvany (1835 to 1885); Graeme Mercer Adam (1839 to 1912) | Library catalog record |
The Toronto Public Library lists Mulvany as author and Robinson as publisher. Some catalogues spell the name “Mulvaney”, so both spellings turn up in citations.
Authorship
Credit for the text is shared. A library record notes that the preface credits Mulvany with the general outline of Canadian history, and that the part dealing with the early history of Toronto is the work of Graeme Mercer Adam. A modern citation usually names Mulvany first, with Adam and the publisher added. The sources checked do not say who wrote each individual biographical sketch, so this site does not attribute sketches to a particular author.
The dates in the library authority record show that Mulvany died in the year of publication. No source consulted explains how that affected the work.
What the volumes contain
The Faded Page transcription of volume one, prepared by Distributed Proofreaders Canada, describes the book as covering the history of Toronto and the surrounding area, especially the period before Confederation, along with local businesses and services, churches, schools, and agricultural production. The same description mentions the murder case involving Grace Marks, which the novelist Margaret Atwood later used in the novel Alias Grace. Volume one runs to 553 pages in that edition.
The biographical material is the part of the book that most readers use today. Pairing a general history with short biographies of local residents was common in county histories of the period. An Archive CD Books description states that the book has no index or list of the biographies and estimates the total at more than 1,500. That figure comes from a reseller of the reprint and not from a library count, so it should be treated as approximate.
Where to read the original
- Toronto Public Library digital archive: both volumes are held in the Baldwin Collection of Canadiana and are marked as public domain.
- Faded Page (Distributed Proofreaders Canada): volume one and volume two as separate transcribed editions, noted as public domain in Canada.
- Internet Archive: a scan of volume two exists under the identifier historyoftoronto02mulvuoft.
- MyHeritage: a searchable collection titled “History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario, Illustrated”.
Page images from the Toronto Public Library are the best choice for checking a quotation against the printed original, since transcriptions can contain typing errors.
How this site presents the book
The Biographical sketches section of this site is made up of excerpts from the book, arranged by surname. A reader looking for a family name opens the surname page and finds the sketches of people who carried that name in 1885. The sketches are reproduced as source material and are not rewritten into modern biographies, so they keep the opinions, spelling, and gaps of the 1880s.
The pages carry no extra research on the families named. The site’s editors do not trace family trees and cannot add facts beyond what the book states. For genealogical work, the genealogy links page lists outside resources, and the wider context of the city in 1885 is set out in the overview of Toronto’s history.
Reading the sketches with care
County histories of this kind were often subscription publications, and individuals could influence how they were described. The sources consulted for this page do not document that practice for this particular book, so it is raised as a general caution and not as a finding. Dates of birth, arrival, and marriage in a sketch are best confirmed against a parish register, a census return, or a land record. The City of Toronto Archives and the Archives of Ontario hold such records.
Spelling of names also varies. A surname can appear in two or three forms across the volumes, and a place such as a township may be given by an earlier name. Searching under variant spellings avoids missing a relative.
Frequently asked questions
Who published the 1885 History of Toronto and County of York?
C. Blackett Robinson published it in Toronto in 1885, in two volumes. The Toronto Public Library record names Charles Pelham Mulvany as author.
Who wrote the book?
Charles Pelham Mulvany is the author named in library records, and Graeme Mercer Adam is credited with the early Toronto portion according to a library note. The author of each biographical sketch is not stated in the sources checked.
How many biographies does it contain?
No library count was found. A reprint seller estimates more than 1,500, and the book has no index of its biographies.
Is the book free to read online?
Yes. The Toronto Public Library digital archive and Faded Page both offer the volumes, and both mark the text as public domain.
Sources
- Toronto Public Library, Digital Archive, Baldwin Collection of Canadiana: History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario, volumes one and two
- WorldCat catalog record, OCLC 62965041
- Faded Page, Distributed Proofreaders Canada, transcriptions of both volumes (volume one)
- Internet Archive, item historyoftoronto02mulvuoft
- MyHeritage collection and Archive CD Books product description (used only for the biography estimate)
Last verified: October 2026
Related reading
- Overview of Toronto’s history
- Historic buildings of Toronto
- Historic churches of Toronto
- Genealogy links for Toronto research
- Toronto history hub
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). A History of Toronto and County of York (1885). https://historyoftoronto.ca/history/bios/history-of-toronto-and-county-of-york
MLA: “A History of Toronto and County of York (1885).” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/history/bios/history-of-toronto-and-county-of-york. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “A History of Toronto and County of York (1885).” Last modified October 23, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/history/bios/history-of-toronto-and-county-of-york.
The pages have no named author, so the site is given as the author. Add the date you read the page if your style asks for it.