Canada Genealogy Research

Family trees seem to be gaining in popularity and you can find a wealth of information about genealogy in the United States, but when your ancestors lived in Canada it isn't as easy to find what you are looking for. Here are some tips and helpful websites you can put to use when doing family tree research in Canada.

Start With The Basics

For beginner genealogists, your best bet is to start with the basics and work out from there. Rootsweb is a free genealogy search engine that lets users share their family trees online for sharing with others. You can research basic surnames on Rootsweb and browse through the world trees, and then expand your search from that point on. Be careful though, because some people might not have correct or documented history listed, so don't take the names and dates they have as proof. It is useful for basic searching though, and you can find out more information from documents that you can verify.

Expanded Searches

Once you get your feet wet or you are already an intermediate researcher, you can move on to bigger and better things. Canada is a bit more difficult to research at times because you don't have as much access as you can find for ancestors in the United States. One helpful website that can be very useful is Cyndi's List. She has over 250,000 links to websites about genealogy and family research. They are categorized for easy searching, and there is a category for Canada which you can use that will take you to hundreds of other websites.

Archives

The Canadian Archives website has been beneficial for my own Ontario searches. These are the actual archival holdings for Canada and you can search the databases by surname, which makes it a lot easier than trying to find your way through a needle in a haystack. You can also search census by surnames, and military records as well. Some of the military papers like attestation papers, can be found and even printed out after you find them. I have found the military section to be exceptionally helpful because I have quite a bit of military history where my Canadian ancestors are concerned. You can also order the full records once you have looked at the previews and know for sure that you want to order the record.

Census

One thing they are doing in Canada which is fabulous, is transcribing census information. They have the Census Transcription Project which they have been working on for years. You can research by year, province, and also by surname. These are updated often so make sure you check back frequently because you might find a name later on that wasn't there months beforehand. This happened to me when I was looking for my Great Grandfather on the census for 1901. You can find the online index for the census at Automated Genealogy.

Google

When working on your family tree, especially in Canada, Google can be your best friend! Although it can be time-consuming, if you go to Google and do a search on the province or localized area, you can find a wealth of information. Try various ways of searching with different search topics, you will be surprised what you can find. Many people have their own personal websites with their family trees on them, and those can point you in the right direction if nothing else. If you think they might have useful information or might be related, you can email them and ask them if they know how to find a particular record.

Mailing Lists

Mailing lists are a great way to find information and connect with other researchers who are searching within your family tree. You can join a mailing list for a geographical area, or one by surname only. There are also mailing lists for things like United Empire Loyalists, Native Americans in Canada, etc.. I have met some fantastic people on mailing lists who live in Ontario and they have actually searched records for me and then emailed me the information.

Ancestry

Ancestry.Com is well-known when it comes to family trees. They do have tons of information for the taking, but you have to pay for the majority of it by subscribing first. They do have free trials often, so take advantage of them! Sometimes they have 3 day trials and you can find records and save them to your hard drive for printing out at a later time. They do have a Canadian section, but they don't have all of the information on the website just yet. If you know what you are looking for and know that they have it, wait a bit to see if a free trial period comes along.

Canadian research can be a bit tougher, but it can be done. Once you get use to the areas you are searching in and know your way around, you will get more efficient in your searching. Keep the faith and it will definitely pay off for you in the long run.