Researching yourCanadian Ancestors

Your Guide to Finding Canadian Ancestors

Provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, New Foundland and Labrador

Territories: Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut

Find out more about Canada and the History of Canada at Wikipedia

Guides * Maps * Libraries, Archives and Societies * All Canada Sites * Resources * More Links

Genearal Guides to Canadian Research

Books, Articles, etc.

The Handybook for Genealogists (10th or 11th edition) as a section on Canada, which includes a map, basic historical information, a brief description of record types, vital records coverage and a bibliography of resources, (find in a library)
Finding Your Canadian Ancestors: A Beginners Guide, 2007. (Find in a Library)
Baxter. In Search of Your Canadian Roots, 3rd ed. 2000 (Find in a Library)
Genealogy and the Law in Canada (not yet published).
Bourrie. Finding Your Canadian Ancestors,, ???? (find in a library)

On the web

Oh Canada! An Introduction to Canadian Reseach
Global Gazette: Canada's Online Family History Magazine (subscribe free) -- not all articles are specific to Canada, but it is a way to keep up with current genealogical news from a Canadian perspective.
(pdf) National Archives of Canada. Tracing Your Ancestors in Canada 1998 (but a good basic overview of the records)
Bookmark or print out these FHL documents: Canada Research Outline. *
- The FHL also offers research guidelines for 10 of the provinces of Alberta * British Columbia * Manitoba * New Brunswick * Newfoundland * Northwest Territory * Nova Scotia * Nunavut * Ontario * Prince Edward Island * Quebec * Saskatchewan * Yukon, as well as a listing of major indexes for Canada and its provinces.

Maps, Atlases and Gazatteers

To find where a place in Canada is located and view current maps, use Geographical Names of Canada, or try Places in Canada. You might first want to read Dick Eastman's review of this site.

McGill University Canadian County Atlas Digital Project (only contains County Atlases from Ontario so far)

See what's available at the Canada Gen Web Before you go straight to the genweb of the province or territory of interest, take a few minute to explore the pages listed to the right of the list of province and territory gen web pages.

Libraries, Archives and Societies

Visit the Canadian Genealogy Centre, the genealogy website for the Library and Archives of Canada. You will want to see what's available in their several databases as well as visit their How-to page, which breaks down into sources by topic and sources by place. For each of these, the list of topics and places is on the left hand side of the page. There is also a links page (again, links are on the left) and a query page you can use to contact the Centre.

In addition to a National Archives, there are 13 Provincial and Territorial Archives in Canada; you will want to visit the one specific to the area you are researching.

You can search AMICUS a combined catalog of the Library and Archives of Canada plus over 1300 Canadian libraries. Note this searches only for published material; it won't help you find manuscripts and other archival resources. Visit the Archives Canada to locate material in archives throughout Canada.

As I write this (Feb.2007) there are two search engines on the site. ArchiviaNet is being phased out and Archives Search is replacing it.

Links to websites of several Canadian Genealogical and Family History Societies.

Use LibDex to find the website of a library in Canada.

All-Canada Sites

Free

Canada Gen Web -- visit the page for the provinces of interest too
Canadian Genealogy (AHGP) -- visit the pages for the provinces of interest too
That's My Family -- a wonderful site tht allows you to search hundreds of resources in one search. Many, but not all of the hits will be from the Archives of Canada. You will definitely want to use it to see what you can find.
Marj's Place -- links, information and databases.
Help may be available from a kind volunteer at the Canada Genweb's Genealogy Helplist: Canada.

Subscription Sites

The $ Genealogical Research Library $ is a subscription database for Canada that boasts millions of name is one massive index. I've not tried it, but it does offer a free search and memberships as low as $10 for one week. I would like to see a better description of what it indexes.
$Ingeneas$ is a database of Canandian records that can be searched for free, and information from "hits" will then be sent to the requestor for a price. The results usually give sufficient information to allow you to find the information yourself. Ingeneas has one free database, which includes data from a few lists of immigrant settlers and passenger lists scattered within various collections, mostly relating to immigrants from Great Britain arriving in Canada between 1801 and 1849.

Resources: Cemetery, Census,Land, Vital Records,

Cemetery

Canada Genweb Cemetery Project: a surname search of the whole will find those provinces for which a burial of that surnme is included. (note it does not search linked pages)

Canadian Gravemarker Gallery -- you can search the site or browse. There is not a lot here, but it includes pictures of the graves listed.

FindAGrave includes some Canadian cemeteries -- as does Interment.net

Census

(book) Bourrie. Researching Canadian Census Records. 199 (find in a library)
FamilySearch Research Wiki: Canadian Census
FHL How Canadian National Census are Organized ; also available on the FamilySearch Resedarch Wiki: How Canadian Census are Organized ; this summary provides information for obtaining film copies through your local Family History Center.
Your local public library can also borrow microfilmed census records on ILL from the Library and Archives of
Canada -- but before trying to get a film copy, see if you can't find an online transcription or images.
Extraction Forms: not only help you make sure you get all the information, but the headers tell you exactly what question was asked.
- You can download Canada census extraction froms (for free) from Ancestry.com
- Free Canadian census forms are also available at free-genealogy-forms.com (scroll down)
Pre 1871 Census Records
- FHL research guide: Canadian Census Records Before 1871
- AllCensusRecords.com has links to some pre-1851 Canadian census records available online.
- Search the 1851 in Family Search Pilot . At this time, this serves only as an all name index; no images are posted. Read the "Collection Description" to learn what is missing.
- Automated Archives has indexed some (not all) of the 1851/1852census. (not yet completely indexed).
  Once you find the result you want, click on the page link to go to a transcription. Or use the information to find the scanned image at 1851 census at the Library and Archives of Canada.
- Search the 1861 in Family Search Pilot. At this time, this serves only as an all name index; no images are posted. The 1861 census must be searched by province.
  - New Brunswick 1861
  - Nova Scotia 1861
  - Ontario 1861
  - Prince Edward Island 1861
  - Quebec 1861
1871
- FHL Research Guide Canadian 1871 Census
- Search the 1871 in Family Search Pilot. At this time, this serves only as an all name index; no images are posted.
1881
- FHL Research Guide Canadian 1881 Census
- Search the census of 1881 on the Library and Archives of Canada site, with links to images (.pdf or jpeg)
- Search the 1881 census of Canada at FamilySearch.org, with links to transcriptions of the census records. (Before you search, be sure to use the dropdown at the top to select only the 1881 Canadian census)
1891
- FHL Research Guide Canadian 1891 Census
- You can search the Libraries and Archives of Canada database for 1891 with links to images (.pdf or jpeg)
- Family Search Pilot Project indexes the 1891 census (no images)
1901
- FHL Research Guide Canadian 1901 Census.
- 1901 Every name Index at Automated Archives
1906 Census of the Northwest Territories (no other census records taken)
- Automated Genealogy Indexwith links to transcriptions, as well as to the images (links to images on the top row.)
1911
- 1911 Every name Index at Automated Archives, with links to transcriptions, as well as to the images (links to images on the top row.)
- 1911 Images are available at the Libraries and Archives site, but searchable only by location. Use the Automated Archives Index above to find the location information.
Cecnsus Records on the website of the Genealogy Research Center

Find more census records online

About.Com Canadian Census
Census Finder: Canadian Census Records Online
CensusOnline: Canada (listed by province)
Cyndi's List Canada - Census
Ancestry.com has 1851-1911 for all of Canada, plus 1906, 1916 for some of the provinces (World Deluxe Membership) If you have a subscription to Ancestry.com, you may prefer to use it using Steve Morse's One Step Search -- Searching the [dropdown] Canadian Census in One Step. (use the drop down to select the census)

Church Records: Before 1869, when the Vital Statistics Act came into effect, records were not collected centrally by the government. Church records may fill help the genealogist fill this void. Because Canadian census records specify the church attended, it can be easier to narrow down your research.

To start, see what has been filmed by the Family History Library. For a brief summary of what is available, including information on how to find these records in the Family History Library catalog, see the FamilySearch Wiki Canada Church Records.

Canadian Baptist Archives will do research for a fee; before requesting help, be sure to read their guide for genealogical research.

The Quaker Libary and Archives of Canada will be a good starting point for researching Quaker ancestors. Their Canadian Quaker Genealogical Index contains over 12,000 names of people mentioned in the Canadian Quaker minute books up to about 1900 (not exhaustive).

Archives of the Presbyterian Church in Canada also offers research for a fee, as well as a place to do on site research ; see their genealogy guide before you contact them.

The United Church of Canada Archives; See their web page Family History Research to get started.

The First Century of Methodism in Canada (find in a library)

Directories

Immigration

Canadian Passenger List Records -- a nicely done overview of Canadian passenger lists.

Getting From Here To There, Identifying the Origins of Immigrants to Canada (find in a library)

Land Records

A general guide (book) Researching Canadian Land Records 2001; 2nd ed. 2003 (find in a library)

Learn about Loyalist Petitions for Land Grants in this two part article online.

Newspapers

Vital Records

Canadian Genealogy Centre: Births, Marriages and Deaths -- provides information on how to obtain vital records in Canada.

Canadian Records of Birth, Marriage and Death: A Guide (find in a library)

Beine. Online Death Indexes and Records for Canada.

OliveTree: Canadian Vital Stats