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Researching Your
Family History
You are about to embark on one of the most
fascinating of pastimes. You will become something of a historian,
certainly a logical and deductive thinker, and a person anxious to
reveal the role played by previous generations in shaping the world
today.
As an amateur genealogist you will become
a type of historical detective delving into facts and figures until
a true picture of your ancestor emerges.
You are joining thousands who are taking
part in what is said to be the world’s third most popular hobby.
Rapidly growing in popularity, genealogy is only exceeded in
participants as a pastime by coin and stamp collecting.
Libraries, archives, genealogical
societies and historical groups world-wide have experienced a
tremendous demand recently for information for those searching out
their family trees. In Canada, local genealogical societies are
expanding and the Public Archives in Ottawa is handling an
unprecedented number of requests, while in the U.S. the pastime has
created such interest that the Boy Scouts of America has added basic
genealogy to its list of merit badges and more than 1,500 scouts
earn the award each month.
So, despite the fact that you are
generally on your own in discovering your particular family tree
there are many other researchers doing the same thing and
consequently a growing number of specialized aids are being
developed to make your search successful.
Why Make the Search
Reasons for searching out a family tree
vary considerably. They range from attempts to link up the family
with a long lost inheritance, to discover family relationships with
important historical figures, to prepare material for an authentic
family history, or merely to fulfil the urge to discover something
of the hundreds of forebears that have resulted in your family line
and created the unique individual that you are today.
Getting Started
Civil registration of births, marriages
and deaths started at different times in each Canadian province.
For Ontario 1869 was the official starting point, while British
Columbia’s official registration commenced in 1872. There are
earlier records in many provinces though, with some in Quebec’s
churches going back to 1621.
Civil registration records may generally
be obtained by contacting: The Recorder, Division of Vital
Statistics, Department of Health and Social Development, or, in some
cases, The Registrar General, Department of Health in the provincial
capital. (See the listing at the end of this section.)
For a Canadian-born searcher who knows
little of the family background, this then is the starting point in
tracing a family tree. A birth certificate yields the name of your
parents, your mother’s maiden name, the family residence at the time
and often some additional helpful information.
The next step is to obtain a copy of your
parents’ marriage certificate, for this states their age at the time
of their marriage. This also states the names of your two
grandfathers.
You are now on the trail of your eight
great-grandparents, sixteen great, great-grandparents and so on
until the family line leaves Canada for some other area.
Armed with the birth and marriage
certificates and additional information you have gleaned from the
family Bible, old newspaper clippings and diaries, and the memories
of relatives, you can now start completing the basic genealogical
form. (the Family Group Record)
Completing the Sheet
If you are married, place your full name, not
initials, on the line marked “Husband” or “Wife”. Complete the
necessary birth and marriage place and dates and add the names of
your father and mother. The details of your spouse should be
similarly completed.
Women should use their maiden surname on
genealogical forms, as these will be the main family names they will
be following.
The line “Christened” (Chr.) will not
generally be used until a period prior to the keeping of civil
records.
You should now add the names of your
children, their sex, birth dates and other details. Throughout all
sheets relating to the family tree, dates should be recorded as day,
month, year, ex. 5 July, 1873.
With the completion of the column for
“Information Sources” your first family group record should be
ready.
The next step is to list yourself as a
child on another family group record sheet along with your brothers
and sisters, with your parents heading the sheet. For the unmarried
this is the first sheet. At this stage you may be able to also list
your parents’ father and mother. Complete a similar form for your
husband or wife so that there are now three forms-one showing you as
a married couple and two showing each of you as a child in your
parent’s family group.
Your family records may allow you to go
one step further without too much additional research-the completion
of two sheets where your parents are listed as children. This is
the record of your grandparents and should show your father or
mother along with their brothers and sisters (your aunts and
uncles).
If the names and details of your great
grandparents are known to you then your pedigree has already
expanded at a rapid rate and it is time you were mapping your
progress on your pedigree chart.
Charting Your Pedigree
The Pedigree Chart is a concise guide to
your family line and does not carry all the details of a Family
Group Record. It is designed to show the continuing ancestral line
for each chart.
The researchers full name (maiden if a
woman) is written into line one with if married the name of husband
or wife below. Your father’s name and details should be placed on
line two, while your mother’s maiden name should appear on line
three. Your father’s father (your grandfather) should now appear on
line four, and your father’s mother (your grandmother) on line
five.
Similarly your mother’s parents will be
placed on the lower lines. Her father should appear on line six and
her mother (listing her maiden name) on line seven. Your Pedigree
Chart has now been completed for three generations.
Now the fourth generation (your great
grandparents) can be added to the remainder of the chart. The basic
rule to remember is that the male line takes the top lines eight,
ten, twelve, and fourteen, while the female ancestors take the lower
lines nine, eleven, thirteen, and fifteen and are listed under their
maiden names.
The Pedigree Chart is now complete for a
single person or one member of a married couple. A similar Pedigree
Chart should be completed for the husband or wife. Both husband and
wife of a family tree research team can appear on the same Pedigree
Chart if one of their children is used as the first generation on
line one. However, for simplicity, it is often preferable to keep
separate charts for each side of the family.
Provision is made on each chart for index
numbers so that the ancestral line can be continued accurately from
a four-generation pedigree chart to another, ex. Your great
grandfather listed on line eight of the chart number one will be
re-listed on line one of a later pedigree chart with the index
notation stating the person on line one is the same person as number
eight on the chart number one. In this way you can add to a
particular line of your pedigree whenever the information is
available, whether it be next week or next year. It is not uncommon
for a well-researched pedigree to extend into twenty or thirty
charts.
Solving Problems
It may be that you have struck a problem
or two in discovering some of the necessary details, then it is time
to write a few letters.
Relatives, especially the older ones who
may have access to records, should be contacted, residents and
former neighbors in the old hometown may be able to help. A
well-written letter to the editor of a small town newspaper can
sometimes start local amateur historians researching for you.
Writing to similar family names found in directories can also be
useful. A visit to the cemetery of the one-time family hometown may
also reveal important data on the long forgotten stones.
If you have access to a library equipped
with microfilm readers, copies of early Canadian newspapers can be
examined for advertisement and obituaries. Any local library
possessing microfilm readers and participating in the interlibrary
loan arrangement can also make available to you much of the holdings
of the Public Archives of Canada.
Census records for many provinces for the
years 1851, 1861, and 1871 can greatly assist in finding a complete
family unit if a former place of residence is known and a time
period estimated. Land records and county atlases also exist for
many provinces and can be used to discover early family locations.
Avoiding Duplication
Duplication of effort is a common problem
with many beginning genealogists. Unless an accurate recording is
kept of the various steps taken to discover forebears, somewhere,
sometime in the future, some of the work will be done again.
Professional genealogists use various
types of systems to ensure each step in tracing a family line is
recorded along with the results achieved.
Three forms have been developed to assist
the beginning genealogist to set up an easy, efficient record
keeping system which serves not only to record moves already made,
but those planned in the future.
Although it is a lengthy and difficult
task to establish recognizable, and legal titles to long unclaimed
family fortunes. There are a growing number of individuals who make
it a profession to trace rightful heirs to large estates and receive
sizable percentages of them for making the heirs aware of their
inheritances. With a number of estates of $100,000 or so going
begging each year in Canada, the work of this type of researcher,
the forensic genealogist, is growing.
The names of accredited researchers can
usually be obtained from local Genealogical Societies or Branch
Genealogical Libraries.
Further Information
The various books listed, and others you
find in local libraries, could be the tools needed to give you the
extended study you need to professionalize your research. Study
with your own or borrowed books coupled with actual research is the
most effective way to increase your research skills. However,
membership of a Genealogical Society.
It is not really easy this business of
tracing a family tree. Ancestors can be very elusive, tripping the
researchers by naming a child after a brother who died in infancy,
changing the spelling of the family surname and sometimes completely
disappearing from the record for a time. However, learning of the
life and times of early ancestors can make the search very
rewarding.
The fantastic scope of the search for
ancestors and the gaining of formerly unknown relatives in all walks
of life become evident when one works out the statistics of even a
single family. Progressive doubling up from the family of today
gives two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents,
sixteen great, great-grandparents and so on.
Simple arithmetic reveals a possible
million forebears in a mere twenty generations-plenty of room for a
pirate or two, an earl or even a duke.
Where to Search First
Talk with: Old family friends, family
doctor, family lawyer, former neighbors, cousins, uncles, aunts,
grandparents, etc.
Search for: Old letters, old certificates,
military service records, citizenship papers, legal documents such
as wills, old passports, etc.
Locate also: Occupational records such as
union registration, apprenticeship papers, membership documents for
professional associations, etc.
Check records of: Churches, youth groups,
schools, service organizations, etc.
Look for: Old photographs, scrapbooks,
diaries and journals, newspaper clippings, etc.
Search also for: Family histories,
biographies, existing genealogical records, etc.
Major Canadian Genealogical
Societies
Ottawa: Ontario Genealogical Society, P.O.
Box 8346, Ottawa, ON, K1G 3H8
Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, Box
66, Station Q, Toronto, ON, M4T 2L7
Montreal: Genealogical Society of Quebec,
335 Place D’Armes, Montreal, PQ,
H2Y 3H1
Edmonton: Genealogical Society of Alberta,
P.O. Box 3151, Station A, Edmonton, AB
Vancouver: Genealogical Society of British
Columbia, P.O. Box 94371, Richmond, BC
V6Y 2A8
Regina: Genealogical Society of
Saskatchewan, P.O. Box 1894, Regina, SK, S4P 3E1
Canadian Civil Registration
Although some vital statistics were
recorded as far back as 1621, most civil registrations in Canada
commenced in the late 19th century. The amount of information
varies according to the period, but the following data is generally
given:
Births: Name,
date and place of birth, parents’ names, ages, residence and
occupation.
Deaths: Name,
date and place of birth, date and place of death, occupation name
and residence of the deceased, date and place of burial, cause of
death, Parents’ names, place of birth.
Marriages:
Names, date and place of marriage, sometimes age, witnesses, person
who performed ceremony, name of parents, residence of couple.
Vital Statistics Starting Dates:
Alberta:
Complete records from 1898. Some births from 1853 and deaths form
1893.
British Columbia:
Official registration from 1872 but serious gaps in early years.
Manitoba:
Complete records from 1882.
New Brunswick:
Complete records exist from 1888 with some earlier births also
listed.
Newfoundland:
Civil registration commenced in 1892.
Nova Scotia:
Although civil registration began in 1864, only marriages were
recorded
for the period
1876-1901.
Ontario: July
1st 1869 was the stating date.
Prince Edward Island:
Civil records officially date from 1906. Some marriage records
from
1783.
Quebec: Civil
registration complete from 1926. Church records go back to 1621.
Saskatchewan:
Incomplete records from 1878. Complete records from 1920.
Yukon: Some
births recorded from 1895 but complete records began in 1898.
Northwest Territories:
Few records exist prior to 1927.
Where to Write for Vital
Statistics
CANADA:
Alberta:
Division of Vital Statistics, Texaco Building, 10130-112th St.,
Edmonton, AB,
T5K 2K4
British Columbia:
Division of Vital Statistics, 818 Fort St., Victoria, BC, V8W 1H8
Manitoba:
Division of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Health, 401 York Ave.,
Winnipeg, MB,
R3C 0P8
New Brunswick:
Registrar General of Vital Statistics, Centennial Building, Box
6000,
Fredericton, NB,
E3B 5H1
Newfoundland:
Division of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Health, P.O. Box 8700, St.
Johns,
NF, A1B 4J6
Nova Scotia:
Division of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Health, Provincial Building,
Box 157,
Halifax, NS, B3J 2M9
Ontario:
Office of the Registrar General, Macdonald Block, Queen’s Park,
Toronto,
ON, M7A 1Y5
Prince Edward Island:
Director of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Health, Box 2000,
Charlottetown, PE, C1A 7N8
Quebec:
Population Registrar, Dept. of Social Affairs, 1279 Boul. Charest
Ouest, (3c),
Quebec, G1N 2C9
Saskatchewan:
Director of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Public Health, 3475 Albert
St.,
Regina, SK, S4S 6X6
Yukon: Dept.
of Territorial Secretary & Registrar General, Box 2703, Whitehorse,
YT,
Y1A 2C6
Northwest Territories:
Registrar General of Vital Statistics, P.O. Box 1320,
Yellowknife, NT, X0E 1N0
ENGLAND:
General Register Office, Postal
Applications, Room 9, Smedley Hydro,
Trafalgar Rd.,
Southport, Merseyside, England PR8 2HH
SCOTLAND:
General Register Office, New Register
House, Edinburgh, Scotland,
EH1 3YT
IRELAND:
Registrar General’s Office, Custom House,
Dublin
Canadian Census Records
Canadian population records are valuable
sources of family records. Although not all have been preserved,
those listed are generally available from the Public Archives,
Ottawa, or any library equipped with microfilm readers and operating
an inter-library loan system with the Public Archives of Canada.
ONTARIO:
1842, 1848, and 1850 returns list heads of families only. 1848 and
1850 records are incomplete.
1851, 1861, and 1871 returns enumerate
complete families with some information concerning age, country of
birth, religion, occupation, marital status and racial origin.
1796, 1806, 1813, 1823, and 1824 censuses for
Augusta Township (HF) are also on microfilm.
QUEBEC: 1666,
1667, 1681, 1851, 1861, and 1871 returns cover complete families
with varying information as to age, country of birth, religion,
occupation, marital status, racial origin and education. 1825,
1831, and 1842 returns list heads of families only.
Canadian census returns for 1881 also have
recently been released for public use.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND:
1798 census (HF) has not yet been microfilmed but is published in
Duncan Campbell’s “History of Prince Edward Island.”
1841 and 1861 returns list heads of families.
NOVA SCOTIA:
1770, 1773, 1775, and 1787 returns list heads of families only (not
microfilmed); are located in the Nova Scotia Archives.
1817 (incomplete), 1827, 1838 and 1861
censuses list heads of families only. 1871 lists all persons. On
microfilm also are Cape Breton returns, 1811 and 1818; City of
Halifax, Halifax County and King’s County, 1851; City of Halifax
only, 1858.
NEWFOUNDLAND:
1691 and 1693 returns list each individual and some information
regarding age, sex, country of birth, etc. 1704 census lists heads
of families only.
Census records for Plaisance only are
available for the years of 1671, 1673, (all persons), 1698, 1706 and
1711 (HF).
NEW BRUNSWICH:
1851, 1861 and 1871 census returns list each individual along with
age, sex, country of birth, religion, racial origin, occupation,
marital status.
MANITOBA:
1832, 1834, 1835, 1840, 1843, 1846 and 1849 enumeration lists heads
of families with some details of size of family ad occupation. 1870
census lists each individual, sex, age, country or province of
birth, religion, occupation, racial origin, marital status, etc.
1856 census is incomplete and has not been microfilmed.
ACADIA:
1671, 1686, 1693, 1698, 1701 and 1714 census
return enumerate every person. 1703, 1707 and 1739 censuses
indicate heads of families only and provide some details of family
size.
1730, 1734 and 1735 returns (heads of
families) are recorded for llE St. Jean only. 1734 and 1753 (HF),
1741750 (all persons) are microfilmed for llE Royale. 1741
Louisbourg census lists landholders only. 1717 and 1722 records for
Port Toulouse lists heads of families, while the 1717 and 1719
census of Port Dauphin lists principal settlers only. 1739 census
of Riviere S. Jean records the heads of the families and 1761
enumeration of Gaspe to Baie Verte (incomplete) covers inhabitants
generally.
Good Luck In Your
Research |
