J. St Denis offers general and province-specific tips for
involved in Canadian genealogical research for many years
would acknowledge that individuals starting today are much
luckier than we were. Genealogical societies are now found
in most areas of Canada; transcription and indexing projects
from birth records and newspaper obituaries to ship arrival
records are quite advanced. Most archives realize the need
for ‘user friendly’ environments and the Internet
is starting to make substantial advancements especially in
the area of searchable databases.
in 1895. There have been major boundary changes since
this map was made.
Canada has not had to face major world events where substantial
collections of documents have been destroyed. Yes, we have
had our share of records ruined by fires and floods, but we
must be thankful that, in general, most recorded documentation
French-Canadians in particular are extremely fortunate. Because
of the meticulous manner in which the Catholic church recorded
events and because of the enormous transcription projects
undertaken by individuals and societies, research tools are
unique. For example, there’s a dictionary listing most
marriages from the beginning of Quebec to 1935 in alphabetical
order of both the male and female last names.
The transcription projects you will find are secondary source
documents and these should be used as simply one more clue
in your research project. It is strongly advised that you
check with primary source documents to establish a true pedigree
of your ancestors.
When researching, it is important to understand when
various areas of Canada were developed and where
immigrants settled. There are good books on the history of
It is equally important to understand why certain laws were
not the same for each province at a particular time in history.
An example is that Newfoundland’s 1921 census is online,
yet much debate is going on regarding access to the Canadian
1911 census. Newfoundland did not join Confederation until
1949! For this purpose it is important to know when each province
joined Confederation. Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia joined in 1867. Manitoba joined in 1870, British Columbia
in 1871, Prince Edward Island in 1873, Alberta and Saskatchewan
in 1905 and Newfoundland in 1949.
Registers and Vital Statistics
Civil registration usually came about long after settlements
started and often there was resistance to the process. Church
records are sometimes the only source of dates for births,
marriages or deaths.
Just a few words of caution: First, remember that your ancestors
may not have remained with the same denomination throughout
all generations. Second, baptismal dates can sometimes be
mistaken for birth dates, so be careful.
Church records can be found in the church of origin, their
head office or their archives, in libraries, museums, or at
the national or provincial archives. Some church records have
been microfilmed by the LDS Church.
For details, see Researching Canadian Vital Statistic
Records by Sharon Murphy, 1999.
Censuses were taken for many reasons and at many different
times. The first census in Canada was in 1666 in New France,
now Quebec. Since 1851 a federal census has been taken every
10 years. Naturally some census years will be more useful
because of the type of information gathered. Access to census
records in most provinces is limited to those censuses taken
prior to 1911.
Most censuses, having been microfilmed, are available through
For details, see Researching Canadian Census Records
by Doris Bourrie, CGRS, 1998, and Thomas Hillman’s
Catalogue Census Returns 1666-1891 — 1901 Supplement,
published by the National Archives.
It is important to understand that there are two legal systems
in Canada: English Common Law and Droit Civil in
Quebec. Over the years, there have been various laws passed
regarding wills and estates in both systems.
Before starting your research for a will, check with family
members to see if someone has been left in the family bible
or with other important family papers.
If one cannot be located, then first establish the date of
death and the place of residency. Then try to find out if
the deceased owned land in more than one jurisdiction. Once
this information is found, you must determine where to start
looking. Check with the local genealogical society or the
provincial archive. The regulations of keeping wills differed
from area to area and from province to province.
For details, see Researching Canadian Wills & Estates
by Ronnie MacCarl, 1998.
Land records provide information regarding the location of
your ancestors. What can be more interesting is the historical
anecdotes that land records can provide such as the value
of the holdings or the usage made of the land.
First determine the location of where your ancestors may have
owned land. Don’t forget to check through Census records
and City directories for more clues. Since land records can
be found mainly in Provincial Archives, I would suggest you
start your search there.
For details, see Researching Canadian Land Records
by Sharon Murphy, 1999.
Too many genealogists ignore the valuable information found
in early newspapers. Naturally we immediately think of the
obituaries for dates of death, but your ancestors seem to
come back to life when you find stories about community and
social events or even advertising a business. You will sometimes
find passenger and immigration lists published.
The Halifax Gazette (1752) and the Québec
Gazette (1764) were Canada’s earliest newspapers
and can be found in archives.
Check further in the province section of this article for
the earliest newspaper available for each province.
For a complete list of Canadian newspapers, consult the Checklist
of Indexes to Canadian Newspapers published by the National
Library of Canada.
City directories are available to help you locate your ancestors,
so familiarize yourself with them. Look also for Bell Canada
phone directories, many of which have been microfilmed and
donated to provincial archives.
Columbia and Ontario’s “Cemetery Finding
Aid” websites are excellent resources for genealogists
researching those provinces.
Most provinces have province-wide genealogical societies with
many branches. Keep in mind that there are many independent
genealogical or historical societies that exist. To find out
which society is best for you, contact the public library
in the town you believe your ancestors lived and ask how to
contact the local society.
Most provinces have one central provincial archive. In some
provinces, two major cities share in the housing of the records.
In Quebec nine regional centers operate. It is important to
verify what information is available and where it is housed
before a trip to an archive is planned.
For a detailed list of Canadian genealogical and historical
societies and provincial archives, consult A Canadian
Directory for Genealogists by Louise St Denis, 1999.
The collection of the LDS Church are extremely important.
You can find passenger lists for Halifax and Quebec City,
the index to civil registrations for Ontario, census and church
records just to name a few. Request the Research Outline for
the province of interest.
For details, see Researching at the Family History Center
by Dr. Penelope Christensen, 1998.
WWI and WWII service files are held at the National Archives.
Check the finding aid guides for what is available. Some attestation
forms can be viewed online.
For regimental histories, consult The Military Experience,
1867-1983 by O.A. Cooke.
A few early records do exist but they are difficult to search.
You need to know the name of the ship, the port of arrival
and the date.
Lists are complete for the ports of Quebec from 1865 and Halifax
from 1881. Later on, other ports also became official: St
John, New Brunswick in 1900, Victoria & Vancouver, British
Columbia in 1905, North Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1906 and Montreal,
Quebec in 1919. Indexing projects are ongoing.
In the last few years the Internet has become a tool genealogists
should not avoid. Although Sherri Petit writes in Genealogy
on the Internet that there are more than two million
genealogy sites, she acknowledges that the largest type of
sites are family pages.
A word of warning: be very careful as to the weight you give
to information found on the Internet. You have no idea how
accurate it is! Use your findings as simply one more clue,
then verify primary source documents.
But having said this, there is a large amount of very valuable
information which can be found. Databases containing indexes
of census records, land records, military records, cemetery
records and much more can now be found. Archives, local organizations
and individuals are all busy creating searchable databases.
Some are ‘pay per use’ while free sites are sometimes
available for the same information. Before signing up for
a large amount of time on the ‘pay per use’ sites,
I would suggest that you select the smallest amount of time
possible to make sure this site will be of interest to you.
Visit my own site (www.genealogystore.com)
for many such links. Also try Cyndi’s List for Canadian
and the Toronto Reference Library (http://www.tpl.toronto.on.ca/).
Web manager's note: You can log in as a guest to the Toronto
Library site and access information by selecting the link
to the "All In One Search" facility.
in 1755, many Acadians lost their homes and farms, had
their families separated, were starved and deported
through mass expulsions from Nova Scotia.
Many good books have been written to help you with records
available in each province and these books are listed in each
provincial section below. For references to all provinces,
read In Search of your Canadian Roots, by Angus Baxter,
1994. For the Maritimes, read Genealogist’s Handbook
for Atlantic Canada Research, by Terrence Punch, 1978.
• Homestead records from 1883 to 1930 are on microfilm.
• Newspapers date back to 1880.
• City directories are available from 1881.
• Few census returns are available; first nominal census
• Wills are retained in the Courthouse of the Judicial
District in which probate was granted.
• Land records can be searched in the appropriate offices.
• For details, see Finding your Ancestors in Alberta
by Arlene Borgstede, 1998 and Tracing your Ancestors in
Alberta by Victoria Lemieux and David Leonard, 1992
• Earliest census records available are for 1881.
• City and local directories exist from the 1860s.
• The BC Cemetery Finding Aid, an index of names of a
large number of BC cemetery recordings is available online.
• Some wills date back to 1861.
• Original Crown grants & land records can be found.
• For details, see Finding your Ancestors in British
Columbia by David Marvin Jackson, 1999.
• Census returns from 1832 are available; first nominal
• Wills date back to 1879.
• Land records as early as the 1800s can be found.
• Indexed newspapers are available from 1859.
• The Hudson’s Bay Company has microfilmed many
of its records from 1670 to 1951.
• For details, see Access to Ancestry by Elizabeth
• Land petitions, grants and other records are microfilmed
• Newspapers dating from 1784 are available on microfilm.
• The 1851 is the first useful census.
• Early wills are available in the Provincial Archives.
• For details, see Starting a Family History Project
in New Brunswick by Robert Fellows, 1995.
• Church of England parish registers from 1752 are the
oldest. Other denominations started after 1784.
• Early census records date back to 1671; first nominal
census 1891. The 1921 census is online.
• An online index of records of probated wills can be
found for as early as the 1700s.
• Older Crown Land Grants are filed in the Crown Lands
• Early newspapers are indexed.
• For details, see Finding your Ancestors in Newfoundland
and Labrador by Bill Crant, 1998.
• Land records date back to 1702.
• Good collections of early newspapers exist.
• The earliest census was in 1752; first nominal census
• Marriage Bonds exist from 1763 to 1854 and from 1858
• Wills filed in the Courts of Probate date back to 1749.
• An index of land grant applications is available.
• For details, see Genealogical Research in Nova
Scotia by Terrence Punch, 1998.
• The 1851/52 census is the first to name all household
members. The 1871 census index is online.
• Wills from 1785 are filed at the provincial archives.
• Early newspapers can be found at the provincial archives
as well as many local archives and libraries. For more information
read Inventory of Ontario Newspapers 1793-1986, by
J. Brian Gilchrist.
• The Ontario Cemeteries Finding Aid is an online index
to thousands of cemetery transcripts compiled by branches
of the Ontario Genealogical Society.
• Many land records exist from the late 1700s and are
• City and telephone directories exist for the early
• For details, see Genealogy in Ontario: Searching
the Records by Brenda Dougall Merriman, CGRS, CGL, 1996.
• Some marriage records date back to 1787. Marriage registers
were transcribed for 1833 to 1905. Earlier ones are indexed.
All known existing baptisms church records from 1885 to 1905
have been transcribed.
• The first census was taken in 1728; first nominal census
• Newspapers exist since 1787 and many have been microfilmed
• Land registry records from 1769 to 1900 exist. All
pre-1900 land records are in the Public Archives.
• Wills are filed at the Law Courts in Charlottetown
from the late 1700s and from 1807 to 1900.
• Telephone directories from 1930 to 1952, and provincial
and city directories from 1864 are available.
• From the beginning of Quebec, registration of baptisms,
marriages and deaths were recorded by local Catholic priests.
Most have been transcribed and indexed. Protestant records
were not recorded as thoroughly.
• The first genealogical dictionary published was in
the late 1800s. A large dictionary now used is the Répertoire
alphabétique des mariages des Canadiens-français
which lists marriages in Québec to 1935.
• Greffe de Notaire provides records of 166
notary publics from the French Regime and includes various
• First census was taken in 1666.
• City directories exist from 1842; telephone directories
• Newspapers from 1750 have been microfilmed.
• Indexed applications for land grants are available
for the period from 1637 to 1841; crown grants from 1700 to
• For details, see Finding your French-Canadian
Ancestors by Louise St Denis, 1998.
Some people of French descent living in certain parts of the
Atlantic provinces, Quebec, the New England States and Louisiana
are known as Acadians or Cajuns. Starting in 1755, many lost
their homes and farms, had their families separated, were
starved and deported through mass expulsions from Nova Scotia.
Many returned to France.
For details, consult Bona Arsenault’s Histoire et
généalogie des Acadiens or the Centre d’Études
Acadiennes at the University of Moncton.
• Records of marriages began in 1878; births and deaths
in 1888. Records between 1905 and 1920 have many records missing.
• The first census is that of 1881.
• Land Records before 1905 are in the Land Titles Office
• Early newspapers are from 1878; early city directories
of Saskatoon and Regina exist.
• Wills are kept on file at the Judicial centre where
the probate was granted. An index is available at the Courthouse
• For details, see Exploring Family History in Saskatchewan
by D’Arcy Hander, 1983.
• First nominal census was taken in 1891.
• Some vital records date back to 1883. Some are in the
custody of the Registrar General, others are in church archives.
is so much information available to research your Canadian
ancestors. To make the most out of your research time, you
should first prepare a written research plan. Include in your
plan the surnames required, the location of settlements or
residences and finally the years to look for. As you work
through your research, keep a log of what documents you have
consulted and your findings. This will enable you to systematically
verify all the proper records available for your research.
When in doubt, participate in education forums. Courses are
given by genealogical societies around the country. Most recently
the University of Toronto, through the Faculty of Information
Services has announced a ‘Certificate in Genealogical
Studies’ program. Individual courses are offered on
a variety of topics all accessed entirely over the Internet.
More details are available online (www.genealogicalstudies.com).
Keep the knobs rolling on the microfilm readers, your fingers
moving on the keyboards and your knees dirty in those cemetery.
Good luck with your research!
article originally appeared in the November/December 1999
issue of Family Chronicle.