Library and Archives Canada: Loyalist petition Papers

When researching a possible United Empire Loyalist, land petitions are an essential part of that documentation. Randy Seaver on his blog, Genea-Musings, has a very complete description of where to learn more and how to conduct that type of research through LAC's Loyalist Petition Papers.

To learn more about obtaining a certificate of Loyalist ancestry or to help out with other activities, please visit the website of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.

Happy 407th Anniversary, Québec City!

Photo © David Hook 2008

An anniversary as significant as this one deserves a post on the proper day! According to The Canadian Encyclopedia:

"I arrived there on the 3rd of July," wrote Samuel de Champlain in 1608, "when I searched for a place suitable for our settlement, but I could find none more convenient or better situated than the point of Quebec."  http://tinyurl.com/nc3nhc7

Do you think that he had any clue that this place would become so significant? While it's not the oldest city in Canada (that honour falls to St. John's, NL) it became the political seat of what would become the province of Québec. It was also one of the places where many new immigrants arrived in Canada. Be sure to check out the Library and Archives Canada's database, Passenger Lists for the Port of Quebec City, 1865-1900.

Joyeux Anniversaire, Québec!

Marriage (Bond) Monday

Protestant marriages in Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) can be more difficult to research than Catholic marriages, particularly before the introduction of civil registration in many provinces. Here's what Marriage Bonds are according to the database of these records made available by Library and Archives Canada:

Marriage bonds were prepared only for Protestant marriages by licence. The groom was required to enter into a bond with one or two people (sureties) who knew him and who were prepared to guarantee to the Crown that there was no legal impediment to the marriage. After obtaining the bond, a licence was issued and the marriage took place a few days later.

The records available for Ontario cover the period from 1803 and 1865 while Quebec records range from 1779 and 1858, though they are much fewer in number: just around 7900 for Ontario, and just over 2900 for Quebec.

Be sure to check out this database if you have potential Protestant marriages in your family tree from this area and timeframe that you haven't been able to find elsewhere.

Slums of Pointe St. Charles: Library & Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada has posted an entry on its blog about the slums of Pointe St. Charles, a neighbourhood of Montreal. Be sure to check it out!

Something fun: The Family Tree Rhapsody and Proof that YouTube Is For Genealogists Too!

My hubbie shared a very cute YouTube video with me called Family Tree Rhapsody. You must check it out and be sure your sound is on and turned up.

What struck me is that YouTube is also a great place for learning, even for the Family Historian! In the YouTube sidebar alone were several videos on a variety of topics, including an hour long session by Kyle J. Betit for Ancestry.com titled "Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Back to the Homeland"  or "Researching Newspapers for Genealogy for Free" by Kenneth R. Marks, though his focus is on American newspapers. Do not despair! Library and Archives Canada is also there with their own channel and the search box at the top of the main site will let you search for videos on all different types of genealogical research.

Have fun!

New sources of Canadian Registrations and Census are coming!

The 1921 Canadian Census is set to be released on June 1, 2013.  More details are available on the Library and Archives Blog about the countdown.  Questions from the public and the answers provided by LAC are also available.

Rick Roberts of Global Genealogy also recently published an article about the 1940 National Registration conducted in Canada in the Global Gazette.  As his opening states:

As Canada entered the second year of the Second World War it was decided that a national registration of all male and female residents of Canada that were 16 years of age and older was needed.

This information is held by Statistics Canada, and Rick's article will direct you on how to access the records from that agency.

Criminal and Court Records: Canadian Genealogy Centre

Any black sheep in the family? Well, if you do, you'll want to check the information about Criminal Records available at the Canadian Genealogy Centre of Library and Archives Canada. These matters, including jail time, can be municipal/provincial depending on the crime. What's available, in what formats, and where are all discussed in detail, including what restrictions may exist depending on privacy laws.

Canadian Naturalization Database: 1915-1951

I recently received notification from Library and Archives Canada that they've released a new version of the Canadian Naturalization Database, 1915-1951. What's new? Digitized images of the appearance of these names in the Canada Gazette. So, if you have family who came to Canada between 1915 and 1951 who aren't British citizens, time to do a search either by name (1915-1932) or by date (1932-1951)!

Two posts for the price of one!

Oops. I was wondering how long it would take before I missed posting! So, to make up for it, here are two resources for today:

1. Lest We Forget Project: Cenotaph Research is 100 World War I and 100 World War II military service records digitized and available at Library and Archives Canada. The site explains it as follows:

The military service documents found on the following page were selected by Library and Archives Canada as a small sample of the 660,000 Canadian men and women who served during the First World War. They have been selected to represent both Canada's aboriginal and ethnic diversity at the beginning of the twentieth century and the range of military experience, including soldiers of the infantry, artillery, engineers, signals, and service corps, and doctors and nurses of the medical corps.

2. Since the Government of Canada has designated 2010 as the Year of the British Home Child, it might be advantageous for those looking for further information on their British Home Child ancestors to visit the British Home Children website. Their database of Home Children appears to have reached 10,370 entries to-date, and is available to registered members only. In addition, they offer a number of weblinks to a variety of other resources.

October is Family History Month!

To celebrate, I've promised myself that I'll post at least once a day over the next month. Here's today's installment:

Immigrants to Canada Before 1865 is available as a searchable database from Library and Archives Canada. In other words, earlier passenger lists are becoming more readily available.

Enjoy!

Circumstances of Death File for Great War Soldiers

Here is a handy tip for people researching Canadian Great War soldiers who were killed in action: request their Circumstances of Death File. The first step for most people researching a soldier is usually to request the service file from Library and Archives Canada (LAC.) It is somewhat less known that LAC also maintains the Circumstances of Death Files for soldiers killed in action. These records are only about one page in length and are not part of the service record.

A few things to note: none of the records for soldiers with surnames beyond 'Sims' alphabetically have survived. As well, there is a good chance you may not get a whole lot of information from the form: some will give just general statements like 'died of wounds' or 'reported from base killed in action.' But then again, LAC charges by the page, and since these are one page documents, it will cost you only about $2 and change to request the file, so it's worth taking the chance that you might find something more.

To request the file, (here's the form to make your request) you need to request the following from LAC: RG 150, Accession 92-93/314 and include the volume number from below based on the soldier's surname:

Volume----Subject
145 Aaron to Alek
146 Alexander to Amyst
to view the rest of the surname list, please click here.

Census of Canada, 1891 Now Online!

The 1891 Census of Canada has now been digitized and is available online at Library and Archives Canada. What's even better, the images of the Census are included! Click here to search, and Happy Hunting!

French-Canadian Newspapers: 1808-1919

Taken directly from the Library and Archives website:

French-Canadian Newspapers: An Essential Historical Source (1808-1919) presents selected French-language newspapers from across Canada, in a digitized, fully-searchable format. These newspapers form the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) collection of first, final and special editions of French-Canadian newspapers.

To learn more about this resource, click here. To search the database directly, then this link will take you there.

New Online Resource: Immigrants to Canada

Taken from Global Genealogy's Global Gazette:

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the launch of an online database, Immigrants to Canada.

The database contains Canadian immigration records held at LAC, many of which relate to immigrants from the British Isles arriving in Quebec and Ontario; also included are references to settlers in other provinces. Through this new database, researchers can access references to lists of immigrants and other types of records created before 1865, such as declarations of aliens and names of some Irish orphans.

You are invited to visit the database.

The contributions of many LAC staff were instrumental in the success of this project, and their efforts are much appreciated.

Sylvie Tremblay
Acting Head, Canadian Genealogy Centre
Client Services Division, Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada posts photos on Flickr

A friend of mine, professional genealogist Ruth Blair, sent me a link to an article from CBC about Library and Archives Canada's latest foray into Web 2.0 land. LAC has posted photos and documents related to Irish-Canadian history on the popular website Flickr as part of their Irish Studies Symposium. To read more about these items, please visit the article here. Next up: YouTube videos of select presentations made at the Symposium!

Divorces in Canada

From the Canadian Genealogy Centre's website:

From 1840 to 1968, divorces in Canada were granted by private acts of the Parliament of Canada.Before 1867, only five divorce acts were passed and published either in the Statutes of the Province of Canada or in the Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. The first divorce that occurred in Canada was between John Stuart and Elizabeth Van Reneselaer Powell in 1841.

From 1867 to 1968, a person wishing to obtain a divorce was first required to place a notice of intent to petition the government for an Act of Divorce in the Canada Gazette and in two newspapers in the district or county where the petitioner resided. It was to appear for a six-month period.

CGC offers their database, Divorce in Canada, which covers those divorces in parliamentary publications from 1841-1968.

Database: Immigrants from China to Canada

The Library and Archives of Canada in conjunction with the Department of History at University of British Columbia has made available an indexed database of over 900,000 who immigrated to Canada from China between 1885 and 1945. This collection of information is intended for genealogical purposes only. If you would like to learn more about Chinese immigration to Canada, please visit the Canadian Genealogy Centre's discussion located here.

IFLA Satellite Genealogy Conference for Librarians in Ottawa, August 6&7

Genealogy and Local History for All: Services to Multicultural Communities

Early registration will close in less than two weeks (June 20). Register now!

The conference is for librarians and archivists and will take place in Ottawa, Ontario on August 6 and 7 at Library and Archives Canada. For full details, please see the conference website.

The programme will feature presentations on a wide variety of topics including DNA and genealogy, resources and services for specific ethnic groups, and global initiatives being undertaken by FamilySearch. It will also provide an excellent opportunity to make new contacts with librarians and archivists working in the area of genealogy and local history. There will also be tours of the Canadian Genealogy Centre, Library and Archives Canada and the Gatineau Preservation Centre.

For further information, please contact:

Janet Tomkins, Information Coordinator
janettom at vpl.ca
Standing Committee
Section 37 - Genealogy and Local History
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

Voici Ma Famille/That's My Family

Dick Eastman has a great entry for the new Canadian Genealogy Search Engine on his blog, Voici Ma Famille/That's My Family. It's a combination of free and fee databases, and the site is the creation of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec and is maintained by them, Library and Archives Canada and Council of Provincial and Territorial Archivists of Canada. To learn more, visit Eastman's post here.

Canadian Genealogy Centre - Update

The Canadian Genealogy Centre of Library and Archives Canada has changed quite a bit over the past year or so. What's really nice is the Ancestors Search on the very first page which searches all of their databases at once. It will pull information from the Soldiers of the First World War database, Court Martials of WWI, the 1871 Ontario census, Immigration and Citizenship resources like the Home Children database, and many, many more.