Let me explain. My own ancestry is 50 percent French-Canadian. Most of my French-Canadian ancestors moved from New Brunswick and Quebec provinces to northern Maine before the year 1900. Thanks to excellent church records, I already have a lot of information about these ancestors, often going back to France. Even so, this week I added a bit more information to my database about great-great-aunts and great-great-uncles that were previously unknown to me. I found this information on the new 1881 Canadian Census CD-ROM disks for Windows.

I should point out that I still have not yet seen the actual census records. I have only seen the brand-new index. However, now that I have the basic information, including page numbers of the original census records, my next task is to rent the microfilms of the actual records involved. I suspect that the original census records will produce even more information that the index itself does not contain.

The 1881 Canadian Census Index on CD-ROM covers the entire Canadian population of that year, approximately 4.3 million residents. This resource fills three CD-ROM disks. A fourth disk, containing the required software, is also included with the index. You do not need to purchase any additional software to use these CD-ROM disks on your Windows system; everything is included.

The 1881 Canadian Census Index contains a transcription of the original 1881 Canadian census, enumerated on 4 April 1881. Information from the following fields was extracted: name, age, gender, location at the time of the census, birthplace, ethnic origin, occupation, religious affiliation, marital status, and notations. More than 50,000 individuals in this database are recorded as "Indian" or "Sauvage." In addition, the records list over 20,000 Canadians of "African" origin. The information is obviously valuable to genealogists but also will be of great interest to historians and sociologists. Never before has a single data source on nineteenth-century Canada offered so much information about so many Canadians.

The 1881 Canadian Census Index includes the latest version of the Family History Resource File Viewer software, the same software that I described in last week’s review of the British Isles Vital Records Index. In that review, I commented that I couldn’t copy-and-paste data from the CD-ROM information into another Windows program. Ray Madsen of the Family History Department kindly offered some advice, and I’m delighted to report that I can now copy-and-paste as much as I like, both in the British Isles Vital Records Index and in the 1881 Canadian Census Index. For instance, I can show you this record as a typical entry I found in the 1881 Canadian Census Index:

Census Place: St Jacques, Victoria, New Brunswick, Canada
Source: FHL Film 1375819 NAC C-13183 Dist 32 SubDist D Page 4 Family 15

        Sex Marr Age Origin Birthplace

Joseph DUBE M M 33 French Q <Quebec>
   Occ: Farmer Religion: Catholic

Lucie DUBE F M 27 French USA
    Religion: Catholic

Willie DUBE M 6 French New Brunswick
    Religion: Catholic

Joseph DUBE M 5 French New Brunswick
   Religion: Catholic

Florent DUBE M 3 French New Brunswick
    Religion: Catholic

Alfred DUBE M 1 French New Brunswick
   Religion: Catholic

Georgina DUBE F 2 French New Brunswick
   Religion: Catholic

Maxime DUBE M M 80 French Q <Quebec>
   Occ: Charpentier Religion: Catholic

Lucie DUBE F M 82 French Q <Quebec>
   Religion: Catholic

Justine DUBE F 45 French Q <Quebec>
   Religion: Catholic

Henri DUBE M 36 French Q <Quebec>
   Occ: Farmer

You will notice that the above entry was made in Saint Jacques, Victoria County, New Brunswick and is recorded in the records for District 32, SubDistrict D, Page 4, the 15^th family listed on that page. I can view the original records by renting microfilm 1375819 at a local Family History Center near me.

The census records enumerate individuals, grouped within households and institutions, for the Provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, and for the Northwest Territories. The Northwest Territories in 1881 contained the current Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan and parts of historical Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario, plus the Territory of Yukon and the western part of the Territory of Nunavut. Records for Newfoundland and Labrador will not be found in the 1881 Canadian Census records since Newfoundland was still British territory at the time. Newfoundland became Canada's 10th province in 1949.

The search capability of the databases produced by the Family History Department is excellent. Most other genealogy CD-ROM disks use Soundex to find names that sound alike, such as Smith and Smythe or even Eastman and Eaton. However, the 1881 Canadian Census Index set obviously uses a far more sophisticated system that utilizes some sort of a look-up table. For example, when searching for French names, not only did it find "Henry" when I typed "Henri," but it also found "Guillaume" when I entered "William." ("Guillaume" is the French equivalent of "William.") This is a great aid when the only information you had previously came from "Anglicized" records.

I was fascinated by the ability to search neighborhoods. Close families often resided in the same neighborhood, so searching the entire neighborhood can often be valuable. When displaying a family’s information, you can click on the "Neighbors" tab, and then you will see all the names listed immediately before and after the entries for that family. You probably will see the families living on either side of your ancestors that way. Families a bit further away will also be listed, but the order in which they will appear obviously depends upon the path of the enumerator (census taker). If the enumerator walked up one side of the street writing down names, then crossed the street and walked down the other side, the name of the nearest neighbor directly across the street may be listed some distance before or after your ancestor’s entry.

You can search for any individual, and you can also search for neighbors in the Advanced Query Searches. The same Advanced Query Search also allows you to search for any word in the record.

One note to keep in mind: Even though in 1881 your ancestor lived in what is now Canada, the discs may not contain your ancestor's name. A number of microfilms have pages missing. Those pages are also missing in the original records stored at the Canadian National Archives. Some of the microfilm pages are illegible, or ''unreadable.'' In case viewing the complete census microfilms would help you, the census microfilm number at the Family History Library (in Salt Lake City, Utah) and the film number from the National Archives of Canada appear on each record.

The 1881 Canadian Census Index was created by the Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as the Mormons) in cooperation with the University of Ottawa. Lisa Dillon of the University of Ottawa headed an effort of volunteers to index these records. Lisa has since accepted a position at the Département de Démographie, Université de Montréal, where she is working on the 1881 Phase II database development. You can read more about Lisa’s work here.

The 1881 Canadian Census Index requires Windows 95 or later, a Pentium processor (or equivalent), a minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM memory (with 16 megabytes or more strongly recommended), a CD-ROM drive, a VGA monitor with 256-color-capable video card, and at least 35 megabytes of available hard disk space. In short, it should work fine on any Windows PC purchased in the past four or five years.

If you had ancestors living in Canada in 1881, you will want this CD-ROM set! Best of all is the price: only $11 (U.S. funds). For more information, or to safely order the 1881 Canadian Census Index CD-ROM disks, go here.

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