When French and English settlers began to colonize Canada, it was already inhabited by various Native American peoples. The settlers frequently married these native people or sought them out for missionary work.
Colonization between the French and British continued, but France lost nearly all of its Canadian possessions to the British in 1763, including Quebec. Because it was a French colony until 1763, Quebec has a separate history with different laws and methods of recordkeeping than the British colonies.
Canada developed over many decades from British colonies into an independent nation that is part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The year 1867 is particularly important because New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Canada East (Quebec), and Canada West (Ontario) were united to form the Dominion of Canada.
Settlers also came from the United States during the American Revolutionary War and after the United States formally gained its independence from Britain in 1783. These settlers were known as Loyalists.
Canadian immigrants in the nineteenth century include Scots, Irish, Welsh, Germans, Ukrainians, and other ethnic groups. Its population remains as diverse today as the inhabitants that founded it over two hundred years ago. And for the Canadian genealogist, the various research venues are valuable and extensive.
Many of the important Canadian records are accessible at the National Archives of Canada (NAC), the National Library of Canada (NLC), and the various provincial archives. Many archives now have Web sites describing their holdings, and some allow interlibrary loan of materials. Also, a large body of Canadian records is available on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City. Microfilm from the FHL can be ordered at branch family history centers around the world, the addresses of which may be found on the LDS Family Search Web site, FamilySearch.org
Four Canadian sources important to most research are censuses, church records, civil registration, and land records. In reference books and journals you will find a wide variety of other record types available for Canadian research.
Census Records
Canadian censuses were taken every ten years beginning in 1851, but the 1901 census is the last census available to the public. Some areas of Canada are not covered by the surviving 1841 and 1851 census returns, and other areas have census records from even earlier dates. These census records are available at the NAC and the FHL on microfilm. The censuses from 1851 and later list each member of the household and include ethnic origin and religion. Canadian censuses are not indexed, except for the 1871 census of Ontario, which was indexed by county.
Church Records
Church records are important tools for much Canadian research, although the information varies by denomination, time period, and locality. You may be able to locate birth places, parents’ names, occupations, residences, names of baptismal sponsors (godparents), and marriage witnesses. The major sources of information for most churches are parish registers of baptisms/births, marriages, and burials/deaths. If your ancestors lived only transiently in an area and were not there in a census year, church records can be used to isolate the specific place in which they resided. For example, many immigrants lived briefly in Ontario or Quebec before coming to the United States. Finding a baptismal record for a child born in Ontario or Quebec can identify where the family lived and allow other records to be searched.
If you are unsure of your family’s religious affiliation, you may determine it if you know their ethnic background. For example, Presbyterianism is often Scottish, Roman Catholicism is often French, and Eastern Orthodoxy or Eastern Catholicism is often Ukrainian.
There were many religious denominations in what is now Canada. Several of the largest are the Anglican Church of Canada, the Roman Catholic Church, and the United Church of Canada. It is helpful to learn something of the history and evolution of the denomination being researched. For example, Scots-Irish (Ulster Presbyterian) immigrants may have belonged to several divisions of Presbyterianism, including the Church of Scotland and the Reformed Presbyterian Church. The search for church records is then complicated by not knowing what kind of Presbyterian they were. Additionally, mergers up until the present time may affect where records are now found. The present-day United Church of Canada is a merger of several denominations.
Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada is part of the Anglican communion—churches that have their roots in the Church of England. In Ireland, the equivalent church is the Church of Ireland. Members of the Church of England and the Church of Ireland brought their religion with them to the British North American colonies. In the British colonies that eventually formed Canada, the denomination was known as the Church of England in Canada and is now called the Anglican Church of Canada. The church is organized on a parish and diocesan basis. Each parish has a rector (or parish priest), and each diocese is administered by a bishop. Each Anglican diocese in Canada has an archives with varying amounts of material about local parishes. See the Web site for more information.
Roman Catholic Church
Many Catholic parish registers, particularly for Quebec and Ontario, are available on microfilm at the FHL. If you are tracing French-Canadian ancestors, the Quebec marriage registers will form the backbone of your research. These registers give great detail, including the names and residences of the parents of both bride and groom. There are several indexes to Quebec Catholic marriages; the most common is the Loiselle Index, which can be viewed on microfilm from the FHL. A more comprehensive index for the period 1760-1935 was compiled by the Drouin Institute (Répertoire alphabétique des mariages des Canadiens Francais 1760-1935. Longueuil, Québec: Institut Généalogique Drouin). Copies of the Drouin Index 1760-1935 are in the Salle Gagnon, Montreal Public Library, and in some U.S. genealogical libraries such as the American-French Genealogical Society in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, Massachusetts.
United Church of Canada
In 1925, the United Church of Canada was formed through a union of the Methodist Church (Canada), most of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Congregational Churches of Canada. The Canada Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church joined the United Church of Canada in 1968. Local church records of the uniting denominations are being collected by the United Church of Canada archives network. Many local church records are still kept by the local churches; however, start the search for old records in the appropriate archives. The various regional archives are described in the Committee on Archives and History, The United Church of Canada’s book, Guide to Family History Research in the Archival Repositories of the United Church of Canada (Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, 1996); and on the United Church of Canada Archives Network’s Web site.
Civil Registration
What are usually called "vital records" in the United States are generally known as "civil registration" of births, deaths, and marriages in other English-speaking countries, including Canada. The date at which civil registration begins varies by province. An excellent article describing civil registration and how to access the records for each province or territory is Fawne Stratford-Devai’s "Records of Birth, Marriage and Death in Canada: Civil Registration" in the Global Gazette (25 June 1999, Vol. III No. 10), which can be accessed in the online archives.
Land Records
Many immigrants came to North America because they saw an opportunity to own land. Beginning in 1870, to encourage settlement in the western areas of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, the Canadian government offered potential settlers 160 acres of land for a $10 fee. To receive the patent, the applicant had to meet certain criteria. Many settlers came from the United States into the Canadian homestead areas to take advantage of the available land. Questions on homestead records ask for the applicant’s country of birth, subdivision of country of birth, last place of residence, and previous occupation.
Land records often predate censuses, and they can help date an immigrant’s arrival and trace immigrant origins. Some types of land records provide birth places or places of last residence, while others provide the basic clues to continue the search in other records. Land records can also pinpoint places of residence in Canada. With the advent of indexing projects, there are new research strategies available.
Canadian land records vary according to province, but there are five general types:
1. Records showing transfer of land from the government or Crown to the first patentees, usually in national or provincial offices or repositories.
2. Subsequent transactions, usually in local land registry or land title offices.
3. Indexes–both original official indexes and historical and genealogical compilations.
4. Maps showing boundaries of land holdings and names of owners or occupiers.
5. Records of taxes on lands (assessment and collectors’ rolls) that provide the legal description of the property.
Canadian land records are filed in a number of places, including county courthouses, provincial archives and libraries, and national archives. Some Canadian land records are available on microfilm through the FHL.
Basic Steps
- Do some background reading about Canadian history, which will be helpful when you begin to use Canadian records.
- Get some good books about genealogy in Canada and the provinces you are interested in, and read through them to gain a sense of Canadian genealogy.
- Use the vast resources of the Internet to help you access and understand Canadian records.
- At your local LDS Family History Center utilize the large number of Canadian records you can get on loan from the Family History Library.
- Join a Canadian genealogical society, read its journal, and enlist its help with your research.
Canadian Record Holdings at the Family History Library
Family History Library
35 N. West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT, 84150
FamilySearch.org
1. Canadian censuses, 1851—1901 and some earlier, published indexes
2. Catholic church registers for Ontario and Quebec, and published abstracts and indexes
3. Land records, such as land grants and homestead records
4. Inward passenger lists beginning in 1865
5. Outward border crossings into the United States beginning in 1895
6. Quebec genealogical dictionaries such as those by Tanguay and Jetté
7. Quebec marriage indexes by Loiselle and Rivest
8. Ontario province-wide civil registration (vital records) from 1869 onward
Your Canadian Research Library
Sourcing Canada: Genealogy Addresses. By Elizabeth Barclay-Lapointe. (Buckingham, QC: Buckingham Press, 1997.)
For each province, this book lists genealogical societies, public archives, church archives, libraries, historical societies, and museums. Addresses, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and Web site addresses, and hours of operation are given, in addition to a brief description of holdings. Details regarding the National Archives of Canada and the National Library of Canada are given at the front of the book.
Publisher's address: Buckingham Press 10 des Castors, Buckingham, PQ Canada, J8L 2W7 (819) 281-7575 Fax: (819) 281-9322.
In Search of Your Canadian Roots, Tracing Family Tree in Canada. 3rd. ed. By Angus Baxter. (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1999.)
This is the most widely available introduction to Canadian research and serves the beginner well in getting started with Canadian records and repositories.
Here Be Dragons! Navigating the Hazards Found in Canadian Family Research: A Guide for Genealogists with Some Uncommon Useful Knowledge. By Althea Douglas. (Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, 1996.)
The Canadian Genealogical Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Finding Your Ancestors in Canada. 2nd Ed. By Eric Jonasson. (Winnipeg: Wheatfield Press, 1978.)
Though outdated, this book contains excellent discussion of Canadian source material.
Tracing Your Ancestors in Canada. 12th ed. By National Archives of Canada. (Ottawa: National Archives of Canada, 1997.)
When researching in a particular province, use one or more of the provincial research guides, such as Brenda Merriman’s guide to research in Ontario. You would also do well to join a provincial genealogical society and subscribe to its journal to keep current on the latest resources.
You also have the benefit of two free reference sources on the Internet:
- Global Gazette, a biweekly newsletter available at GlobalGazette.net. The back issue list of Global Gazette can be searched by topic, author, or keyword. This list contains many freely accessible articles about Canada and individual provinces.
- Research outlines for each of the Canadian provinces detailing sources at the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City may be found on the LDS FamilySearch Web site under "Custom Search."
Kyle J. Betit, a professional genealogist, author, and lecturer, is the author of numerous articles and specializes in Irish and Canadian research.
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