Early Canadian Records

Canadian Flag Photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash

​Finding interesting tidbits about places where your ancestor settled helps paint a picture of what their life was like in that place and time.  In addition to larger library/government sites and the larger genealogy sites, I enjoy finding smaller sites that individuals have pulled together.  Let’s look at a few.

Early Ontario Records is a site that was created by Bill Martin.  He had access to records and information that he has linked to, sharing it with others through this site.  While most of the records are not related to my area of Ontario, he has a rich list of listings of church records, United Empire Loyalists as well as a variety of other topics.  A quick search of surname or place will show you potential documents to review. Most are transcribed documents rather than original digital copies, but they certainly will provide a clue to what is available.  You also may want to look at his site map where he has a listing of various genealogy resources. While this site is quite old, it is still worth a look.
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Canadian Genealogy Resources includes links to more than just Ontario.  It is an older site that continues to be updated.  Topics range from Forts of Acadia to Chronicles of Canada (22 of 36 volumes) to Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870.  With this broad range of topics, you’re sure to find something that interests you.

According to their site, the Canadian Virtual War Memorial “is a registry to honour and remember the sacrifices of the more than 118,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders who, since Confederation, have given their lives serving in uniform.”   If you have an ancestor who served in the military for Canada, this might be a useful resource for you.

The Canadian County Atlas Digital Program covers mostly Ontario but is interesting as it has the names of landowners listed in old county atlases.  This is helpful to those of us who are not from Canada and want to search a bit.

CanGenealogy. If you’re a subscriber to Internet Genealogy and Genealogy Today, then you’ve read Dave Obee’s articles. As an author and lecturer, he delves into Canadian genealogy so you may want to check his books and lectures.  This site is a great one stop shop for quickly accessing Canadian resources for the various provinces.
 
I hope you find some treasures in these sites that help your family research.  It’s good to look to see what else is available for a region or country. You never know when a key piece of data will show up!  Have fun!