Genealogy Chat

Does anyone have any tips on tracing relatives in Canada? All I know is the year of birth and the name of the person who emigrated which I know isn't a lot to go on! I have no idea when he went unfortunately, or which part of Canada he went to :(

Any help would be appreciated :)

i have this problem too, so nudging for others! x

Have a look at the collectionscanada site. Go to the Genealogy centre,on there, and you can put the persons name in, to search all their online databases. Worth a try!

It really depends what time frame you're talking about. There are records on the collectionscanada site for those emigrating between 1925-1935.
There's the 1901 and 1911 census free online at automated genealogy.
If before WW1 they have attestation papers for soldiers that give birthdate and place plus next-of-kin. That's also on collectionscanada.
Different provinces have various vital statistics online.
Margaret

Thanks for the help :)

Will have a look at that site and see if I can find anything. The person in question was born in 1898 and it was only him out of the family that emigrated. Have been told that it was "probably in the 40's or 50's" but no idea how accurate that information is!

For people reading this post who have earlier emigrants to Canada; the IGI has the 1881 Canadian census, free to view.

I had this problem too. I wasn't even sure if they had emmigrated to Canada.
The first thing I did was look on shipping lists to America located on Ancestry.I typed in their names and I found both my relatives on a ship in 1947. They stayed 1 night in New York before heading to Canada. I had an idea where they went to because a family member had heard of the place talked about. I then placed a message on a message board for that particular area in Canada and a very nice lady replied to my message and looked up their orbituaries for me. Hence I found out where and when they died.
So far I have placed two messages on the Ancestry community board and both have been answered. I have been very lucky. Both respondents live overseas; one in Canada and one in America.

Records are a little more difficult to obtain between the early 1900's to present than 1850's through 1900, due to privacy issues.

However, for "recent" arrivals, you may be able to try google searches, especially if the name is not a common one. I would suggest trying a google search using the surname and things like: place of birth or year of birth; occupation; siblings' names, etc. Of course, trying the person's first and last name may have results as well.

Here are some sites I've used (mainly for records prior to 1900):

Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid
http://www.islandnet.com/ocfa/
Note: most of my rellies are not listed, so they clearly don't have a lot of records. I believe there are two other provinces that have finding aids.

Ontario Marriages, 1800 - 1925
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~maryc/ontmarr.htm
Once again, most of my ancestors are not listed.

InGeneas
http://www.ingeneas.com/
Have to order records, but they offer immigration records, passenger lists and other documents.

Cyndi's list for Canada
http://www.cyndislist.com/canada.htm

1901, 1906 (Northwest Provinces) and 1911 census records
http://automatedgenealogy.com/

Rootsweb Global Search
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi

In Search of Your Canadian Past
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/

1871 Census of Canada, Ontario - Heads and Strays only
http://db.library.queensu.ca/census/

Ontario Vital Statistics Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~onvsr/

Thanks everyone, will try these sites and see if I get lucky!

Also useful is:
http://www.vpl.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/his/Genealogy/Genealogy.html

Are there any sites for Nova Scotia BMD's

Ann