Monday, August 6, 2012

Family Tree Magazine Picks Best Canadian Genealogy Sites


The sites that they have picked are -

Automated Genealogy - I use this site quite often to check the census of 1901, 1906 (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) and 1911. As is pointed out, they have a "Link Centre, which has already connected 2 million records of individuals between censuses as well as other sources, such as WWI soldiers and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography".

This is very important, if you want to make to a connection between the First World War and the 1911 Census.

The website is at http://automatedgenealogy.com

Canadian - This site I use every so often, maybe not as much as I should for there is 60 million-plus pages from libraries, museums, universities and government agencies.

I have just found it to be so frustating because I get lost in the Early Canadiana Online collection. But I understsnd that it is going through a "a makeover" with improved searching and navigation facitilty.

The website is at www.canadiana.ca/en/home

Library and Archives Canada - The LAC came in third place, and it appears that the biggest mark against it is "not searchable by surname". That is the thing isn't it - there are all of these records online - but the majority are not searchable by surname.

They have a new website at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx

Our Roots/Nos Roots - I agree - this is a good site! They have put online over 5,000 local history books, and if you haven't gone there before, it does deserve a look because I have found many refernces which has helped me in my reserarch.

The website is at www.ourroots.ca

Le Programme de recherche en démographie historique (The Research Program in Historical Demography) - I have used the database when I have had ancestors in Quebec. They have as their objective to collect every bit of information on all "biographical files on all individuals of European ancestry who lived in the St. Lawrence Valley". They charge to do full research - although nothing is charged to see if a name is listed in the database.

The website is at www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/leprdh.htm.

That's My Family/Voici Ma Famille - I have used this database to check to see if a marriage (specially in Quebec) is there. This was a database put together by the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec and Library and Archives Canada sometime ago, but it is still worth a look.

The website is www.thatsmyfamily.info