Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Launch of "Census of Canada, 1871"

The LAC has just released a press release this afternoon -

"Ottawa, August 30, 2011— The 1871 census marked the first regularly scheduled collection of national statistics, and Library and Archives Canada is now pleased to make its results available online. Researchers can access digitized images of original census returns featuring the name, age, country or province of birth, nationality, religion, and occupation of Canada's residents at the time.

The information covers the four provinces that were part of the Dominion of Canada in 1871: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.

Access to the digitized images of the 1871 census is available online in two different ways:

Through a database that is searchable by nominal information such as Name, Given Name (s) and Age, and/or geographical information such as Province, District Name, District Number, and Sub-district Number.

The database is available at: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1871/index-e.html

Through the "microform digitization” research tool, you can browse the microfilm reels page by page.

The tool is available at: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.02-e.php?&q2=26&interval=30&sk=0&&PHPSESSID=f0v3thhcgqvau3vslaruumn2a7
For more information, please contact webservices@lac-bac.gc.ca.

Free Access – Immigration to the US

Yesterday, I had the post about "Free Access - Immigration from the UK", today there is more news, and it is free access (August 29th to September 5th)to "Immigration to the US". One of the areas to check is the “Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956”.

I spent the morning working on my grandfather Lester John BLADES from Barrington Passage, Nova Scotia. There were at least 17 trips he made to New York from 1925 to 1935. While in New York, he worked on yachts that travelled around the world, and while in Boston, he worked in factories.

Do you have Canadian ancestors who went to the States looking for work, or ancestors going on vacation to visit their relatives?

If you do, using Ancestry.com until Sept 5 is an excellent way to discover the trips they made from 1895 to 1956.

The website is at
http://www.ancestry.com/immigration?cj=1&o_xid=0004887102&o_lid=0004887102

Call for Papers

The Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society have issued a call for speakers to take part in a one-day Branch workshop on Finding Your Great War Ancestors, to be held in Toronto on 31 March 2012. It will be co-hosted by the Canadiana Department of North York Central Library.

To read about the Call for Papers, please go to http://www.torontofamilyhistory.org/GreatWarCall_2012.html

The deadline for proposals is 18 September 2011

To submit your proposal, please contact the workshop coordinator, Paul Jones, at announcements@torontofamilyhistory.org