Ancestry

There is something so invigorating about discovering where you came from.  Who the people are who’s actions brought you to where you were born.  It’s great for those who have insatiable curiosities.  This is with out a doubt, one of the most addictive projects I have ever embarked on.  Pick a time of year that you can devote a big chunk of time to this project; I initially started my project during the winter time when I wasn’t able to enjoy the outdoors for long periods of time.  The only tool you really need is some paper and a pen, while a family tree book is incredibly interesting to try and fill in it is not necessary.  Having a computer or access to a computer is incredibly handy.  I would strongly recommend creating yourself a free new email address preferably without your name in the email address for ancestry research solely as you may come across forums that you may want to contact people with and you may find you will get a lot of emails. 

It is so much easier to start this while you are young and while your senior relatives are still with you as the first step to any ancestral research is to sit down with a family member: grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles: anyone who can give you the names of past family members.  Always, always, always get as many names as possible.  You will find sometimes the only way you will be able to proceed is to have the names of siblings of grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.  So often family names are passed down and it may be hard to follow a person back.  If for instance there are 5 John Smiths listed in a search find, if you know the John Smith you are looking for had a sister named Bertha, this could be very helpful in narrowing down which John Smith you are looking for when going through Census and other documents.  I would have liked to own a voice recorder for this stage, or even a video camera, if you have one, use it!  How great to keep a documented copy of your conversation with your grandparent (s) and so often they will lapse into a great story of their childhood that you will want to hold onto forever.

I found the most helpful website to start with is Ancestry.ca.  You can do a free 2 week trial with a valid credit card. (Just make sure to cancel the membership at the end of the 2 weeks as they will then charge you!  Also this is why I mentioned make sure to pick a time of year when you can devote your time to research.) This was hands down the most informative website and if you are one of the lucky ones, you may discover a distant relative also using Ancestry.ca who has pictures or who can help further your research.  St. Catharines Public Library has this website and you are able to use this for free from their location.  The only thing is they don’t have the license for to view other users’ family trees so you may miss out on pictures etc.  But at least you can have access to government records.  The library’s historians are also super helpful and informative and will show you old newspapers clipping that they have for the area. 

I could keep going on, but once you start researching it will grow and you will discover more websites and forums that may benefit you.  Depending on where your family is from you can look at local governments to see if you can find exciting documents that may be made available to the public.  Some of my family is from New Brunswick and their province has a fantastic archives website that allows you to look at scanned copies of birth, marriage and death certificates.

If you are truly passionate this project will grow and grow!  This is a great project for all ages! Involve your children!

A few cool things we have found:

My Great-Grandfather's Draft Papers, a picture of Hubby's Great Grandfather & Great-Great Grandfather, My Great Grandparent's Wedding Certificates, and my Grandfather is a descendent of Kind Edward the Elder.