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~ genealogical history experiment

pastsmith

Tag Archives: canadian research

Current Book Read: Canada West

21 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by pastsmith in Books, History

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

1900s, Alberta, canadian research, Gutenberg

Canada West

Issued by direction of Hon. W. J. Roche Minister of the Interior, Ottawa, Canada. 1914

Written by the Canadian Government to bring homesteaders to the Prairie Provinces, this book contains all one needs to know to move to Canada, but most important: FREE LAND!

A banner in the lower left corner of the cover proclaims, “160 ACRE FARMS in WESTERN
CANADA FREE”.

To be eligible, you must be the sole head of a family or any male eighteen years of age or over, who is a British subject or who declares his intention to become a British subject; a widow having minor children of her own dependent upon her for support.

You made application at the Dominion Lands Office in the area you wanted to settle, paid a $10 registration fee, a certificate of entry was granted and  you could enter and possess the land. It was yours as long as you comply with the homestead requirements.

After you completed the residency requirements (reside in a habitable house upon the land for six months during each of three years), and improvement duties (break thirty acres of the homestead, of which twenty acres must be cropped. Must be reasonably done all three years), you would apply for a land patent. “If the duties have been satisfactorily performed patent issues to the homesteader shortly after without any further action on his part, and the land thus becomes his absolute property.”

So, I theorize this is no doubt why my Grand Uncle left the United States for Alberta after World War I. Free Land? Who could resist that if you were an adventurer and hard worker.

Besides, in reading the propaganda contained in the book, it practically promises you will become healthy, wealthy and wise if you move there! They make it sound almost like moving to heaven.

The first part of the book talks about all the regulations of getting there, what you can bring, what you can’t bring, what they think you should bring to be successful on a homestead. Really it covers everything you need to know.

There are three sections on each Province: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. In these sections it talks about what farmers want to know: The soil and surface, grain production per acre, climate, the seasons, education, roads, railroads, and practically anything else you might be curious about.

If you have relatives who homesteaded in Canada, especially the prairie provinces, it’s a great read. It gave me a new appreciation for how the land was advertised, and what my relatives went through after getting there.

Coupling this with the searchable database up at Library and Archives Canada, you can narrow down the property. There’s a great map on their website. However, I have yet to figure out all the section, township, range, meridian stuff!

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Who’s in Your Household?

30 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by pastsmith in Genealogy

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Alberta, canadian research, research

This question is not asking about the people who live with you. It’s more of a general term for your whole ancestral household.

…one’s foes will be members of one’s own household

~unknown author

Are there any foes in your ancestral household? You know, people who refuse to show up in censuses, the ones you can’t find a marriage record for, some even refuse to cough up a record of birth. How rude!

And very frustrating. If you’re seeing a theme in my posts this week, it’s because I’m attacking those dead end family tree lines with a vengeance. One huge success over the week-end has given me new inspiration to extend the shorter branches of my family tree.

What works for you on those mysterious people who disappear and never reappear again? I know, I know, each case is different, but where do you check besides the mainline genealogy sites?

One site that led to my break-through over the week-end was Library and Archives Canada, section on Land Records. Through one of their databases I was able to place my ancestor in Alberta earlier than I realized he was there. Also found his wife’s name (after verifying it with other sources) who also bought two parcels of land.

Today I discovered Archive.org has Alberta Homestead Records online, and they are downloadable. I am mildly annoyed tho because the titles say Alberta Homestead Records 1870-1940 but when reading the description it says “documents related to Alberta homestead claims filed between 1870 and 1930“. That leaves a ten year gap, in which my relative falls.

So either there’s a discrepancy between the two, or I don’t understand enough about it yet. Looks like I’ll be doing some intense digging.

It’s Webinar Wednesday!

29 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by pastsmith in Genealogy

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

canada, canadian research, Family Tree Webinars, genealogy webinar, Kathryn Lake Hogan, Legacy Family Tree, webinar

Don’t forget today is Webinar Wednesday over at Family Tree Webinars. Today’s topic presented by Kathryn Lake Hogan is:

Ten Reasons Your Ancestor Was in Canada

When you hit a brick wall in your research it’s time to consider Canada. Even if you think your American or immigrant ancestors were never in Canada, discover ten reasons why they actually may have been there. Learn how and where to find the Canadian or provincial records that will help you fill in the missing pieces of your ancestors’ lives.

You still have enough time to register. It starts at 1:00 Eastern. No worries if you miss it tho. It will be free in the Archives for a week after it’s broadcast. Geoff usually gets them edited and up within an hour after they end.

And because I’ve run out of time with the post I was going to put up today and am short on time, I’m reblogging a neighbor’s post from today. Don’t miss it – it’s a great read.

Tuesday’s Tip: Keep beating a dead horse.

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by pastsmith in Genealogy

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

ancestors, canadian research, family tree, Uncle

Don'tBeatRemember that old expression, “Don’t beat a dead horse,” the point being, no matter what you do to a dead horse, you can’t get him to move? Or anything else for that matter. It means whatever you’re trying to do, it’s pointless, you’re not going to change the outcome. Or it’s a waste of time because it’s considered a dead end.

Hmmm, dead end = brick wall in genealogy. So when you hit a brick wall in one of the lines of your family tree, don’t give up. Go back to that dead horse and beat him harder! Meaning, go over all your records. Not just the transcribed text. Actually look, and examine, and study the original records. Recheck all your sources. Usually when I do this, I find some small detail I’ve missed. One of those details could be the magical key to a whole new branch of your family tree.

Here’s what happened to me over the week-end. I had a great Uncle who was “lost in Canada.” Family lore says he went to Canada. Could I find any proof of that? Not really. Two years ago I had located a tombstone through a Google search. I happily took down the info, plugged it into his profile and figured, “Well, that’s that.”

The assumption was I found all I could. There he sat for two years, patiently waiting for me to come back. Over the week-end he came to mind, so I studied all the records and sources, examined the particulars and couldn’t find anything new. Seemed to me the only thing I hadn’t done was investigate the website where I found the tombstone (it was not Find-A-Grave or Billion Graves).

Looking more closely at the home page vs. concentrating on the page with all the photos, I discovered the website was not done by a society as I assumed. It had been done by an individual, who said if we needed a larger file of any photo, to contact her. An email was sent requesting the larger file, and a brief question, “You wouldn’t happen to have anything else on him?”

Ooh my goodness, it was like opening Pandora’s box. Things started flowing in, good things, great things! I found out he had a wife. Didn’t know that. Found out he had 4 kids. Didn’t know that. Started doing research on the kids, hoping against hope, one of them might still be alive.

Sadly the youngest son died in 2012.  I couldn’t believe it. The very year I found his tombstone. Had I looked more closely back then, might I have had a chance to talk to the son? Don’t know. Never will know. But I do know if I had continued to “beat a dead horse,” I wouldn’t have to wonder about that possibility now.

There is more to this story. The same lady who put up the tombstone photo looked through a town book and found a nice write-up about my Uncle. His previous residence, the kids’ names, even his occupation was in the article. It also said he was “a very interesting person, very well liked.” Well, I liked him a lot better now too!

A little later an obit for one of the kids arrived in my email – Then biographies of the two girls. She has also put me in contact with two descendants, second cousins, who are willing to correspond with me. I can’t wait to see if they know anything about my 2-g-grandmother, our overlapping relative.

Think you have no Ancestors related to Canada?

24 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by pastsmith in Genealogy

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

ancestry research, canadian research, genealogy webinar

Think again! Maybe they weren’t born in Canada, but perhaps they visited or lived in Canada. Did you have relatives who lived in the Northern half of the US, especially those border States? Check out this upcoming webinar: Ten Reasons Your Ancestor Was in Canada.

When you hit a brick wall in your research it’s time to consider Canada. Even if you think your American or immigrant ancestors were never in Canada, discover ten reasons why they actually may have been there. Learn how and where to find the Canadian or provincial records that will help you fill in the missing pieces of your ancestors’ lives.

Kathryn Lake Hogan will present this webinar on Wednesday, January 29 [1:00 Eastern] through Legacy Family Tree Webinars. She specializes in Canadian research, and the last webinar I attended by her was very informative. Helped me find one of my lost relatives who moved over the border into Alberta. I had searched for 5 or 6 years and could not locate where he landed, or if he even stayed there.

It’s free to participate in Legacy Family Tree Webinars, but you do have to register. Then the webinar is free to watch in archives for the week after.

Have a relative who’s disappeared in your tree? Give it a whirl. At the very least, you could put new tools in your genealogy toolbox!

 

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Bennet McInnes

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