Canadian census | Genealogy Gems

Canada and Mexico Genealogy Collections Get Major Updates!

by Lacey Cooke | Mar 8, 2019 | 01 What's New, Records & databases

Great news for those searching for ancestors in Canada and Mexico! FamilySearch has partnered with Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to publish the 1926 Census of Prairie Provinces, available to search for free online now. Also new this week are massive updates to Ancestry’s genealogical records collections for Mexico, including vital records and Catholic church records.

Featured: New genealogy resource online for Canada

Genealogy Giant FamilySearch has recently announced the online launch of the Historical Canada 1926 Census of the Prairie Provinces. From the press release:

“FamilySearch International and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) have partnered to publish online the 1926 Canadian census of the Prairie provinces. The free database provides a searchable index of 2 million names linked to 45,000 digital pages of the historical regional Canadian census. Search the census now at FamilySearch.org.

LAC provided the digitized images, and FamilySearch created the index. People with Canadian roots can now easily find information about their ancestors who might have lived in the provinces of Manitoba (639,056), Saskatchewan, (820,738) and Alberta (607,599).

About the 1926 Census of the Prairie Provinces
Since 1871, a Canada-wide census has been held every 10 years. However, during the early part of the 20th century, the population of the Prairie provinces expanded rapidly, so there was a need for more frequent population counts in those provinces. It was decided to conduct a census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in June 1906 (between the Canada-wide censuses), and every 10 years thereafter.”

My Great Great Grandfather Found in Saskatchewan!
We’ve long known that my great great grandfather Harry Cooke immigrated to Canada in 1912, however the trail grows cold quickly from that point. This new collection offered a new chance to track him down in North America. A quick search of this new online database delivered the goods!

Prairie Provinces Canada Census 1926

Stay tuned to the Genealogy Gems Podcast to hear how to get even more out of the data included in this fabulous collection!

Updated genealogy records collections for Mexico

Ancestry.com has made massive updates to their genealogical records collections for Mexico, listed here by location:

Aguascalientes Civil Registration Births 1860-1947, Marriages 1860-1961, and Deaths 1859-1961
Baja California Sur Civil Registration Births 1860-1930, Marriages 1860-1950, and Deaths 1860-1987
Campeche Catholic Church Records, 1638-1944, plus Civil Registration Births 1859-1921, Marriages 1860-1921, and Deaths 1860-1912
Chiapas Catholic Church Records 1558-1978, plus Civil Registration Births 1861-1947, Marriages 1861-1952, and Deaths, 1861-1987
Chihuahua Catholic Church Records 1632-1958
Coahuila Civil Registration Births 1861-1930, Marriages 1861-1950, and Deaths 1861-1999
Colima Civil Registration Births 1861-1931, Marriages, 1863-1952, and Deaths 1860-1997.
Durango Civil Registration Births 1861-1930, Marriages 1861-1951, and Deaths 1861-1987
Guanajuato Civil Registration Births 1862-1929, Marriages 1866-1929, and Deaths 1862-1930
Nayarit Catholic Church Records 1596-1967
Nuevo León Catholic Church Records 1667-1981
Sinaloa Catholic Church Records 1671-1968
Sonora Catholic Church Records 1657-1994
Zacatecas Catholic Church Records 1605-1980

More on researching your Hispanic ancestors

If you have Hispanic heritage — anywhere from Mexico to Chile to Spain — you’re in luck: More resources for tracing their immigration are available more readily than ever before. In this special research collection from Family Tree Magazine, get eight resources to trace your Hispanic heritage for one low price! You will learn important historical dates and timelines, Spanish naming traditions, where to find records of immigration by ship, plane and train, and much more! Get the Hispanic Heritage Research Collection for just $24.99 – a $70.96 value!

Lacey Cooke

Lacey has been working with Genealogy Gems since the company’s inception in 2007. Now, as the full-time manager of Genealogy Gems, she creates the free weekly newsletter, writes blogs, coordinates live events, and collaborates on new product development. No stranger to working with dead people, Lacey holds a degree in Forensic Anthropology, and is passionate about criminal justice and investigative techniques. She is the proud dog mom of Renly the corgi.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

Historic U.S. Newspapers & More in New & Updated Records

by Lisa Cooke | Nov 3, 2017 | 01 What's New, British, Canadian, Newspaper, Records & databases, United States

Historic U.S. newspapers are featured in this week’s new and updated records collections, including Hawaii, Colorado, Georgia, and North Carolina. Also new this week are updated New York passenger lists, vital records for England, Welsh newspapers, military and census records for Canada, and Austrian parish records.

Historic U.S. Newspapers & More

This week we were delighted to see lots of historic U.S. newspaper made available online. Newspapers are a fantastic way to find clues about your ancestors, especially when vital records are elusive, and also learn about their daily lives.

Hawaii. If you have family from Hawaii or are interested in Hawaiian history, then you’ll definitely want to check out these three new titles added to Newspapers.com:

Honolulu Advertiser 1856 – 2010 with 2.2 million pages
Honolulu Star-Bulletin 1912 – 2010 with 1.9 million pages
Honolulu Star-Advertiser 2010 – 2017 with 300,000 pages

In 2010, the Adviser and Star-Bulletin were merged to create the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. If you’re looking for ancestors or other family members in these papers, good places to start include personals columns, society pages, local interest columns, and the like.

Colorado. History Colorado (HC) recently digitized and added two historic Denver African-American newspapers: Statesman (1905-1912), and The Denver Star (1912-1918). While these papers covered news from African-American communities in “Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and the West,” they also covered local news from Denver’s Five Points district. These newspapers cover Denver’s African American culture and community, including its residents, businesses, and aspects of everyday life.

Georgia. Georgia Perimeter College Collection is now available online. The digital collection includes yearbooks, catalogs, and student newspapers from the 1960s to the 2010s. You can browse the collection by decade, date, format, or by the name of the institution at the time each item was published.

North Carolina. The newspaper of Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, NC has been digitized and made available online. There are 44 issues are available to browse spanning from 1971-1979 with issues published every other month. Among the news headlines are graduations, alumni news, fundraising campaigns, appointments of new abbots, and changes on campus reflective of this decade’s larger cultural movements.

New York. MyHeritage has updated their collection of Ellis Island and Other New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. This collection contains millions of records of individuals arriving at the port of New York, including individuals who arrived at three well-known immigrant processing stations: Castle Garden (1855-1890), the Barge Office (1890-1892), and Ellis Island (1892-1957).

England – Portsmouth Collection

Findmypast has an exciting new collection for Portsmouth, Hampshire. This collection of scanned images of original handwritten documents contains more than 1.3 million historical records spanning 1538 – 1917. When complete, the collection will be the largest repository of Portsmouth family history records available online. Click the links below to explore the 5 collections:

Also new this week from The British Newspaper Archive is the Ross Gazette. This newspaper is published by Tindle Newspapers in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, England, spanning 1867 – 1910. This collection currently has over 2,000 issues available now, with more continuing to be added.

Welsh Newspapers

Even more historic newspapers are new this week as we head over to Wales. The British Newspaper Archive recently added the Rhyl Journal (Clywd, 1877 – 1897) and Cambrian News (Dyfed, 1863 – 1882) to their database.

Though these collections are relatively small, they can provide wonderful clues and details about your ancestors living in Wales in the 19th century.

Canada – Military and Census Records

New for Canada this week are Certificates of Military Instruction at Fold3, which includes records from 1867 to 1932. There were initially two types of certificates: First Class (battalion-level officers) and Second Class (company-level officers). The information you can find in the certificates in this collection typically includes the man’s name, rank, and residence; the certificate type and date; and the name and location of the school.

The 1921 Canadian Census is now available for free at the Library and Archives Canada. The 1921 Census marked the sixth regularly scheduled collection of national statistics. It officially began on June 1, 1921. This research tool contains 8,800,617 records that are searchable by name.

Austria – Parish Records

Over at Ancestry.com, a new collection of Salzburg Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1600-1930 is now available. From the description: “This collection contains parish registers from numerous Catholic communities in the city Salzburg, Austria as well as numerous communities that today are part of the Austrian state of Salzburg.” Note that these records are in German, and you should search using German words and location spellings.

Native American Records

Do you have Native American ancestry? Or are you interested in Native American history? Then explore Fold3’s Native American Collection for free November 1-15, 2017. Their unique collection includes records, documents, and photos never before seen online. All you need is a free Fold3 account to start exploring!

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting this free podcast and blog!

We Dig These Gems: New Genealogy Records Online

by Lisa Cooke | May 8, 2015 | 01 What's New, Australian, British, Canadian, Church, images, Newspaper, Records & databases, United States

Every Friday, we blog about new genealogy records online. Might any of these collections include your ancestors? Today: English and Welsh Quaker vital records, Newfoundland censuses, New York marriage record, Nova Scotia deaths, Queensland wills and Pittsburgh newspapers.

ENGLISH AND WELSH BMD. Quaker birth, marriage and burial records from England and Wales, 1578-1841, are now available to FindMyPast subscribers. Quakers were formally known as the Society of Friends, a nonconformist religious group who practiced their faith outside of the established Church of England during this time.

NEWFOUNDLAND CENSUSES. Over a quarter million indexed records have been added to free existing databases of Newfoundland, Canada censuses for 1935 and 1945 at FamilySearch.

NEW YORK MARRIAGES. Nearly 640,000 images have been added to a free FamilySearch collection of New York marriage records (1847-1848, 1908-1936). The collection is only partially indexed, but you can “scroll through” images online, much like you would on a microfilm reader.

NOVA SCOTIA DEATHS. Nearly 350,000 indexed names and over a quarter million images have been added to free FamilySearch databases of Nova Scotia deaths from 1890-1955 and 1956-1957.

QUEENSLAND (AU) WILLS. More than 45,000 wills from Queensland, Australia are now indexed for FindMyPast subscribers. The database covers nearly a century: 1857 to 1940 and includes name and year of death.

PITTSBURGH NEWSPAPERS. Newspapers.com and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have partnered to put issues of that paper online (1877-1921). “If you take into account the earlier papers that evolved into The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (like The Pittsburg Post, The Pittsburgh Gazette, and others—also on Newspapers.com), you’ll find issues dating back as far as 1786,” says a news release. “That’s 135 years of Pittsburgh history!”

Here’s a tip: Most databases, even those with thousands of names in them, are incomplete. If you don’t find an ancestor in a record set in which they should appear, double check the record set description to see whether the years you want might not be included. Search on multiple name spellings, nicknames and initials, as well as for the names of other relatives. Page through any images online. Search that same website (and others) for additional record sets that may cover the same time frame and place. Finally, ask yourself why they could be missing from the records and follow up on logical lines of inquiry. This tip comes to you courtesy of the newly-revised and updated 2nd edition of The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox by Lisa Louise Cooke, which teaches you how to harness the powerful, free features on Google to find your ancestors.