Genealogy Kith?

[Eskielover]

Eskielover,

The French Canadian records are quite extensive, they have copies on ancestry. Not sure about Quebec, but there are Acadian records back to the 1600's. Where in Canada were your Scottish ancestors?

They settled in Pembroke, Ontario. On my atlas, it looks to be on the border of Quebec; northwest of Ottawa??? I would LOVE to visit there someday.

I subscribed to ancestry international for the free trial period and downloaded every record I was looking for, then cancelled before getting charged. I only signed up for the British records as I can get nearly everything Canadian for free. I made sure I waited until I had two weeks with nothing else going on, and I had a list of searches and documents I wanted, based on the results of the free searches, before I started. That way I could work efficiently and not get lost down the rabbit hole and waste my trial period.

That's such a good idea! And it sounds like you did a lot of smart pre-planning too. Maybe I should do that when I take my vacation time in September. On the other hand, I kinda like having something fun to do as a reward for becoming debt free, too.

How does everyone keep their files safe? I mostly have info on paper, but have been using Family Treemaker too. Had tons of names, obituaries, newspaper articles, and more on FTM. Then in December, my hard-drive died and I lost everything. I had bought an external drive just for my genealogy & planned on transfering everything after the Holidays......my hard drive died the day after Christmas. I just haven't had the heart or the time to start over. Wondering if there was a better way out there? What do you do??

Thanks!

Eskielover
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[Eskielover]

Wow, I have no idea how you guys find anything. NO ONE seems to have my last name. It's hyphenated and the second half is common (among German jews) so won't tell me much, but the first half is so uncommon. Maybe it's because I'm the first generation of US citizens (naturalized even, not born) in the lineage up to me.

I'm on ancestry.com and even got my mom to help fill things out, but I just can't find out anything else. Mom's mom died when she was little and her dad is now gone. I barely talk to my dad.

Help!!

AC - I'm having trouble too - just spent the last four hours on Ancestry and Familysearch. Found some things - but not the abundance I expected for sure. Simple things even with the correct dates and names. Shall not give up - and I know that you won't either!!

Mauimagic & acidcookie:

I have found a lot of info on the message boards of Genealogydot com and ancestry. You can search surnames, states, countries, etc. Sometimes you can find someone searching the same family as you that has posted on the messageboard. I found the family of my gr-grandmothers half-brother (that we knew nothing of) doing that. I'd hit a brick wall 30 years previous and had given up all hope of going back any further than her. It was like she never existd until she married my gr. grandfather in Kansas. Anyway, it's always funto connect with others searching for the same surnames. You can also check out the state/country boards and ask for help in the region your ancestor lived.

Another option--Check out RAOGK dot com. It is a volunteer site where different genealogists volunteer to do certain acts of genealogical kindness. I've been able to get photos of tombstones, obituaries of ancestors, marriage records, and other vital records. Of course you have to have a date and place before requesting.

If your ancestor has an unusual name---google it! I found a free website with vital records of French Canadians by doing this.

For civil war records check out: "Soldiers and Sailors System". I don't have the address, but you could google it. Then just search for your soldier. Unless the name is uncommon, you should have the state he lived in when he joined or you'll get too many "hits". Once you find his company, unit, etc. you can go to "National Archives--service and pension records" and order his service/pension records. There is a charge for copies of the records--I believe they upped it to $45 now. But the pension records will give you the names of his family, where he lived since the war, and other genealogical help.

Genweb---The Genweb will link you to all kinds of info. There is a genweb site for every state/county in the US plus they've added several countries, I believe, although I haven't checked any of them out. Just google "_________ Genweb" such as "Kansas Genweb". That will take you to the state site and from there you can go to the counties....all free. Each site has different info--some have posted the areas archives on the site.

This is all I can think of right now. Will try to add other free sites to this thread as I think of them.

Hope this is helpful...sorry so long!

Eskielover
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[LuvMyHubby]

acidcookie..........do you have the town from where your mother was born? If yes, you could do an ancestry search or LDS to start with. I don't have a subs. to ancestry but most public libraries do and usually it is either free to use their computers or for the price if a library card.

Also, many of the larger public libraries have genealogy related books, some how to do, some geographical related and some with actual family genealogies. This may be helpful to you.

I found out I have German ancestry not too long ago and while I know approximately where this ancestor was born here in Maine and how his ancestors got to where they were, I still cannot find a birth record for him and I hope to so that I can go further back.

I haven't been to FV for a while and forgot about this thread. I am currently brainstorming my brick wall. I know where my Hopkins line starts but cannot for the life of me find a birth record for my GGG Grandfather as the Town he died in and may have been born in lost their records to fire in the early 1900's.

[mauimagic]

Well, my geneology bug has bit me again - only this time I remembered a relative I met 15 years ago in Virginia - he had some interesting facts about our ancestors including copies of where they signed at Ellis Island. Fortunately I remembered his name and found him on FB. He was gracious enough to email me all his information on this one branch of my family going back to 1740!! What a wonderful gift for sure!!

[LuvMyHubby]

mauimagic........that is fantastic. Ellis Island has a great website as does castle garden. Although Castle Garden's website is still a work in progress with getting all of the ship's lists transcribed.

I like dates and facts but truly love pictures and portraits to put a face with a name. I grew up in my grandmother's home and in an outer hallway there were portraits...very large portraits...probably done in the 1860's with two very stern looking people. The always scared the bejibbers out of me and now I wish I was in contact with the person who has them, so I could get pictures of them.

[mauimagic]

KWYM about pictures LMH!! I have pictures of my GGGparents on my mother's side - stern as you said - and now I can put names to them!!

[Eskielover]

I love old pictures too! About a year or so ago, my 1st cousin brought me a large box of old pictures that were his mothers. She was my dads sister so I was happy to take them off his hands (what if he'd just thrown them away!!) [shudder].

We identified most of them, but others we're still unsure of. I have a tin-type too that I have no clue who it could be. The pictures I was most excited about were pics of the family at the 50th anniversary of my grandparents which took place before I was born.

Luvmyhubby, where was Castle Garden? Someday I hope to find when & where my gr. grandparents arrived here from Scotland. I don't even know where to begin looking.

[Hippie Dad]

I just wanted to make a comment on pictures and old documents. It is such a blessing when you can scan in your old photos and documents into your computer and then post them to the Web.
I research or support several family trees, and scanned items that are posted to the Web are a godsend.
These scanned items have answered genealogical questions left unanswered for years; and allowed
contacts with fairly close relatives that were unknown before.

I happen to belong to Ancestry dot com, but there are lots of ways to post for free; and since most home printers now scan as well, this is a perfect example of a Frugal activity that is fun and helps others.

[Hippie Dad]

In reply to

" My paternal grandmothers' family were French-Canadians from Quebec and then further back, from France. Paternal grandfather was born in Canada to Scottish parents. They stayed in Canada a few years then went back to Scotland for a while before then came to America."
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Hi. I presume that you've gone through those neat Quebec Census pages that are on the Web. Sorry if i am mentioning something obvious that you have already checked.

It all depends on what timeframe your ancestors were in Quebec.
One site I particularly like is "mafamille". I am new to Frugal Village, so they won't let me post the URL yet, but if you reply to me or PM me or whatever they do here, I can get the information to you if you are interested.

The regular Census pages are very nice as well.

[Eskielover]

In reply to

" My paternal grandmothers' family were French-Canadians from Quebec and then further back, from France. Paternal grandfather was born in Canada to Scottish parents. They stayed in Canada a few years then went back to Scotland for a while before then came to America."
----

Hi. I presume that you've gone through those neat Quebec Census pages that are on the Web. Sorry if i am mentioning something obvious that you have already checked.

It all depends on what timeframe your ancestors were in Quebec.
One site I particularly like is "mafamille". I am new to Frugal Village, so they won't let me post the URL yet, but if you reply to me or PM me or whatever they do here, I can get the information to you if you are interested.

The regular Census pages are very nice as well.

Hi Hippie Dad. Please tell me more! I have searched the microfilm of the 1851 census many moons ago, but haven't located any *free* census reports on the web. My Verville and Daneau lines came to the US in or around 1870 but a lot of the family stayed in Quebec and many were taken back to be buried in the family plot there. Off hand, I am not sure when my families came to Canada from France. I no longer can access my info at the "click of a mouse" since I lost all my genealogy information due to my hard drive dying.

Thanks in advance for the information on the censuses.

Eskielover

[monkeywrangler71]

Hi Hippie Dad. Please tell me more! I have searched the microfilm of the 1851 census many moons ago, but haven't located any *free* census reports on the web.

Canadian census information is free. LAC either hosts or provides links to everything from 1851 to 1911. What to Search: Topics - Genealogy and Family History - Library and Archives Canada

Quebec is known as Canada East or Lower Canada in the earlier censuses.

[Eskielover]

Canadian census information is free. LAC either hosts or provides links to everything from 1851 to 1911. What to Search: Topics - Genealogy and Family History - Library and Archives Canada

Quebec is known as Canada East or Lower Canada in the earlier censuses.

Thanks, I did not know that. I've only been researching my Scottish & French Canadian roots about 3-4 years, so I haven't checked out a lot of sites. Guess I thought only Ancestry had the census since that seems to be the case with the US. I remember googling "free canadian census" once, but don't think I got many hits. Thanks!!!

[monkeywrangler71]

Thanks, I did not know that. I've only been researching my Scottish & French Canadian roots about 3-4 years, so I haven't checked out a lot of sites. Guess I thought only Ancestry had the census since that seems to be the case with the US. I remember googling "free canadian census" once, but don't think I got many hits. Thanks!!!

That is the case with British records as well, everything is pay-per-view or subscription based. Canadian are mostly free - except, unfortunately, the Drouin Collection, which is where you will find all the birth/marriage/death records for your Quebec ancestors.