Saturday at the Family History Library I spent most of the day researching the Canadian Census.
I don’t have any direct ancestors from Canada, but my aunts and uncles married spouses with roots in Canada, to wit:
- my Aunt Sophie’s husband has roots in the Eastern Townships of Quebec,
- my Uncle John’s wife has French Canadian roots in Quebec,
- my Aunt Bertha’s husband has roots in New Brunswick,
- my Aunt Nat’s husband has roots in Nova Scotia, and
- my Uncle Fred’s wife has French Canadian roots in Quebec.
Currently, online images and/or indexes exist for the Canadian censuses taken in 1851, 1881, 1901, 1906, and 1911. Ancestry has indexes and links to the images for the 1851, 1901, 1906, and 1911 censuses, although the images for the 1851 census reside on the Collections Canada server and may be browsed for free through Collections Canada’s ArchiviaNet. The 1881 census is indexed on FamilySearch and the index may be searched for free, although no online images are available.
Given that I’m interested in the 1851-1891 census records for Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, the Ancestry databases don’t do me much good except for the index to the 1851 census. And so, I chose to attack this long-standing item in my to-do list at the Family History Library.
One big advantage in searching these records at the Family History Library itself, rather than just ordering the films and browsing them at my local Family History Center, is that numerous finding aids and expert advice is available in Salt Lake City, but not at my local Family History Center.
I chose to concentrate on two main lines. I found the following records for the ancestors of my Uncle John’s wife:
- 1851 – Francois Patenaude in St. Valentin, Quebec;
- 1861 – Francois Patenaude and David Patenaude in St. Valentin, Quebec;
- 1871 – Francois Patenaude, David Patenaude, and Aubin Gamache in St. Valentin, Quebec; Charles Patenaude in Barford, Quebec;
- 1881 – Francois Patenaude and Aubin Gamache in St. Valentin, Quebec; Charles Patenaude in Coaticook, Quebec.
I also found the following records for the ancestors of my Aunt Bertha’s husband:
- 1871 – Simon Poirier in Shediac, New Brunswick;
- 1881 – Simon Poirier and Andre Poirier in Shediac, New Brunswick;
- 1891 – Andre Poirier in Shediac, New Brunswick.
After speaking with one of the staff members at the library, I also searched the Loiselle Marriage Index for the ancestors of Alice Charron and made a little progress there as well.
In the coming weeks, I plan to post some of these images.
For now, I have to finish packing and get a good night’s sleep. My flight leaves Salt Lake City at 7 AM on Sunday.
Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko
