Candice McDonald

52 Ancestors: Week 24 – Diaries Found at Provincial Archives

This week\’s 52 Ancestors prompt is \”Diaries\”. Most of us are not lucky enough to have an ancestor\’s diary. But looking at other people\’s diaries can still give you insight into your ancestor\’s life. This week I thought I would highlight some of the digitized diaries available online at each Provincial/Territorial Archive. Newfoundland and LabradorAContinue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 24 – Diaries Found at Provincial Archives”

52 Ancestors: Week 23 – Place Names and Social Histories in Canada

We become so focused on the history of our family members that we don\’t always look closely enough at the history of the region they lived. If you\’re guilty of this, then you may be missing out on important clues as to why your ancestor settled in a particular place. This week\’s 52 Ancestor\’s promptContinue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 23 – Place Names and Social Histories in Canada”

52 Ancestors: Week 22: Cemetery Records on Canadiana

This week\’s 52 Ancestors prompt is \”At the Cemetery\”. I\’m going to look at some of the more unusual records you can find on the Canadiana website relating to cemeteries. Through my research I haven\’t found a lot on there that pertains to indexes and transcriptions. However, I did find some interesting records. Monographs The firstContinue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 22: Cemetery Records on Canadiana”

52 Ancestors: Week 21 – Canadian Naval Records

HMCS Haida This Week\’s 52 Ancestors prompt is military. I\’ve decided to focus on a branch of the Canadian military that often gets overlooked, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). The institution as we now know it was only founded in 1910. Before then, the country was under protection of the British Royal Navy. If you\’reContinue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 21 – Canadian Naval Records”

52 Ancestors: Week 20: Ancestors in Natural Resources on Canadiana

Historical picture showing the squaring of white pine timber in Algonquin Park http://algonquinforestry.on.ca/algonquin-park-history/history-logging-history/#/ This week\’s 52 Ancestors prompt in \”Nature\”. Love it or hate it, Canada\’s economy has always been heavily entwined with our natural resources. You\’d be hard pressed to find a Canadian family tree without at least one ancestor working in these industries. Hiking,Continue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 20: Ancestors in Natural Resources on Canadiana”

52 Ancestors Week 19: The Nursing Sisters of Canada

Portrait of Miss Georgina Pope, head nurse of First Canadian Contingent during the Boer war. Possibly in her nurse\’s uniform from Bellevue Hospital, New York This week\’s 52 Ancestors prompt is \”Nurture\”. So this week I decided to take a look at the Nursing Sisters in Canada\’s Military. The Nursing Sisters have a long historyContinue reading “52 Ancestors Week 19: The Nursing Sisters of Canada”

52 Ancestors: Week 18 – Digital Maps at Library and Archives Canada

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Canada_political-geo.png This week\’s 52 Ancestors theme is Road Trip. A must have for any trip is a map. Map apps on your phone are great, but from experience I know they\’re useless if you go out of cell phone range. I love old maps. Not only are they fun to look at, but they canContinue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 18 – Digital Maps at Library and Archives Canada”

52 Ancestors: Week 17 – Parish Registers on Canadiana

Digital images of church records can be hard to find in Canada, especially if your ancestor wasn\’t Catholic. It\’s even harder to find free records. Thankfully, thanks to Canadiana, you can look at literally hundreds of reels of microfilm for FREE. When I typed \”parish registers\”, \”church\” and \”religion\” into the search engines for Heritage,Continue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 17 – Parish Registers on Canadiana”

52 Ancestors: Week 16 – Merchant Marine Records on Family Search

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9WB-Q4ZF?i=10&wc=MXM9-WP8%3A387479201&cc=2057673 This week\’s 52 Ancestor\’s prompt is \”Out of Place\”. If you have maritime ancestors, then you know they can turn up in any location. A good record set covering Canadian ports is the collection Canada, Merchant Marine Agreements and Accounts of Crews, 1890-1920 on Family Search. This collection is a browse only collection. This means thatContinue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 16 – Merchant Marine Records on Family Search”

52 Ancestors: Week 15 – Do You Have Florence Elizabeth Hance in Your Family Tree?

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay I am a new addict to DNA. I hemmed and hawed for a long time before I took a DNA test through Ancestry last year. Since I got my results in November, I have been obsessed with unraveling the mystery of some of my DNA matches. I\’ve had a groupContinue reading “52 Ancestors: Week 15 – Do You Have Florence Elizabeth Hance in Your Family Tree?”