Updated Course – Research: Saskatchewan Ancestors

Researching your Canadian ancestors? Our course, Research: Saskatchewan Ancestors has just been updated with the latest resources and information. Saskatchewan was part of the North West Territories from 1870 until it became a province in 1905. During this period the land was surveyed and railways were built to bring settlers to the west. To encourage settlement the government of Canada passed the Dominion Land Act in 1871. Under the act a one hundred and sixty acres of land was offered as a free homestead to males 21 years of age or to women who were the sole support for their family. Many people came from other areas in Canada, the United States, the British Isles and Europe to take up homesteads. Before beginning research in Saskatchewan the researcher should establish a research plan noting whom they are searching for, when the family was in Saskatchewan, where they lived, and what they were doing in the province. This enables the researcher to see what records the family may have created in Saskatchewan. This course will help you learn about the major record centres, libraries and societies that can help you find and use the records you need to trace Saskatchewan ancestors. The assignment part of the course will involve using many of the websites to find which original documents you will need to the answer your research problems. To learn more about what is covered in this course, please see our website. This course begins 4 January 2016.

A GRAND TOUR OF IRELAND

Researching Irish ancestry is always a challenge! Why not move the search to the land of your ancestors and join me on a 15 day grand tour of Ireland in April 2016? Three days of research at the National Archives in Dublin and the Public Record Office in Belfast, plus a fully guided tour of many historical and interesting sites.  Sharing our research interests and “brick walls” with others is often one way of discovering more about our own family history. See the land, breathe the air … experience Ireland with Lesley Anderson!    For more information including the itinerary and how to reserve your spot – click here: https://genealogysite.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/join-me-on-an-unforgettable-adventure/   Lesley Anderson has been involved in the personal research of her family tree for over 45 years and her passion for genealogy has branched out to teaching classes, speaking at seminars and conferences, consulting, and doing research for others. She is the Canadian spokesperson for Ancestry.ca and also volunteers at the Ottawa Stake LDS Family History Center where she gets great enjoyment out of helping new and experienced genealogists with their research.   Join me on an Unforgettable Adventure! A GRAND TOUR OF IRELAND WITH PLENTY OF TIME FOR GENEALOGY RESEARCH & FUN FOR ALL! APRIL 16 – MAY 2, 2016 Land Price – $3,183.00 CDN per person (twin shared room*) + Book your own air flight *Single Room Supplement + $825.00 CLICK HERE FOR FULL TRIP ITINERARY April 2016 CIE COACH TOUR INCLUDES: 15 nights’ accommodation Exclusive transport by luxury motor coach with a…

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The Great Canadian Genealogy Summit

A special note about the press release below. We’re excited about this new 2016 conference featuring some of our course authors, instructors, students and managing director Louise St Denis. This is a great educational opportunity. Save the date!     21-23 OCTOBER 2016 | Courtyard by Marriott Brampton  Derived out of a passion for family history, three Canadian genealogists banded together to develop a conference structure which has a mission to promote Canadian genealogists by providing them a platform to showcase their talents as well as share their knowledge and passion for genealogy with others. Those three Canadian genealogists are: Christine Woodcock of Genealogy Tours of Scotland   Kathryn Lake Hogan of Looking4Ancestors, and Dominion Genealogist, UELAC   Mike Quackenbush, professional genealogist specializing in English and Canadian research The summit will feature five research tracks of interest to Canadian family history researchers: Canadian, English, Irish, Scottish, and French-Canadian. Other options include a pre-summit day at the Archives of Ontario and a Loyalist workshop with the Dominion Genealogist of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada. Opening Keynote Speaker is Jennifer Debruin, author of the soon to be published book Daughter of Conflict.  With deep ancestral roots in New France/Quebec, Upper Canada/Ontario, and colonial America, Jennifer is interested in exploring the human story within this rich history. Combining her passion and experience in writing, education, history, and genealogy, she writes fact-based historical fiction.   In addition to Christine, Kathryn and Mike, session speakers will feature: Ruth Blair, PLCGS of Blair Archival Research. Ruth is a Canadian professional genealogist…

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Finishing Up US: Probate Records

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student I have to say I had a lot of fun digging through the online probate resources for my family members after completing the US: Probate Records course.  I limited my afternoon search to online repositories since research into probate records for my family would take a plane ride or many long hours in a vehicle. With that being said, I think I hit the jackpot in a couple places. If you are in the same predicament that I am where your ancestors lived in different states, don’t forget that you can find books online. First place I always try is Google Books. They have quite a few older research books on there that you can read and download. Next I try WorldCat  because I might get lucky and see that a nearby library has the books I am looking for, or maybe they will inter-library loan it to me. Of course, don’t forget the Internet Archive for those out-of-print genealogy books.  I have found so many great resources on these pages and I know you will too! Since the majority of my family have lived in Indiana I decided to start there. Lucky for me, the books that are quoted as references to this section are now online at Ancestry.com. In fact, as I wrote this blog, Ancestry.com released their new probate collection. So, yeah, I went there and hit the jackpot.  Right now I am at a 25% success rate on searches for my Indiana ancestors…

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Learning More About Probate in the States

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student Up to this point in the US: Probate Records course we have learned a lot about the history and laws of the U.S. concerning probate situations. There were a lot of terms, examples, and information in the first three modules but I managed to make it through. The next two modules contained a directory of states which broke out information even more and concluded with a bibliographic resource list in Module 6. The directory will be a useful tool for me in the future as I research my family across the country. Each entry gave a brief description of what information you can usually find, where it is typically located and any interesting facts about the state. Particularly useful is the information on lost record locations. We all know of counties or towns that have lost records due to natural disasters or war. There are records still being lost today due to fire, flood, or neglect.  It makes us look outside of our comfort zones for more potential records, but it is nice to know some of the possible problems up front before you start looking for something that no longer exists. Finally, in Module 6 the course concludes with a directory of websites and books that are useful for research in each of the states. It is not a complete listing because let’s face it, that would be hundreds of pages long!  This listing contains larger inclusive books for the states and in particular indexes. …

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