By Paul Lima
Glenn Andra-Warner wouldn’t have known that his ancestors lived on an estate beside the famed English writer Sir Walter Raleigh if his wife, Elle, had not started researching his family tree.
“It’s fascinating where you can go,” says Elle. “Who knows how far from home, or close to home, your genealogy adventure will take you!”
A freelance writer, Elle, 63, was researching a book about the Hudson’s Bay Company when she found a wealth of ancestral records online. That got her thinking about finding more on her husband’s family, but she had only a family Bible with three ancestral names and a few dates. But that was enough, says Elle. “The historical sleuthing began.”
Not everyone can research his or her genealogy online. Elle’s parents were Estonian and there are no online family records. However, many Canadian, American, and British birth census records — and many marriage, birth, and death certificates — are available online. And those documents are where you can begin digging into your roots.
Library and Archives Canada is an excellent place to begin
Where to start digging
Researching family histories can be like looking for needles in a haystack. Although there’s a lot of information out there, it can be difficult to find data directly related to your family. Not all the many Smiths and Joneses, for example, are related to you. And even if your last name is Smith, distant relatives might have spelled it “Smythe.” Look for family tree clues — such as marriages to a known relative — to help you establish connections.
When you’re ready to start the search, follow the advice of genealogists:
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Start with yourself and work back: you know at least the details of your immediate family. Open up a new Word document and start typing.
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Interview relatives, beginning with the eldest. Ask them for names of relatives, dates of births, marriages, and deaths, and any related certificates or records.
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Go deeper and conduct research on the Internet. Remember, however, that you may have to visit church parishes or government archives to find birth, death, or marriage certificates if the information is not online.
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Use Internet message boards, such as those on Ancestry.ca, to connect with others tracing family trees based on the same, or similar, names (such as Smith, Smythe, or Smyth).
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Document and organize what you find either in Word or Excel, or use genealogy software such as Agelong Tree, Ancestral Quest, or Brother’s Keeper to assemble and organize family data, produce reports and charts, and exchange information and files with colleagues.
Family treasures
Using a variety of genealogy Web sites that let her track marriage, birth, and death certificates, residences, and the movement of her husband’s relatives, Elle traced one branch of her husband’s family tree to the 1400s in England.
“This is like being a historical detective,” says Elle. “The clues are there, but you have to figure out how to find them. The Internet is making it a lot easier. It’s so exciting when you fill in a blank on the family tree and discover a whole new branch of relatives.”
There are many genealogical Web sites. Selecting the right ones to use depends on where your relatives were born, lived, and died, says Elle. She knew her husband’s relatives had been born in England, moved to the United States, and then emigrated to Canada, so she focused on English, American, and Canadian genealogical sites. (See the list of genealogical Web sites at the end of this article.)
For the largest number of Canadian family history records online, visit Ancestry.ca
Genealogist, beware
There’s an incredible amount of valuable information to be found online, but Elle cautions against people selling research services, family crests, and other products. “If that’s not what you’re looking for, ignore them,” she says.
That said, there are things you may want to spend money on. Elle paid for access to informative news clippings from old Ontario newspapers as well as copies of birth certificates from England. “A great relative disappeared from the family tree and we found out from a birth certificate that she died giving birth. The document also gave her father’s name. This was worth paying for,” she says.
As much as Elle has relished the historical connections she’s made, perhaps her greatest find has been Glenn’s fifth cousins. An inquiry with a Whitby, Ont., records archivist put her in touch with someone doing research on similar names. As luck would have it, that person was a fifth cousin whom Glenn had never met before (and who Glenn didn’t even know existed) and who lives only two blocks away!
Paul Lima
Paul Lima is a technology and business writer who did his first word processing on a Radio Shack TRS-80. He writes about how companies, organizations, and individuals harness technology to advance their businesses, causes, or lifestyles. His work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, CBC.ca, and many other publications.
