Census Records

Canadian Census Quirk: Married Women’s Maiden Names

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For the most part, you are not going to find married women’s maiden names in the Canadian census returns (nor in the English or US census returns either, for that matter). Census enumerators were neither required nor expected to record married women’s maiden names; not surprisingly, most of them did not do so. But occasionally (very occasionally indeed), you will find a census enumeration where the enumerator did record the maiden names of married women. A useful quirk, from the perspective of the genealogist, and a bit of a research bonus if you’re lucky enough to find such an emumeration. From the 1861 enumeration of the Township of Algona in…

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Catholic Records, Irish Records

NLI Parish Registers Digitisation Project

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This is huge. This is absolutely fantastic. This has the potential to transform (and by “transform,” I mean radically improve) Irish family history research. Press release from the National Library of Ireland: We are delighted to announce that we will make the NLI’s entire collection of Catholic parish register microfilms available online – for free…

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Migration

Ireland-to-Canada emigration: from which port?

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According to historian Timothy J. Meagher (The Columbia Guide to Irish American History), Liverpool was the point of departure for the vast majority of Irish emigrants to both Canada and the United States, at least during the Famine period: Even most of the Irish bound for North America, however, first went through Britain, more specifically…

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