Monday, December 28, 2009

Ontario Census Records Online: 1901-1911 And More

If you are tracing your family in the province of Ontario, Canada, you should check a website called Automated Genealogy which has several searchable databases of Ontario census records from 1901 to 1911. The website shows that they are also in the midst of transcribing the 1851 census for Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and reportedly two-thirds completed.

Both the 1901 and 1911 censuses are complete, although the 1901 transcriptions are still being proof-read, but are fully searchable. As an added bonus, the 1906 census of the three prairie provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are available.

The 1901 Census database contains over 5.6 million lines transcribed for the following Canadian provinces:

British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, The Territories (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and unorganized territories).

The 1906 Census database contains over 800,000 lines transcribed for the following Canadian provinces:

Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

The 1911 Census database contains over 7.5 million lines transcribed for the following Canadian provinces:

Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon Territory.

The 1851 Census (actually not taken until early 1852), was for the then provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, although the Nova Scotia census was a head-of-household only census and indexing has not yet begun. At the time, the province of Ontario was called Canada West, and the province of Quebec was known as Canada East. The total population of these two provinces at that time was about 1.8 million, with approximately 952,000 living in Canada West (Ontario) and 890,000 living in Canada East (Quebec).

Here is the link to the 1851 Census of New Brunswick.

As a side note, there is a lively forum for this website with over 43,000 registered users. It is free to join and you can ask inquire for assistance where needed or read helpful information others have posted.

Another feature visitors to the website should be aware of that can prove helpful is the ability to connect records to individuals. If you locate the family or individual you are searching for in the census records, there is a handy link to other census records on the site for that family or individual. What the folks behind the website would like to do if this linking project becomes fully realized, is to be able to find all the details of an individual, their birth, marriage, death, census records, photographs, newspaper articles and other online data. By linking your information, you may be able to assist others also searching your family tree and hopefully they will be able to return the favor.

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