Ancestry has added a new database to its collection: Canada, WWII Service Files of War Dead, 1939-1947.
More than 40,000 Canadians lost their lives serving in the Second World War, and you can learn about them in these case files.
A small transcribed portion of the service files of the WWII war dead has been available on Library and Archives Canada’s website. However, through Ancestry, we can now see what appears to be the entire file. Knowing what the end of the story is, it is a sobering read.
During the past several days, Ancestry has added three other databases, called “Web” databases. These are databases that are already freely available from websites, such as the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) website and the Alberta Family Histories Society.
Here are the latest Web databases:
• Montreal, Canada, non-Catholic Baptism Index, 1766-1835 — from BAnQ
• Quebec, Canada, Marriage Contract Index, 1761-1941 — from BAnQ
• Alberta, Index to Cemeteries, 1823-2013 — from Alberta Family Histories Society
Admittedly, I am disappointed Ancestry has not added several new digitzed records. They will never be able to completely satisfy me until they have digitized each and every one of my ancestors’ records.
I do understand that providing access to these “freely available” databases benefits subscribers, and I am one of those subscribers. Adding these Web databases makes the site become more like one-stop shopping. In other words, when we search for an ancestor on Ancestry, we are casting a wider net that extends to databases hosted by other websites. Perhaps this will help us snare some of our more elusive relatives.
