Much to my surprise, a fairly new Ancestry database, North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, includes people who lived in Canada.
When I read Randy Seaver’s blog post, Ancestry.com has Added “North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000” Database, on his blog, Genea-Musings, I figured this was just another American database, despite the inclusion of “North American” in the title.
The description of the database didn’t convince me otherwise:
“This collection contains genealogical research privately published in nearly one thousand family history books. The primary focus is on North American families from the 18th and 19th centuries, especially those with Revolutionary War and Colonial ties. Some European family histories are also included, with emphasis on connections to nobility.”
But I was wrong. The database does indeed include people who lived in Canada — and Mexico — as well as in the United States.
For example, when I entered Canada in the keyword search box, more than 5,000 results appeared. I also entered Quebec (458 results) and Ontario (2,338 results).
To give you an idea of what you may find, here are the opening words of one discovery:
Finlay McNaughton, b. Sept. 21, 1851, at St. Remi, Quebec; was brought up on his father’s farm in St. Remi; attended the district school, the Huntingdon Academy and St. Francis College, Richmond. In 1870 he matriculated as a student in the arts department of McGill University, Montreal …
Source: Ancestry.ca, North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000,” Life of George Dewey, Rear Admiral, U.S.N., and Dewey Family History, Dewey Publishing Company: Westfield, Massachusetts, 1898, page 333.
Somewhat supporting my earlier suspcions, however, I discovered that every Canadian I found in the database was part of an American family. Still, no matter where you ancestors lived in North America, you should probably explore it.
If you subscribe to Ancestry.ca or Ancestry.com, take a look at the database, North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000.
