Brochure helps in tracing Canadian ancestors

Canada is one big country, and the thought of seeking out ancestors there can be a bit daunting.

You might start by printing off a brochure on “Tracing Your Ancestors in Canada,” from the Web site of the Library and Archives Canada at www.collectionscanada.ca/genealogy.

It’s only 15 sheets of paper, but it prints out rather slowly, so have patience.

Allen Voisine of the Aroostook County Genealogical Society brought to my attention that this brochure was available. It’s certainly helpful to know how things are organized in our neighbor country.

I started by clicking on Canadian Genealogy Centre, then Databases. I chose AVITUS, which is the Directory of Canadian Genealogical Resources. Then I clicked on “Browse by Subject,” an immense list of possibilities.

From there I went to “Local Histories” and found Our Roots – Nos Racines, Canada’s local histories online. You can go directly to that site at www.nos

racines.ca/e/

home.asp.

I did a search for “Saint John,” admittedly a big subject. One of the resources I found was “Kingston and the Loyalists of the ‘Spring Fleet’ of 1783 with Reminiscences of Early Days in Connecticut,” to which is appended a diary written by Sarah Frost on her voyage to Saint John, New Brunswick, with the Loyalists of 1783, with notes by W.O. Raymond, by Walter Bates.

The introduction explains that the narrator of the trip was Sarah (Scofield) Frost, a native of Stamford, Conn., with her husband, William. She was a Loyalist, while her parents were on the side of the “Revolutionary party.” Sarah begins her diary on May 25, 1783:

I left Lloyd’s Neck with my family and went on board the Two Sisters, commanded by Capt. Brown, for a voyage to Nova Scotia with the rest of the Loyalist sufferers. This evening the captain drank tea with us. He appears to be a very clever gentleman. We expect to sail as soon as the wind shall favor. We have very fair accommodation in the cabin, although it contains six families, besides are own. There are two hundred and fifty passengers on board.

Who knows what else we might find for resources online?

Other topics under Databases include census records, immigration, military and Home Children, a database of juvenile migrants sent to Canada from Great Britain between 1869 and the late 1930s.

Researchers will want to check out Web sites for various provincial archives, but this brochure is an overview for Canada.

If you do not have access to the Internet and do not have someone who can print off this brochure for you, write to me and I will send you a photocopy.

You will find much more information on Canadian and New Brunswick research in books available at several Maine libraries.

Not this guy after all, but that one. I think most of us have had the experience of getting an ancestor mixed up with someone else in town.

Estella “Tootie” Bennett will speak on a confusion of identities in her search for her Civil War ancestor, Stephen Lovell of Abbot, during the next meeting of the Wassebec Genealogical Society at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 9, at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft.

All are welcome. For directions or information, e-mail wassebec@yahoo.com or call 564-3576.

3358. TREADWELL-CURTIS. Looking for information on death, burial of Jacob Tredwell or Treadwell, baptized Oct. 7, 1765, First Church of Wells, probably died after 1835, Frankfort. Children: Joseph, born 1797, and Samuel, both probably born in Wells; James and Sally, born in Frankfort. Listed in U.S. Census for Frankfort 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830. Son Joseph married Jemima Curtis, born Monroe, daughter of Benjamin Jr. and Jemima (Curtis) Curtis, and moved his family to Prentiss after 1840. Did Jacob’s son Samuel marry Jemima’s sister Nancy? Need any info on Jacob’s wife, unknown in William Robbins’ book, “Thomas Treadwell of Ipswich, Mass.,” published 1906. Jacob’s wife is my “brick wall.” Any help greatly appreciated. Marlene Budge, 23 High St., North Grafton, Mass. 01536, mltb23@yahoo.com

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail, familyti@bangordailynews.net.