1881 Canadian
Census on CD-ROM
This week's newsletter almost didn't get written. You see, I've been
spending my time working on my own genealogy, and I feel the
responsible party is the Family History Department of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Let me explain. My own ancestry is 50 percent French-Canadian. Most
of my French-Canadian ancestors moved from New Brunswick and Quebec
provinces to northern Maine before the year 1900. Thanks to
excellent church records, I already have a lot of information about
their ancestors, often going back to France. Even so, this week I
added a bit more information to my database about great-great-aunts
and great-great-uncles that were previously unknown to me. I found
this information on the new 1881 Canadian Census CD-ROM disks for
Windows.
I should point out that I still have not yet seen the actual census
records. I have only seen the brand-new index. However, now that I
have the basic information, including page numbers of the original
census records, my next task is to rent the microfilms of the actual
records involved. I suspect that the original census records will
produce even more information that the index itself does not
contain.
The 1881 Canadian Census Index on CD-ROM covers the entire Canadian
population of that year, approximately 4.3 million residents. This
resource fills three CD-ROM disks. A fourth disk, containing the
required software, is also included with the index. You do not need
to purchase any additional software to use these CD-ROM disks on
your Windows system; everything is included.
The 1881 Canadian Census Index contains a transcription of the
original 1881 Canadian census, enumerated on 4 April 1881.
Information from the following fields was extracted: name, age,
gender, location at the time of the census, birthplace, ethnic
origin, occupation, religious affiliation, marital status, and
notations. More than 50,000 individuals in this database are
recorded as "Indian" or "Sauvage." In addition,
the records list over 20,000 Canadians of "African"
origin. The information is obviously valuable to genealogists but
also will be of great interest to historians and sociologists. Never
before has a single data source on nineteenth-century Canada offered
so much information about so many Canadians.
The 1881 Canadian Census Index includes the latest version of the
Family History Resource File Viewer software, the same software that
I described in last week's review of the British Isles Vital Records
Index. In that review, I commented that I couldn't copy-and-paste
data from the CD-ROM information into another Windows program. Ray
Madsen of the Family History Department kindly offered some advice,
and I'm delighted to report that I can now
copy-and-paste as much as I like, both in the British Isles Vital
Records Index and in the 1881 Canadian Census Index. For instance, I
can show you this record as a typical entry I found in the 1881
Canadian Census Index:
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Census Place: St Jacques,
Victoria, New Brunswick, Canada
Source: FHL Film 1375819 NAC C-13183 Dist 32 SubDist
D Page 4 Family 15 |
|
Sex |
Marr |
Age |
Origin |
Birthplace |
Occ |
Religion |
Joseph
DUBE |
M |
M |
33 |
French |
Q
<Quebec> |
Farmer |
Catholic |
Lucie
DUBE |
F |
M |
27 |
French |
USA |
|
Catholic |
Willie
DUBE |
M |
|
6 |
French |
New
Brunswick |
|
Catholic |
Joseph
DUBE |
M |
|
5 |
French |
New
Brunswick |
|
Catholic |
Florent
DUBE |
M |
|
3 |
French |
New
Brunswick |
|
Catholic |
Alfred
DUBE |
M |
|
1 |
French |
New
Brunswick |
|
Catholic |
Georgina
DUBE |
F |
|
2 |
French |
New
Brunswick |
|
Catholic |
Maxime
DUBE |
M |
M |
80 |
French |
Q
<Quebec> |
Charpentier |
Catholic |
Lucie
DUBE |
F |
M |
82 |
French |
Q
<Quebec> |
|
Catholic |
Justine
DUBE |
F |
|
45 |
French |
Q
<Quebec> |
|
Catholic |
Henri
DUBE |
M |
|
36 |
French |
Q
<Quebec> |
Farmer |
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You will notice that the above entry was made in Saint Jacques,
Victoria County, New Brunswick and is recorded in the records for
District 32, SubDistrict D, Page 4, the 15th family listed on that
page. I can view the original records by renting microfilm 1375819
at a local Family History Center near me.
The census records enumerate individuals, grouped within households
and institutions, for the Provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba,
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and
Quebec, and for the Northwest Territories. The Northwest Territories
in 1881 contained the current Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan
and parts of historical Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario, plus the
Territory of Yukon and the western part of the Territory of Nunavut.
Records for Newfoundland and Labrador will not be found in the 1881
Canadian Census records since Newfoundland was still British
territory at the time. Newfoundland became Canada's 10th province in
1949.
The search capability of the databases produced by the Family
History Department is excellent. Most other genealogy CD-ROM disks
use Soundex to find names that sound alike, such as Smith and Smythe
or even Eastman and Eaton. However, the 1881 Canadian Census Index
set obviously uses a far more sophisticated system that utilizes
some sort of a look-up table. For example, when searching for French
names, not only did it find "Henry" when I typed
"Henri," but it also found "Guillaume" when I
entered "William." ("Guillaume" is the French
equivalent of "William.") This is a great aid when the
only information you had previously came from "Anglicized"
records.
I was fascinated by ability to search neighborhoods. Close families
often resided in the same neighborhood, so searching the entire
neighborhood can often be valuable. When displaying a family's
information, you can click on the "Neighbors" tab, and
then you will see all the names listed immediately before and after
the entries for that family. You probably will see the families
living on either side of your ancestors that way. Families a bit
further away will also be listed, but the order in which they will
appear obviously depends upon the path of the
enumerator (census taker). If the enumerator walked up one side of
the street writing down names, then crossed the street and walked
down the other side, the name of the nearest neighbor directly
across the street may be listed some distance before or after your
ancestor's entry.
You can search for any individual, and you can also search for
neighbors in the Advanced Query Searches. The same Advanced Query
Search also allows you to search for any word in the record.
One note to keep in mind:. Even though in 1881 your ancestor lived
in what is now Canada, the discs may not contain your ancestor's
name. A number of microfilms have pages missing. Those pages are
also missing in the original records stored at the Canadian National
Archives. Some of the microfilm pages are illegible, or
''unreadable.'' In case viewing the complete census microfilms would
help you, the census microfilm number at the Family History Library
(in Salt Lake City, Utah) and the film number from the National
Archives of Canada appear on each record. The 1881 Canadian Census
Index was created by the Family History Department of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as the Mormons)
in cooperation with the University of Ottawa. Lisa Dillon of the
University of Ottawa headed an effort of volunteers to index these
records. Lisa has since accepted a position at the Département de Démographie,
Université de Montréal, where she is working on the 1881 Phase II
database development.
The 1881 Canadian Census Index requires Windows 95 or later, a
Pentium processor (or equivalent), a minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM
memory (with 16 megabytes or more strongly recommended), a CD-ROM
drive, a VGA monitor with 256-color-capable video card, and at least
35 megabytes of available hard disk space. In short, it should work
fine on any Windows PC purchased in the past four or five years.
If you had ancestors living in Canada in 1881, you will want this
CD-ROM set! Best of all is the price: only $11.00 (U.S. funds). For
more information, or to safely order the 1881 Canadian Census Index
CD-ROM disks, go to: http://www.ldscatalog.com.
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