How to Recognize your Canadian Ancestor

Getting Started
Recognizing a person as your ancestor is one of the true joys of genealogical research. However, there are pitfalls along the way. Sometimes researchers want so much to find a person that they ignore facts and make inaccurate connections.

This guide will help you ask the questions that will help you decide if a person is, in fact, your ancestor.

As you compare what you already know about your ancestor against the new information you find in a record, you can decide whether you have located your ancestor.

What You Are Looking For
You are trying to decide if the person you found in a record is your ancestor.

Steps
Once you have found a person in a record who may be your ancestor, the following 5 steps will help you determine if you have, in fact, found your ancestor.

Step 1. Review what you already know about your ancestor.
Do the following to identify your ancestor clearly:


 * Make a time line, listing known facts about your ancestor.
 * On your time line, include other persons associated with your ancestor.
 * Briefly give the source of your information.
 * Use an analysis chart to identify and evaluate what you know.
 * Evaluate what that information may suggest.

See the following time line for an example of known information:

For help in making a time line, see Tip 1. For a copy of a time line, click here. ***

Use an analysis chart to help you identify what you already know about your ancestor and to evaluate what that information may suggest. The following chart is a sample:

To print a copy of an analysis chart, click here.

Step 2. Identify what you know about the person who is a possible match
Do the following to identify this person clearly:


 * Make a time line of information given in the record of the possible match person. This time line may be quite small but will establish dates and places clearly.
 * On your time line, include other persons mentioned in the record who were associated with the possible match.
 * Use an analysis chart to identify and evaluate what you know.
 * Evaluate what that information may suggest.

To print a copy of a time line for a specific record, click here.

For helps in making a time line, see Tip 1.

Use an Analysis Chart to help you identify what you know about the possible match person and evaluate what that information may suggest. The following chart is a sample of an analysis chart:

To print a copy of an analysis chart for a specific record to be used with a possible match, click here.

Step 3. Analyze and compare
Analyze and compare what you know about your ancestor with what you know about the possible match.

See Tip 2 for questions to ask yourself, as you compare these two time lines and analysis charts.

Step 4. Make a decision about the possible match.
To decide about the possible match person, do one of the following:


 * Confirm the person as your ancestor.
 * Suspect that the person may be a relative with the same name.
 * Eliminate that person as your possible ancestor.
 * Decide that there is not enough information yet to confirm or eliminate this person as your ancestor. In that case, see Tip 3.

Step 5. Write a brief summary of your research findings
After your research, write a brief summary report about your ancestor.

Either you can explain what records proved your ancestor's life events and can document his or her life history, or you can explain what records did not lead you to a definite conclusion.

Either way, you will have made a valuable contribution to your family's genealogical research efforts.

Be sure to include in your paragraph the title, author, and call number of the book or film of all the records you have searched.

Background
Once you find enough information about the person you are researching, you must decide if a possible match person was your ancestor. You can tell by the events of their lives (and by the people they associated with) which of the possible matches was or was not your ancestor.

Too many genealogists find a hopeful individual with the right name and then try to establish a connection between that person and their known ancestors. Almost always, such attempts end up with erroneous connections.

Correct connections must be built by working back from known information to the unknown, by building your ancestor's identity based on the events and people in their lives.

It is very important to develop the skill of analyzing carefully, and thus being able to come to good conclusions.

Tip 1. How do I make a time line?
To help you single out your ancestor, include on a time line:


 * Events in date order (the same order they happened in your ancestor's life).
 * Birth, marriage, and death information for each family member.
 * Dates of other events and the persons associated with these events, such as a neighbor purchasing land from your ancestor, or a witness to the will of your ancestor.
 * Information on events that are not yet proved but may help identify your ancestor.

A word processor is a useful tool when making a time line, because you can easily insert new information between dates. To print a copy of a time line, click here.

You can also do a time line for just one specific record to help you see clearly the contents and value of that record. To print a working copy of a time line for a specific record, click here.

Tip 2. Is this my ancestor?
To answer this question, ask yourself:

Q1. Is the possible match person living in the right place to be my ancestor?

Q2. Is this event in the right time period to be within the lifetime of my ancestor?


 * Is the possible match person too young or too old to have been my ancestor?
 * Are names of children associated with the possible match consistent with what I already know about the children of my ancestor?
 * Do the ages of the children seem logical, or are they too young or too old to be my ancestor's children?

Q3. Is this the right spouse? To verify the name of a wife, check marriage records, birth records of her children, land records, cemetery records, church records, and probate records.

Q4. Are the economic conditions of this person consistent with the known family history? It is highly unusual for a wealthy person to suddenly be farming in a poor section of the county on a small rented acreage, or a poor person to suddenly be a noted county official, living in a mansion. The following records give a good indication of the economic condition of the family.


 * Census records: see the column listing property values.
 * Tax lists: see property tax and personal property taxed.
 * Land records: see acreage of lands owned, and number of properties owned.

Q5. Do the relatives and associates of your ancestor appear in records with the possible match?


 * Check land records of the possible match person for neighbors and witnesses of deeds to see if their names are the same people you know associated with your ancestor.
 * Check marriage records of the possible match person and his children to see if the bondsmen and witnesses are persons who you know associated with your ancestor.
 * Check church records of the possible match person, to see if the names of members in the congregation were also associates of your ancestor.
 * Check other records to see what the possible match person did after this record was made. Migration can be a good clue:

Q6. Is the possible match person affiliated with the church you know your ancestor belonged to?


 * Does the possible match person appear in Presbyterian church records, but you know your ancestor was a Quaker?
 * Is there evidence that the possible match person changed religions, such as from Quaker to Presbyterian? Was he or she a Quaker originally, but then married out of the faith and was disowned?

Q7. Could the possible match person, living in a neighboring county, be my ancestor?

County and electoral district boundaries changed over the years. One of the purposes of the census was to determine the population and redefine the boundaries of electoral districts.


 * The eastern provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) had distinct county and township boundaries.


 * Electoral and census districts were usually named after existing counties and townships, and roughly followed their boundaries.


 * The prairie and western provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories) were organized by administrative districts, towns, and municipalities.


 * Electoral and census districts and boundaries may not correspond with the names and boundaries of existing towns.

For more information about how census boundaries and county or district boundaries may be different, see How Canadian National Censuses Are Organized.

Q8. Why is the name of the possible match person spelled differently from my ancestor's name? The name of a person was commonly spelled differently in different documents. For more information, see Name Variations.

Tip 3. If I am still not sure I have found my ancestor, what should I do next?
Choose another record which has a possible match person, and repeat the first 4 steps in this guide.

Other major records available in most places in Canada include:


 * Census records, both federal and provincial.
 * Birth, marriage, and death records - known as Vital Records (or Civil Registration in Quebec).
 * Cemetery records.
 * Church records.
 * Land records.
 * Probate records (wills, administrations, inventories).

See the Records Selection Table found under Search Strategies in the Canada Research Outline to help you decide which records to search. To locate these records:


 * Search the Internet as an increasing number of indexes—many with links to images—are added daily.
 * Use the Family History Libary Catalog. Remember to check town, county, province, and national records.
 * Contact local and provincial libraries, societies, and archives.