Category: Uncategorized

The 1931 Canadian Census is Out!

Last week, on June 1, 2023, the Library and Archives Canada released the 1931 Canadian census. The site was overwhelmed at first, but now it seems to be operating without any problems. As of now, the LAC only has the raw images, in that they are not indexed. You can search the images by Province, District, and Sub-District. Fortunately, I knew where to look for many of my ancestors and found them without any problem.

The Library and Archives Canada page for the 1931 Canadian Census on June 1, 2023

Yesterday, Ancestry Canada went live with a searchable indexed version of the 1931 census. It enabled me to find some of my more elusive family members, particularly some of those in urban areas for whose sub-districts I could not quite identify.

Both the LAC and Ancestry.ca allow you to download census records in jpg format. The LAC also allows you to download entire sub-district files in pdf format. What I’ve done is download both versions. For the pdf version, I’ve used the “print to pdf” function to create a file for the single page I am interested in.

I save the single page with my family members with a unique file name, using the system I established for myself many years ago.

The LAC website seems to be better set up for those who are searching in French, looking for francophone ancestors. For now, Ancestry recommends searching first in English and then again in French if the initial search was unsuccessful.

So far, the biggest surprise was learning that my great aunt (who’s still alive) is a year older than I thought she was. The census was taken on June 1, 1931. Everything I had so far indicated that my aunt was born in October 1931, which was after the census was taken, so she shouldn’t have been there. However, the entry for my great grandparent’s family includes my great aunt, saying that she was 8 months old at the time. This means she would have been born in October 1930.

My mother’s maternal grandparents, and her mother Helen. My great grandparents separated later in life. I don’t have an exact date, but the fact they’re still together here is consistent with my theory that they separated around 1937. I guess I’ll have more evidence in 5 years, when the 1936 prairie census come out, and more in 10 years, when the 1941 census comes out.

This is the second census in which my maternal grandfather, Leo Burgess, appears. I see the enumerator was much more careful than his predecessor who prepared his entry for the 1921 census, which for some bizarre reason stated my grandfather was Dutch. Wrong grandfather.

This census includes my grandfather and all his siblings, other than his youngest brother Ralph, who was born in 1935. His youngest sister, Fon, (seen here as Hazel Fontella), was an avid genealogist. She missed being able to see herself her by 18 months.

One of the most interesting things about the 1931 census was that it asked whether the household owned a radio. It was no surprise to me that neither of my grandparents’ families owned a radio. However, I was surprised to see that another member of the extended family, who was very successful and well-off, did not. My suspicion was that he was not interested in such new-fangled things like radios.

Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy Passed Away

Today I was very sad to learn that Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy passed away yesterday.

When I was 8 or 9, I got an amazing genealogy book for kids through Scholastic book orders, called Digging for My Roots. It is full of charts, tables, and other worksheets for you to fill in as you learn about your family history. It’s been out of print for decades, but I still have my copy.

My copy of Digging for My Roots, which I’ve had since I was a kid.

Our eldest son shares my interest in genealogy. I started looking for books about genealogy for kids to get for him. However, none of the currently published books I could find were anywhere near as good as Digging for My Roots.

I mentioned this book a few years ago in response to a Tweet by Lorine. I added, in passing, that I’d love to find something similar for my son.

A few months later, I received a direct message from Lorine. It turns out that after seeing my Tweet, on her own volition she searched out a copy of the book, and found one. She bought it and wanted to send it to me to give to my son.

The amazing thing was that the book was pristine. None of the worksheets had been filled in. Forty-plus years out of print, and not a single item filled in. I was gobsmacked.

Lorine absolutely refused to let me pay for the. She wouldn’t even let me pay for the shipping.

Now we both have a copy!

I felt gutted upon learning about Lorine’s death. Not only is it a huge loss for genealogy in Canada and in general, it is a huge loss of a wonderful and kind human being. My condolences to her family.