Canada’s first census took place in 1666 before it was even Canada. Jean Talon, an early colonial administrator for the government of France, oversaw the enumeration which recorded the names, ages and marital status of the 3,000 plus inhabitants of what was then known as New France. The first official census of Canada was taken in 1871, but between then and 1666, as many as 98 different census reports, both colonial and regional, were undertaken for purposes of taxation and military subscription. As with other countries, new questions designed to elicit more detailed information were added to the questionnaires, but prior to 1851 most returns are incomplete and rather vague in what they reveal.

Canadian census returns post 1851 used a Population Schedule format for their enumeration of individuals, while providing a separate agricultural schedule which was used to record; the size of the land held, structures, crops grown, livestock kept, and a property valuation. Most of the Canadian census records are held by Library and Archives Canada, including those from pre-Confederation years. Some are still held in provincial archives, including original documents pre-dating 1871 for New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, while Ancestry.com has also digitized many of them.

Genealogical Value of the 1871 Census

The first Canadian census was extraordinarily thorough, and contained nine different schedules to glean information from the populace. These schedules included:

• Population Schedule (record of names)
• Mortality Schedule (names of those who died in the previous 12 months)
• Listing of Public Institutions, Real estate, Vehicles and Implements
• Agricultural Schedule – Record of Crops Produced and Quantities
• Livestock Schedule – Record of Livestock and Animal Products Production
• Industrial Schedule – Manufacturing Records
• Return of Products for Forest Resources
• Shipping and Fisheries Schedule – Records of Vessels, Catches, and Trade
• Mining and Mineral Schedule

Finding your ancestor in the 1871 and subsequent census returns of Canada can reveal quite a bit of information about them, especially their economic standing, their holdings, and the success or lack thereof of their enterprise if they had one. Knowing this information can provide you with further insight as to their lifestyle and political and/or social influence. The Industrial Schedule was eliminated from the census in 1881, and although the following census reinstated it, only the population schedules survived.

Subsequent Canadian Census Reports

Canada had grown by 1901, and consisted at that time of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Columbia, the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, and the District of Keewatin, and administrative district of the Northwest Territories. It is important to know the enumeration districts for the Canadian Census, as that information can be highly effective in finding your ancestor. Generally Canadian enumeration districts generally corresponded to electoral districts, though not always.  Again, you can find the electoral district for free at Ancestry.com by doing a search of Canadian census records. Once you select a Province to search within, you’ll be given an option of choosing a District within that Province, and subsequently a chance to choose a Sub–District within that District.

The census enumeration process was much in Canada as in other countries, with enumerators going from household to household, questioning the head of the house, and gathering the data. The 1901 census was scheduled to be completed within 30 days of the 31 March, however the census commissioners were forced to revise them before they could be sent on to the census office, an action that resulted in a delay of around five months. This normally would have been no big deal, but in this particular instance the result was significant. The reports from British Columbia were shipped to the nation’s capitol by steamer, unfortunately this particular one – The Islander – sank with all records on board. Consequently the census had to be retaken, delaying the final tabulation of data.

This wasn’t the end of the adventures of the 1901 census. In 1955 The Public Records Committee ordered the Dominion Bureau of Statistics to destroy all the original documents from the 1901 reports, which they unfortunately did without question. Fortunately many of the population schedules as well as the reports on real estate, schools, and church records had been saved to microfilm before then, and still survive. These images have been since digitized by Library and Archives Canada, and you can browse them online.  Census reports for Canada have been taken, and hence are available for reference, in 10 year intervals since the original census of 1871.

How Social Media is Expanding Interest in Genealogy

We spend much of our time as genealogists sleuthing around looking for elusive records and ancestors, and that in itself is what I call fun! There are others however, (probably not serious genealogists – yet), who are having fun on Facebook with a Family Tree inspired game called Family Village. It’s pretty amazing; Facebook has actually gone the whole mile to make this game authentic, and you can view actual genealogical documents like census reports and marriage licenses, and obituaries as you go about uncovering your ancestors and finding out facts about them. It’s family history fun at its finest, and as long as it doesn’t distract you from your actual genealogy research, can be a great way to have fun and practice those investigative skills you’ve learnt while researching real family members.

Family Village is based on similar principles to other Facebook games such as Farmville and City Ville. The goal of the game is to build a thriving village and fill it with family members. It’s pretty interesting that the first thing they do is to ask you to confirm that the birthday Facebook has for you is correct. Next you enter your place of birth; then they look for a historical newspaper that was printed on that day in time. Once you finish creating the character that will be you in the game, you can view your historical document. Mine was the Post-Standard newspaper from Syracuse, New York on the day of my birth. I’m not telling my birth date, as then you will know my age! I expected just a headline or something, but I could read the entire 26 pages of the paper, I thought that was cool, and I was already hooked.

As you continue Family Village you go about amassing your fortune, buying houses and other material things, assign jobs, and even emigrate or immigrate family members. As for the genealogical records and documents, you of course collect and store them to develop your family history. As with most Facebook games it is quite addictive and competitive, but under the proper supervision could be a great way to get young people interested in Genealogy and familiarize them with some of the procedures like record research and collection. One woman who played the game as it was being tested used the game (unintentionally) as a springboard to begin a genuine family tree. She found an actual obituary for one of her uncles and another for a grandmother, and so began seriously researching her genealogy and developing her family tree.

Genealogy is going Global!

The Family Village game on Facebook is new, but of course family trees are not. Everyday more genealogies and pedigrees are being published online; it’s no wonder that the pursuit of genealogy has branched out into the realms of social networking. Genealogy is by its nature a networking endeavor; it is just made for the internet, and vice versa. Genealogists are about as social a group as you can find, so making use of social media is a kind of natural progression. If you haven’t already, visit WikiTree.com, which is probably about the best example of just how social, and generous genealogists are. For those of you unfamiliar with WikiTree, it is a collaborative project modeled after Wikipedia, and all content is added by contributors. Its aim is to create a global family tree, and so far there are more than 1.4 million genealogical profiles created by over 27,000 contributors.

And believe it or not, Twitter has become a major tool for both genealogy marketers and those looking to begin building a family tree. Individual users are posting questions about records searches and other genealogical issue, while genealogical sites such as FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com and a host of smaller sites use it regularly to announce new editions to their genealogical arsenals.

There is also Tpstry.com, a site that I’ve only recently become familiar with. It was created to help family historians who might come to a dead end in their research. It encourages users to find out as much as they can about their families by tapping into the memories and minds of their relatives, then create a tapestry of that accumulated knowledge on a web page created automatically by Tpstry. The collection of each user takes the form of a digital magazine, with people, places, images, and events sections accompanied by a timeline for important dates in the family history.

There is a page for each entry that displays every question that has been answered about them, and images of family members are tagged similar to those on Face book for quick identification of relatives. Best of all the service is free, and if it keeps growing at the rate it is, will make a great tool for future genealogists. Why not add your own memories by creating a helping to create a massive database for future genealogists.

Speaking of the future, I just have to tell you about Timeless Footsteps. They market a product called Footprints, which are business card-sized placards that are affixed to a tombstone and read with the latest scanning technology. Each placard contains a unique code that can be scanned with a Smartphone or other type code reader. That code then directs the viewer to a web-page that includes genealogical and biographical information about the deceased, and of course links to any social media pages like Facebook or Twitter!

Genealogy is definitely advancing rapidly. When developers of technology specifically target genealogists with specialized products, you get an idea of just how huge genealogy has become, and how much more room there is for it to grow!

Do-it-yourself DNA tests have become big business, and not just for genealogists. Many people are now relying on them for medical information – to find out for instance if they are susceptible to specific hereditary diseases. There are many companies selling these home DNA test kits, and they are even used as a form of entertainment at what are being called “spit parties”. Spit parties are basically social gatherings where a group of people meet up with their home DNA test kits. They all give their samples in this social setting before sending their kits in to the company. When everyone receives their results back they meet again to discuss them.

It’s all seemingly harmless fun, unless of course someone finds out they are related to an unsavoury character, or worse their current partner! Of course the chances of the latter occurring are virtually nil, and it is harmless fun; except for those who are using home DNA tests to bypass the medical profession. Experts believe that there are many potential dangers of doing so.

Hopefulness or Hype?

One of the greatest dangers associated with the marketing and selling of DIY DNA kits is the false reassurance regarding a potential risk. For example; a woman who is informed that she lacks the mutation that leads to breast cancer could forego regular mammograms. A man who is told his genetic make-up makes him unsusceptible to heart disease may not exercise, or indulge himself in an unhealthy diet. It is so important to keep DNA test results in perspective, and separate hopefulness from hype. Just because your genetic make-up lowers your risk of inheriting a particular disease or condition does not exempt you from it.

Probably the greatest danger of these home DNA test kits is that they are not regulated by any federal law. The companies who sell them are not overseen by any agency, and as such one must consider the quality and accuracy of information received from them. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has little or no authority over the companies who sell the kits, and if there is no kit sold and the company has its own lab, there is no drug agency approval required. The tests are considered so potentially harmful if the results are misused that New York and California have sent countless cease and desist orders to genetic testing companies. The companies are informed that they need special licences to solicit DNA specimens, but most find loopholes in the law that allow them to continue their business.

So Are These Tests Even Reliable?

Generally scientists rely on four criteria for assessing the value of a DNA test. They are;

• Analytic Validity – Whether the test has reliably and accurately measured what it aims to assess.
• Clinical Validity – Whether it is capable of detecting potential risk of disease.
• Clinical Utility – Whether something can be done to correct a discovered risk.
• Ethical Validity – Whether or not the test violates moral, legal or social principles – perpetrating a stigma or encouraging discrimination.

Experts such as Katherine Wasson of the National Cancer Institute seem to think that come DNA tests are lacking in all four areas. She stated in the journal Ethics and Medicine that; “the potential harms outweigh the potential benefits of such tests,” and went on to explain that the results for individuals are too variable and unpredictable, as they are influenced by lifestyle and environmental factors. “Even if a person has a genetic mutation associated with a particular disease or condition, this does not necessarily predict when it will develop, if at all, or its severity,” she and her co-authors stated. They went on to say that most home DNA tests vary in their accuracy and ability to identify who will or will not get what disease, and especially that “currently, this information is not available for many direct-to-consumer genetic tests.”

If you wish to avoid certain diseases, prevention by adopting a healthy lifestyle and avoiding exposure to toxic substances is the best way to go – regardless of what a home DNA test might show. It has been proven that the mass produced interpretations of certain companies fall way short of what one might learn from a certified geneticist or even your doctor. Using a home DNA test to trace your ancestry is one thing, depending on them for a life dependent medical analysis is quite another.

I just heard about this organization in Ireland that is using genealogy to try to reinvent the Irish economy. It is so cool I just had to share it with you, and even if this project doesn’t help the Irish economy, it’ll do a lot of good. In fact, the organization, Ireland Reaching Out (IRO), is saving a lot of people the trouble of tracing their family trees and doing it for them, all in the hope that they will come to Ireland by invitation, and think about returning to their ancestral home to help boost the economy and Irish morale. It may seem a bit far fetched, but some of those who were invited to the first of IRO’s Week of Welcomes have been quite affected by their experience.

It all began when people around the United State began getting mysterious text messages stating that the sender was trying to connect with members of a particular family. Each text contained genealogical data linking the receiver to their Irish heritage. All together, around 30 people who received these texts ended up travelling to Ireland this summer to experience first hand the towns and villages their ancestors came from. I think this is a really unique endeavour, and those who participated confirm that with their sentiments.

A lecturer at Fordham University in New York, James R. Kelly, suspected that his family had originated in southeast Galway, but he wasn’t sure of the exact location. On arriving in Galway, he was introduced to Michael Fahy, a retired teacher and local historian. In no time at all Mr. Fahy had unearthed evidence that James’ grandfather (also James Kelly), came from a village near Abbey in Galway, where he owned a small farm. Mr. Kelly was overjoyed with the experience, and spent much of his time meeting and embracing people he feels may be long-lost relatives. Of Mr. Fahy he said, “He was like my guardian angel the whole week, he took me down to Abbey and found my ancestral home.”

James Kelly was but one of the many people affected by the efforts of IRO, whose motto is simply “Come Home.” The organization spent a year tracking down and preparing for the return of the initial descendants of who they refer to as the Galway exiles. There is a Gaelic word for those who left Ireland – deorai – and it means exile or wanderer, as though they had no choice but to leave, and really could never put down roots anywhere but their homeland. That idea lies at the core of Ireland Reaching Out.

IRO Board Member Mike Feerick, one of the founding members of IRO says this of his project; “The project is based on a very simple idea: Instead of waiting for people of Irish heritage to trace their roots, we go the other way.”  An economist from the University of Limerick, Steven Kinsella, who is involved in the project added; “The people who left Ireland were in some sense the best part of us, they were the most dynamic, the most ambitious, the most willing to succeed, and we did not give them the conditions where they could succeed.”

Once again success is proving elusive to Ireland, especially since the financial crisis. Five years ago unemployment was a mere 4%, today it has risen to over 14%. Unfortunately that has led to another mass migration of the Irish, as again they head for places like Australia and New York. Talk about history repeating itself – but no one is more aware of that than the Irish. The numbers of Irish leaving today are much smaller than they were of course during the Great Famine, but the fact that net emigration has quadrupled in the last couple of years evokes memories of Ireland’s barren past in those old enough to remember it.

The goal of IRO is to establish itself as the central database and web-site for other such reverse genealogy centers which they hope to establish around Ireland. They have enlisted a number of local historians whose knowledge of their communities, local and regional histories, and even the destinations of many emigrants from their area, make IRO quite a formidable Irish genealogical resource. Of course Ireland Reaching Out wishes stimulation of the economy to be a beneficial side effect of helping people trace their Irish Ancestors, but anything that brings together families, and puts bread on their table at the same time, is alright in my books!