Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce that Canadians can now access the Census of Lower Canada, 1825 online. The Census of Lower Canada, 1825 is partly nominal and therefore only contains the names of heads of family, their occupation, and the number of residents for each family.
Users can search this new database by the names of heads of family, as well as by geographical information such as district and sub-district names.
Today’s article features Mary Scott Pearson who was born in Scotland. Mary’s name appears in the Scottish Census of 1881. The entry indicates that she lived in Glasgow with her sister Maggie and their widowed mother, also named Mary. The two sisters became orphans when their mother died in 1888. The next census (1891) indicates that the sisters lived at the Girls Industrial School in Maryhill, in the County of Lanarkshire.
The Pearson sisters were separated in September 1891 when Mary boarded the SS Hibernian en route to Canada as part of a group of 20 young women recruited to work as domestic servants. The young Scottish women’s transportation and accommodations were arranged by Ms. E. Cameron, an Industrial School official.
As in previous articles, you must first consult our main home children online resource. Enter the surname Pearson and the given name Mary into this database and it will generate only one result for Mary Pearson, age 14, whose destination was Saint John, New Brunswick. The Fairknowe foster home, administered by a charitable organization known as Quarriers, was Mary Pearson’s first place of residence in Canada.
Ten years after her arrival, according to the Census of 1901, Mary was living in Prescott, Ontario, with the family of Patrick MacMillen. She married Curtis Brownell five years later, on March 21, 1906, in Cornwall, County of Stormont. The couple’s first son, Earl Kenneth, was born in September of the following year.
Mary Scott Pearson and Curtis Brownell raised their family in Cornwall, where they lived until the time of their deaths; Curtis died in 1931 and Mary died in 1945.
Jim Brownell, son of Earl Kenneth Brownell, honours his grandmother’s arrival in Canada
Her grandson, Jim, elected Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2003, travelled to Scotland in 2009 when he visited the city of Glasgow, officially representing the Government of Ontario. The articles that appeared in the Cornwall daily newspaper, the Standard Freeholder, on September 23, 2009 and May 25, 2011, describe the journey of Mary S. Pearson and her sister Maggie, and Mr. Brownell’s work to foster a better understanding of the often little-known home children movement.
In 2011, as Member of Provincial Parliament for Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, Jim Brownell tabled Bill 185 in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to have September 28 proclaimed “British Home Child Day.” The purpose of the bill, which received royal assent on June 1 of that year, was to honour his grandmother and his great-aunt Maggie, as well as the more than 100,000 British home children.
Don’t forget to read the previous articles in this series on home children and listen to our podcast!
Happy hunting and enjoy your discoveries!
Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the Census of Canada, 1891 database. This third general census covered the seven provinces and one territory that were then part of Confederation: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories.
The new version includes suggestions for corrections that were received from users in recent months, as well as revised district and sub-district information.
Library and Archives Canada took custody of the Census of the Canadian population, 1921 from Statistics Canada, and is beginning work to make it discoverable for Canadians. Closed for 92 years under the Statistics Act to protect individuals’ private information, the census data is being indexed so it can be mined for historical and genealogical research as soon as possible.
Taken on June 1, 1921, the census contains a wealth of information available on more than 197,500 images. The almost 11,700 commissioners and enumerators recorded by hand nearly 8.8 million individuals in thousands of communities across the country. Census returns were geographically enumerated, that is to say according to a person’s residence and not by individuals’ names, in the order in which households were visited.
Information for the census was collected on the following five subjects: population; agriculture; animals, animal products, fruits not on farms; manufacturing and trading establishments; and supplemental questionnaire for persons who were blind and deaf. This represents a total of 565 questions. The population questionnaire contained only 35 questions.
Library and Archives Canada is committed to making the 1921 Census’ rich and complex information accessible and available to all Canadians, no matter where they live, in the next few weeks. Further details on the 1921 Census’ availability will be shared once they are available.
Canadians can continue to access censuses taken before 1921 through Library and Archives Canada’s Census Indexes webpage to learn more about their families and study Canada’s past. Census records are among the most often consulted resources on Library and Archives Canada’s website.
Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the 1901 Census of Canada database. This fourth general census covered the seven provinces and the territory that were then part of Confederation: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the Territories.
The new version includes suggestions for corrections that were received from users in recent months, as well as revised district and sub-district information.
Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the Census of Canada, 1871 database. This first general census covered the four provinces that were then part of Confederation: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The new version includes suggestions for corrections received from users in recent months, as well as revised district and sub-district information.
Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the Census of Canada, 1881 database. This second general census covered the seven provinces and one territory that were then part of Confederation: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories.
This new version includes suggestions for corrections that were received from users in recent months, as well as revised district and sub-district information.
Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the Census of Canada, 1911 database. This fifth general census covered the nine provinces and two territories that were then part of Confederation: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
Previously, users could search only by geographical information, such as province, district and sub-district. Now, they can also search by nominal information, such as the name, given name(s) and age of an individual.
Within the next few weeks, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will begin to deploy a series of 15 databases on Canadian census returns. This will be the only website where free online nominal indexes can be accessed for census returns from 1825 to 1916, comprising more than 32 million records.
LAC will be offering:
Stay tuned to learn when these databases will be available and be sure to visit our census page to discover these incredible resources for tracing your family history!
Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!
Our registration staff is often asked the following question:
“I have just registered for a user card at the registration desk on the main level (which is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday) but before I begin my research, I need help. I see that the orientation and genealogy service desks open at 10:00 a.m. I have some time until then and I am wondering if there is anything I can do while I wait?”
There are several things you can do while waiting to speak to one of our experts.
PUBLIC ROOMS
You may begin your day in our public rooms, on the second and third levels at 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. These rooms have computer stations and Wi-Fi, so you can begin browsing our website or others’ sites. You may also wish to visit the cafeteria on the 5th floor where you can watch television while you enjoy a snack.
Opening Hours for the Cafeteria are Monday to Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
REFERENCE SERVICES
You can also browse our collection of photographs, or look through historical atlases, city directories and phone books in our Reference Services Room, located on the second level. Additionally, in our Reference Collection Room, you will find parliamentary proceedings (Hansard), journals from the House of Commons, session papers up to 1925, annual federal government reports up to 1930 and original, as well as revised, statutes.
Opening Hours for the Reference Services Room are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday/Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.*
GENEALOGY AND FAMILY HISTORY
If you are coming to Library and Archives Canada to research your family history, head up to the third level and visit our Genealogy and Family History Room. As you enter the room, there are several Info-pages that may be of interest. These provide useful information to help you begin your research.
Beside each of the computers in the Genealogy and Family History Room, you will find a sign that explains how you can log in to
http://www.ancestryinstitution.com/
, the free library edition of the popular
http://www.ancestry.ca/
website.
If you are a beginner, you will find a display with pedigree charts that you can use to start recording the names of your ancestors.
Opening Hours for the Genealogy and Family History Room are Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Saturday/Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.*
(*) Consult our website for more details about opening and service hours.
Visit LAC’s website to find more information.
Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!
