| Nancy's Alberta Search Tips
Here are a few suggested
resources I find useful to share with others searching for Alberta connections.
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Land Locations:
Have a place name and need a legal description?
Land Locations: Have a legal description and want to find the location?
City Directories: Don't forget the Peel Bibliography on microfiche! If you live near a Canadian university library or archives, there may be copies of Bruce Baden Peel's Bibliography of the Prairie Provinces microfiche collection. This is a major reference work for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. This includes copies of city directories up to 1953 for the main cities of the prairies. Search for "Peel Bibliography" as a title at this link to the WebCat online catalog of the University of Calgary. You can then search to see what directories are included for which towns. (Even though this link is for U of C, the information will be the same as in other university library catalogs.) |
People:
Looking for Alberta people names of the past, but unsure of location?
Census: Alberta 1891 & 1901 census
links
1906 census
Books Alberta Heritage Digitization
Project: Local History books online ... search with the surname as a keyword
in these digitized books.
OUR ROOTS: More provincial
digitized local histories...Alberta and beyond.
Alberta GenWeb Local History
Book Index...includes some books not yet digitized.
Web Sites: Search Alberta GenWeb site
for the surname (doesn't include above link)
Search Alberta Family History
Society site for the surname--will include names in their cemetery database,
too.
Alberta Rootsweb Mailing
List: Search the archives
Alberta Message Boards
Glenbow Archives in Calgary
-- search the various databases by surname
Stockmen's Memorial Foundation
Library at Cochrane--
National Archives sites:
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| Cemetery Databases
Assuming a person died in Alberta, and that there was a tombstone in a cemetery, and that was transcribed, one could write to the Alberta Genealogical Society and request a search of their computerized database (not on-line). It will cost a few dollars, but may well be worth it. http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/abgensoc/ Medicine Hat
Drumheller
Index of Southwestern Alberta
Obituaries 1970 - 1984 (Lethbridge area)
Index of Southwestern Alberta
Obituaries 1885 - 1959 (Lethbridge area)
Calgary Obituaries since
1997
Internment net for Alberta
Obituary Daily Times: Many
Canadian newspaper obits indexed.
Also, many Albertans retired/moved
to British Columbia, so it is worth searching the BC vital records site
for death registrations.
Early Manitoba vital statistics:
Lots of folks passed through Manitoba on their way west.
A few other cemetery databases...
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Churches:
Looking for names of churches in a particular area of the province?
Search this site for a listing
of churches in various places of Alberta. Some have web sites or
e-mails.
As a LAST resort...You have a name and place, but there's the brick wall. Many of the provincial local
history books do not have on-line indexes. You might send an email to the
local library asking that your message might be given to someone who is
an expert in the area local history who could provide suggestions for finding
information about your ancestor. As a courtesy to the librarian,
I recommend this only after exploring as many other resources as possible.
It has been my experience in tracking my ancestors' migration across the
prairies that there are always a few helpful old timers in the villages
that know something or someone that might help. This approach works best
for villages and hamlets.
A municipal officer might
also be helpful in locating a knowledgeable local historian or cemetery
records.
Online phone/address directories: Can search nationwide at these urls. Infospace | Canada411 | Telus
For Adoptees: The best place to start CanAdopt http://www.canadopt.ca/ |