Canadian Genealogy Resource

Most of the resources I come across are for the US. Occasionally, I do come across a good site for other countries. Today's genealogy helper is Canadian Genealogy.

The site is filled with genealogical information for your research. On the left side of the page is links to information for each province in Canada. At the bottom of the list is a link to the Canadian Indians page. Even if you have Native American blood in the United States, you might want to take a look at this page. It includes the 1906 Handbook of American Indians, which documents tribes that traveled between the two countries.

On the right side of the homepage is links to other information. These include 22 of the 36 volumes of Chronicles of Canada, writings on the Jesuits in North America, Passamawquoddy Folklore and more.

One feature I really like about the site is that it includes both paid and free resources for your genealogy research. While Free Genealogy Resources is geared towards freebies, sometimes it becomes necessary to pay for the information you seek. The Canadian Genealogy website notes whether the links are for paid or free resources.

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More Native American Resources

Continuing our honoring of Native American Month, here are some more free genealogy resources for your Native American research.

The US Army Center for Military History has a page for Native American recipients of the Medal of Honor. Names are organized by conflict, which include the Indian Wars, World War II and the Korean War. Most names have basic information such as rank, organization, date and place of service, place and date they entered service, birth information and citation information. Some entries, mostly those from World War II and the Korean War, have more detailed information about their citation.

If an ancestor is rumored to have Native American blood, but you are not sure what tribe they were part of, your first step will be to determine that. The American Indian Resource Directory can help with that. Simply pick the region where your ancestor lived, either on the map or through the links below the map. This will take you to a page that lists the tribes found in specific states, along with contact information for those. Keep in mind that this only lists federally recognized tribes.

The Native Languages website has a more detailed map. Just click on the state that your ancestor lived in to get a map showing the various tribes and areas of the state they inhabited. To the right of the map, many of the tribes are hyperlinked, which takes you to a page that offers more information on them, including websites, traditions, language, culture and more. I really like this free genealogy resource as it allows you go beyond just locating potential tribes your ancestor may have been part of and actually offers the opportunity to learn more about that specific tribe.

If your ancestors were Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida or Tuscarora and served in the War of 1812, you may find them on this page from the NYGenWeb Project. The data was compiled from claims on file with the Bureau of War Records. Names are organized by tribe. The data for the Seneca Nation is further organized by reservation. The first column lists the claim number, the second the individual's name, the third the claimant and the final column the amount of tte land grant awarded for service.

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Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month. In honor of that, today's free genealogy resources focus on tracing your Native American ancestry. Throughout the month, I will be posting with more resources so keep an eye out.

Access Genealogy has a number of Native American genealogy resources. These include information on the various tribes, rolls, census schedules, and cemetery records, just to name a few. Also included in this freebie are articles on proving your Native American ancestry. One feature I noted that I haven't saw a lot of on other sites is information on Canadian tribes.


If you're not familiar with RootsWeb, it is the free side of Ancestry.com. One of the things I love about it is the user-submitted databases. They often have information not found elsewhere and best of all, it's totally free. When tracing your Indian roots, you will definitely want to check out the Native American Data. The surname is required and you can narrow your search further by adding a first name, tribe or record type. When the results of your search come up, be sure to click on the more info hyperlink. It gives a lot more detail, including others with the same family.

Finding information and some digitized documents are available on the National Archives Native American Records page. Just scroll down the list to find the records you think you are likely to find your ancestor in. Then click on the hyperlink which takes you to information on finding the records in the Archival Research Catalog. Information you can expect to find is the Final Rolls, Indian scout pension files, selected documents from various Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) offices, photographs and more.

You don't hear a lot about African-Native American genealogy. While it is known that some Africans lived with the Native Americans, not many people realize that some lived as slaves or intermarried with the tribes. The African-Native American Genealogy website has a number of free genealogy resources for tracing these individuals.

Do you have Native American roots? Does family lore have it that there is Indian blood in your ancestry?

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