By Lorna Bossenberry
When doing family research, information can be gleaned from a variety of records such as birth, marriage, death, census, military, immigration, homestead, passenger lists etc. The information varies between provinces and countries.
My great grandparents, Alexander and Jane (Cunningham) Wallace were born and married in Ayrshire, Scotland before immigrating to Canada. Their Scotland birth certificates include names and birth dates, and also the parents names (including the mother's maiden name), occupation and parents’ marriage date and place.
The marriage certificate includes their names, addresses, occupations, marriage date and place and also the parents’ names, mother's maiden name, occupation and whether or not the parents were deceased.
Alexander Wallace immigrated to Canada in 1911 to work and make money to send for his family and obtain a homestead. Jane (Jean) and her “two wee lassies” came to Canada in March 1913. I was able to find Jean and her daughters, Bessie and Julia, on the passenger list for the Ionian and the family on the 1916 and 1921 census. They farmed at Heward, Sask., where they raised eight children.
Some websites that I have used to access Canadian records are: Saskatchewan Genealogical Society at saskgenealogy.com, Sask. Archives at saskarchives.com, Latter Day Saints at familysearch.org, Canadian census records at automatedgenealogy.com and military and homestead records on Library and Archives Canada at collectionscanada.gc.ca
