One of the most common questions I get as a genetic genealogist is “Did you find any long lost relatives when you tested your DNA?” The short answer is yes, a few actually. Most of them were unknown to me at first, but there was one long lost relative in particular who I started looking for well before taking my DNA test. 

Confused by your AncestryDNA results? Learn how to understand ethnicity estimates, centimorgans, and cousin matches in this beginner-friendly guide.

If your family has been in Canada for at least a few generations, there’s a very good chance that your ancestors will trace back to Ontario. Ontario’s archives and local collections are some of the best in Canada. And thankfully, there are many genealogy websites where you can access these records at no cost! Whether you descend from United Empire Loyalists, post-Confederation immigrants, or pioneering farming families, there are some amazing free Ontario genealogy resources out there for you. 

What can genealogy tell us about forgotten crimes? While researching a relative’s birth, I stumbled across a shocking 1895 true crime story—and realized how powerful family history research can be for uncovering the full picture. Here’s how I use genealogy to investigate historical cases and tell the stories others left behind.

Learning about your family history is a fun journey that lots of us take on as a hobby. But when you’re first starting out, Canadian genealogy for beginners can bring its own set of challenges. From choosing which family tree builder is right for you to knowing where to research ancestors in Canada, it’s easy to get lost in a whirlwind of names and dates. But don’t worry! With these tips, researching your family tree and learning about your ancestral history will be both exciting and simple to start. 

New to family history research? This beginner-friendly guide walks you through five simple steps to help you start your family tree with clarity and confidence—plus, grab a free printable checklist to keep you on track.

Two of my earliest genealogy research goals were to trace both my direct maternal and paternal lines as far back as I possibly could. This led me to discover so much about several ancestors in the process, not just direct line relatives. But two stories from my direct lines stood out to me in particular. One led to a fun little aha-moment, while the other uncovered a life story of struggle and resilience. 

If you’ve started to build a family tree and realized later on that some things just don’t seem right, you’re not alone. These aren’t colossal failures. They’re common misconceptions that many of us run into. I wanted to share three early missteps that changed the way I research, along with some context on how I learned to approach things differently. If you’ve made any of these too, you’re in good company.

When you're staring down a brick wall in your family tree, few resources are more revealing — and underestimated — than census records. These routine government snapshots can uncover how your ancestors moved over time, giving you helpful clues about where to look next. So let’s walk through how to use census records from Canada, the United States, and the UK to track your ancestors’ migration patterns and uncover the hidden chapters of their lives.

When you're tracing your family tree, it's easy to focus only on direct ancestors — your parents, grandparents, and so on. But sometimes, the most important clues are hidden in the lives of the brothers and sisters they grew up with. Researching your ancestors' siblings can be one of the most powerful strategies for breaking through genealogy brick walls.

Growing up, I was told that my great-grandmother’s family came to Canada to find work, like many of us were told about our ancestors. But the truth was far more personal—and shocking.

Once I started to become more serious with my genealogy research in my teen years, I started to uncover missing puzzle pieces that solved family mysteries. But this time, I found an entirely new mystery that revealed the true reason as to why my great-grandmother, her parents, and her sisters all immigrated to Canada. And that reason…

The early 20th century was a transformative period for immigration to Canada, truly shaping the young country. Between 1900 and 1930, Canada welcomed millions of newcomers, driven by government settlement programs, economic opportunities, and global conflicts. If your ancestors arrived during this time, you can use a variety of records—including passenger lists, naturalization documents, and census records—to trace their journey.

Researching your Canadian ancestors doesn’t have to be expensive. Whether you’re just starting your family tree or looking for new records to explore, there are plenty of free Canadian genealogy websites that can help you discover valuable information. From census records and immigration databases, to historical newspapers and land records, these online resources provide can helpful clues about your ancestors’ lives.

As a young hobby genealogist, I used to get so frustrated that there were no good records to confirm more recent dates of death or find the names of younger relatives. Most countries have privacy laws that withhold exact record entries like census forms in order to protect the identities of living citizens.

So what do you do to find out more about the people who lived in the later half of the twentieth century? Enter: obituaries

On June 1, 2023, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will release the 1931 Census of Canada to the public. The census was conducted beginning on June 1, 1931, and according to Canadian privacy laws census data cannot be published until 92 years after it was collected. This means that for the first time, we’ll be able to take a detailed look at the over 10.3 million people living in Canada during 1931.