Your Quick Tips

From Kansas to Canada
Land was available to anyone who was willing to homestead in Alberta, Canada beginning about 1905 and my paternal grandparents and great-grandparents left Kansas in 1910 to claim land and make a fresh start farming wheat there. Many other family members went with them. Most of them returned to the United States by 1924. If you are having trouble finding family in the U.S. census during this period, you may find them in Canada. There is a Library and Archives Canada website that provides land descriptions for those who obtained final homestead patents between 1870 and 1930, but it does not include the names of those who, for any reason, did not complete the homesteading process. Visit the Alberta Genealogical Society website if you are interested in obtaining copies of a homestead file.

Judi Powell Mutal
Bellevue, WA

AWJ Editor’s Note: Ancestry.ca has the 1911 Canadian census online (requires Canada Deluxe or World Deluxe Membership).

Lost Military Pension Papers
Several years ago I sent off to the National Archives to get military and pension papers for my Civil War ancestors and they were extremely interesting to read. Last year, I moved to a new house in a new city and, yes, you guessed it–I lost all the papers from NARA. So, I went on the Internet and re-ordered these papers again. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the National Archives is sending out more information than they used to. I received personal accounts of the military tours of my great-grandfather and two of my great-grand-uncles. Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised at this turn of events. I heard somewhere that this was happening but I did not believe it. Trust me, it is true. Log onto the National Archives website and order online.
It is easy.

William Adna Crawford

Windows Live Local
I just found a useful website that I have made good use of. It is Windows Live Local. It is a satellite imaging service and I was able to zoom in on cemeteries that some of our relatives are buried in. I was then able to share these maps with relatives who live not only in other parts of our country, but with relatives who live in Norway. It helps bring things into real perspective, and I can mark out where they are buried to also give them more detailed information.
 
Sincerely,  
Diane Alioto

Thanks to all of this week’s contributors! If you have a suggestion you would like to share with other researchers, send it to: [email protected]  Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the “Ancestry Weekly Journal,” please state so clearly in your message.

2 thoughts on “Your Quick Tips

  1. I just tried this search in Alberta Canada where I knew that my great great grandfather Palmer Hiram Averill died and there he was. I can hardly wait to order the land grant information. Thanks for the tip. Roxie Bishop

  2. I found my ancestor’s brother there who went to Alberta from Oklahoma and Kansas in the early 1900’s, McGinley Haynes. I am going to order a copy of his record. I would love to find his descendants.

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