For a while, I was researching a Canadian murder mystery. That project has stalled out somewhat while I await new resources, but I came across some great Canadian genealogy resources in the search. Canadian News Online is one of those resources.

When doing genealogy, you can either work on the “tree” or the “leaves.” The tree typically encompasses dates, names – the structure of your genealogy. The leaves are the details – stories, photographs, etc. The best resource for details, aside from family sources, are newspapers. Often small-town papers had gossip sections that would go so far as to say when people would visit with relatives in other towns. I found a story about my great great grand-kitty being thrown from a horse, escaping uninjured. These bits of flavor go far to making the people real who otherwise would just be a name, date, and nothing more. If I can’t get even that information, I like to research the place the people are from to get an idea of what life was like in that area during those dates. Newspapers can also help with that.

Mucho Fishies

Bratty Kitty