Canada Day is around the corner, and I was thinking about everything I’m grateful for here in my new province of Saskatchewan.
What things? Here’s three.
1. Prairie only censuses for Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan
The province of Saskatchewan, along with Alberta and Manitoba, are gifted with extra, prairie-only census records every ten years, beginning in 1906. Canada wide censuses occurred every decade, but followed Confederation, so eastern provinces benefitted and British Columbia, as a western holdout, got left out. That means that SK has 1881, 1891, 1901, 1906, 1911, 1916, 1921, and the soon to be released 1926 censuses – 8 censuses in all. Contrast that with BC, which has 5 for the same time period: 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, and 1921.
2. Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan
I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to actually step foot into a provincial archive, but now I’ve found what an absolute treasure trove it is, the provincial archives are my goto next step.
3. Woodlawn Cemetery
I feel like a ghoul admitting this, but I spend a lot of lunch breaks at Woodlawn Cemetery. It’s not only a lovely, peaceful place to be, but it’s also a genealogist’s dream. While I’m there, I check out Find A Grave requests from random strangers that ask for photos of their ancestors, and I try to fill them. I like paying it forward. To help me, there’s an app to locate the exact gravesites using GPS positioning. Truly, genealogy + tech are a match made in – ahem – heaven.
And then I had an idea…What if I were to test my knowledge, offer a free genealogical search, and write about it? Wouldn’t that be a great story? I think so, and so did a local magazine.
Here’s the deal
Are you interested in joining me on this journey of discovery? Is your family from Saskatchewan? Want to know more? Check out my contest here (link removed) and please, if you know someone else who’d be interested, send this info to them. I have no idea what I’ll find or who I’ll meet, so I invite you to join me on this genealogical journey. Please follow me at the sign in below.
