Sources

There are three kinds of sources. There is a primary source, secondary source, and oral.

A primary source is a piece of information or a document that was generated in the presence of the person it involves. (Birth, marriage and death certificates)

Birth certificates, for example, are primary sources only for the names of your parents and your birth date and where you were born - it proves that you were born on that date and that's your primary proof of a birth date. Now let's take a death certificate. A death certificate is a primary source proving that you died because the doctor says that you died on this date, at this time, at this place and this was more than likely your name. However the name of your mother and father on the death certificate is secondary information because you didn't give it. The same applies for your address and how old you were. The information you give for paper work to join the military came from you and that's a primary source.

A secondary source would be a source that was generated for a person after they died or outside of their presence. Obituaries would be a good example here.

An oral source is when someone recalls an event from memory. If the events are about them they are primary sources. Others people events would be secondary.

There is a tremendous amount of information on the web, but everybody has to bear in mind that that information is suspect until you yourself have been able to substantiate that the information is correct. When you find some information online, maybe from someone else's family history work, don't add it to your own work until you are satisfied that the preponderance of evidence says that this information is right and belongs to your family.

 

Libraries and Research Centers

If you hope to do any serious research on your family, you're going to need some hard-copy resources.

The following is a list of some research centers. Please call ahead regarding hours of operation.

Algonquin College
Perth Campus
7 Craig Street
Perth, Ontario  K7H 1X7
Canada

Tel: (613) 267-2859

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Library and Archives Canada
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0N4
Canada

Tel: 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777

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Publications


The sources you will use most often are divided into three types:


Genealogical dictionaries, which contain marriages for many surnames and many places;
Marriage repertoires, which contain marriages for many surnames in just one place; and
Family genealogies, which have marriages for just one surname in many places.

http://www.quintinpublications.com/

 

http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/numtextes/at802.htm

 

http://drouininstitute.com/

http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/accesLibreBD.htm#Dictionnaire

 

 

Electronic

On-line access to genealogical information is exploding. It's not always the quickest, cheapest, or most accurate source of information, but it may be the most fun. I'm listing the electronic links I think are most useful. If I miss any important sites or any important services at any sites, please do let me know.

Click next to see the links

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