Dear Dave in Illinois and other listers,
*There are no attachments to this e-mail*
I am sending my response to Dave's request to the other mailing lists to
which I belong, as I have had several requests for help in response to
assistance I provided to another lister with Canadian Passenger Lists and
the National Archives of Canada.
Thanks for your informative message to Dgen.
Unfortunately (in more ways than one!) I'm located neither in PEI nor
anywhere else in Canada, but in that country south of you, and there is no
interlibrary loan arrangement between the National Archives of Canada and the
librairies here in Illinois.
The National Archives of Canada
http://www.archives.ca has a vast
wealth of information which is made freely available to researchers. The
following is from their web site under "SERVICES".
Borrow microfilm from the National Archives of Canada
Researchers can access microfilm copies of many of our collections
through the inter-institutional loan arrangement. Requests for loan must be
submitted by the borrowing institution and should clearly identify the source
and reel numbers required.
Who can borrow microfilm?
Institutions within and outside Canada that own microfilm readers, such as
libraries, universities, historical and genealogical societies, may borrow
microfilm from the National Archives on your behalf.
Important notes:
* Requests for loan must include a National Archives of Canada microfilm
reel number. When that information is not known, you must first undertake
research in our sources to obtain a reference and to determine if it is
available on microfilm. Start your search with ArchiviaNet. If you can¹t find
the reference, then you may wish to send an inquiry.
* Records that are not on microfilm are not available for loan.
* In some cases, a requested microfilm reel will not be available for loan
due to access restrictions on some or all of the volumes on that reel.>
PROCEDURES:
Borrowing institutions should send requests directly to the National Archives
by one of the following methods:
* by mail to:
National Archives of Canada
Inter-Institutional Loans Unit
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N3
* by fax: 1-613-995-6274
* or by completing the online loan request form.
The source (e.g. census), microfilm number and the client's name
must be
clearly indicated on the request.
Borrowing institutions assume responsibility for borrowed material and, in
particular, for any damage apart from normal wear.
More than one item may be requested at one time. In certain cases, a limit of
six items per person per loan period may be imposed.... loan period is
six weeks.
Cost:
There are no fees or postage charges for microfilm loans; however, the
borrowing institution is responsible for the cost of postage for return of the
material to the National Archives.
NOTE: The borrowing institution may request you to cover the cost of return
postage.
Dave wrote:
I'm interested in locating passenger information for two
ancestors, one
direct, the other collateral, who emigrated to the US via Canada. At your
suggestion, I visited the National Archives site, and see from it that my
grandparents, Harry and Maud HINDE (no middle names for either of 'em) came
through Montreal at a time not covered by the 10 films you mentioned (they
emigrated in 1923) but should be shown on film T-15062. (From their
naturalisation papers, I have the exact date of their entry at Detroit
Michigan from Montreal.)
The collateral ancestor, David RICHARDSON, presumably entered Canada in
1912-13, as he worked for the Canadian railways for a year or two before
raising enough brass to send for the rest of his family back in Nottingham.
(His family entered the US in 1914, through New York).
You are in luck in two areas:
1. You have a very specific request for information;
2. All passenger lists into Canada were saved from 1865 onward.
The film numbers I gave in my previous e-mail were a specific response to
that lister and covered the arrivals at Quebec ports, including Montreal,
for 1911, which was the timeframe they were searching. Send an on-line
request to the Archives inserting your grandparents information, approximate
date of arrival, and port of departure and port of arrival. You should try
to include the exact date they crossed into Michigan, as this will help the
researcher determine the actual date of arrival if you don't have it. The
search will be performed free of charge. This service is available to
anyone - you don't have to be a Canadian resident. I recently requested the
WWI military records of five great uncles, which appeared in the mail about
four weeks after submitting the request. I gave them my Visa number to
charge the cost of photocopying over 50 pages of records.
The following outlines the details of how to go about submitting an inquiry.
The forms, which I have put in "quotes ", are available on-line.
Are you tracing a family member or an ancestor?
To send inquiries electronically about genealogical sources held by the
National Archives of Canada, including pre-First World War military records,
please use our "Genealogy Inquiry Form".
For records of military personnel from the First World War to the present,
please read the instructions under "Military and Civilian Personnel Records".
What do you suggest for a non-Canadian researcher?
Try your local university or college library or your historical or
genealogical society. If they have a microfilm reader, they can request a
loan of the material for you. If you still are out of luck, get back to me
off-list and I'll see if I can find an Ottawa based researcher for you.
(Ottawa is my home town but I only get there two or three times a year)
For anyone else looking for Canadian records, I would strongly recommend
using the online facilities of the National Archives or any relevant
Provincial Archives in Canada. Most Provincial Archives will also respond
to a specific query free of charge.
You never know what information may be available. I found a reference in the
Ontario Archives' on-line catalogue to letters that my great great
grandfather had written to his parents in Hull, Yorkshire from the date of
his voyage to Canada in April 1857 until 1870. These 11 letters, which were
photocopied for me, have provided a wealth of information of the life and
struggles that they had in a small Ontario town and the hardships they faced
with illnesses, bad weather and drought to their ultimate ability to
establish a viable watch-making business which was handed down to one of
their sons. The Archivist told me that I was extremely fortunate that
someone who had the letters, most probably in England, had the foresight to
send them to the Archives to be preserved.
I have used the facilities of the National Archives of Canada both on-line
and in person, and I am very pleased to say that the staff are very helpful,
knowledgeable and thorough.
I hope this will help several of you with the Canadian end of your research.
Kindest regards,
Anne Clark-Stewart
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
member of the Ontario, Hamilton-Wentworth and Norfolk Genealogy Societies
member of the CLWYD Family History Society (Flintshire, Wales)
PS Dave, I have great Rotarian friends in Lake Bloomington, Illinois, near
Normal. He always tells everyone that he belongs to the only "Normal"
Rotary Club in the world. The rain is due overnight and will last a few
days...good thing today was a lovely day for planting bulbs.
> Dave
> in cloudy northern Illinois, with rain on its way to Mississauga...