Six eGuides in the Genealogy Tours Store

 

There are now 6 eGuides in the Genealogy Tours store. These guides are all in PDF format and immediately downloadable. All prices are in Canadian dollars. 

Start Searching Your Scottish Ancestors:

Everything you need to know to start researching your Scottish ancestors. Learn how not to waste credits on ScotlandsPeople. See the depth of information on Scottish documents. Understand the Scottish Naming Pattern and a bonus appendix of words commonly found on Scottish documents

Preparing for a Genealogy Trip to Scotland:

Preparation is the key to a successful genealogy research trip. In this comprehensive eGuide, you will learn what is needed in order to be prepared for success for researching your Scottish ancestors in Scotland.

Early Scots in Atlantic Canada:

Following the highland clearances, Scots began pouring into Atlantic Canada by the boatload. These Scots may have been escaping religious persecution, extreme poverty or simply looking for a better way of life for themselves and their families.

Scottish Settlers in Ontario:

After the American Revolution, the Crown declared that Ontario was open for settlement. A number of settlements were developed. Some were military settlements others were purchased by entrepreneurs who then sold the land to immigrants. Many of these immigrants or military men were Scottish. In this publication, we look at Glengarry, Lanark County, Baldoon, the Talbot Settlement, and the Huron Tract. We also look at the politics and power surrounding the Huron Tract.

Early Scottish Settlers in Canada: 

Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, there was a strong effort by the Crown to promote emigration to Canada. Many of these early settlers in Canada, were from Scotland.

Researching HBC & Metis Ancestors:

The HBC began recruiting in Scotland in 1702. Orkneymen were recruited to work at York Factory and were indentured for a period of 5 years. Since women were not allowed, these men coupled with the indigenous women in the area, creating the Métis nation in Canada. This eGuide provides historical context as well as resources for researching your Scottish ancestors working for the HBC as well as resources for researching your Métis ancestors

Canada Northwest Land Company Settlements

Following the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, the lands in the western part of Canada opened for settlement. The Canada North-West Land Company, incorporated in 1882, provided 11 settlements in the provinces of Assiniboia (Manitoba) and Alberta, 30 miles apart from each other and extending along the CPR lines at the foot of the Rockies.  The settlements each comprised 10,000 acres. 

Unlike the settlement grants in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario, the grants in the west came fully stocked. While the grants in the east came with uncleared land, the grants in the west were “systematically” settled. The Canadian Agricultural, Coal and Colonization Company’s plans show this quite clearly.

 In the centre of each settlement, 640 acres were to be dedicated to the “village” including shops, a school and a church.  The outlying areas were to be divided into 1000 acre lots which were to be completely fenced, and were to come equipped with: 

•        A farm house
•        Furniture
•        Stables
•     A barn
•     Cattle and sheep sheds
•      50 sheep
•        5 cattle
•     1 mare
•        1 sow

Each settlement area (village) was to share ploughs, wagons and rakes.

Each farmer paid £100 and was loaned £192 by the settlement company.

The primary purpose in setting these settlements up was to prevent isolation of any one family, having people emigrate with family or neighbours from their community and placing them together. On the new settlements, they were surrounded by people they knew and were able to carry on the traditions and customs of their lives in Scotland.

The purpose in having the farms fully equipped was to alleviate the hardships of the earlier settlement schemes and provide the farmer with a fully equipped and revenue bearing farm whereby he could begin to repay his loan that much sooner and be ready to own his own land that much faster.  

Maps and land grants for the Canada Northwest Land Company are on microfilm and held by the Glenbow Archives:

http://www.glenbow.org/collections/search/findingAids/archhtm/cnwl.cfm

Some of the documents have been scanned and digitized and made available on the Internet Archives:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22Canada%20North%20West%20Land%20Co%22

Settling the Huron Tract

In 1826, a group of London based business men came together to form the Canada Company. The purpose of this conglomerate was, essentially, to sell parcels of land in what became known as the Huron Tract. The Huron Tract consisted of 2,484,000 acres of land in western Ontario, north of Lake Erie, south of Lake Huron and encompassing lands east of Lake St Clair. The Huron Tract covered parts of what are now Perth, Huron, Middlesex and Wellington Counties.

The Huron Tract  was managed by John Galt. Galt saw the Huron Tract as an agricultural settlement with the land owned by individual farmers. Settlers were attracted by the prospect of land. This land comprised some of the richest and most fertile farming country in Ontario.

  

The largest group of settlers along the Huron Tract were from Scotland. In 1833 there were about 685 people living on the Huron Tract. By 1839 the number of settlers had risen to 4,804. The earliest township records are for Goderich and Tuckersmith and date to 1835. Land in Grey County, also part of the Huron Tract, started being settled in 1852.

Land records for the Huron Tract can be found on the Library and Archives Canada website:

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-upper-canada-1763-1865/Pages/land-petitions-upper-canada.aspx

From the Western Isles to Canada

Following the Reformation, most Scots had converted to Presbyterian while the Highlands and Islands remained predominantly Catholic. The landowners who had converted expected their tenants to do the same and those that didn’t weren’t allowed to practice their religion. Some were even removed for not converting. 

This led to a group of Scots from the Outer Hebrides (Uist) to be sent to Cape Breton in what is now Boisedale, a group from Glenfinnan near Fort William to be sent to what is now Prince Edward Island and who are now known as the Glenaladale Settlers and a group from Loch Broom near Oban being sent to Pictou. These were the settlers from the Hector. Interestingly, the clues of their homeland are given in the names of their new countries.

In their new lands, they were not only allowed to practice their faith, but also speak their language (Gaelic).

·        In 1774, the Lord Justice Clerk tried to gain an understanding of the extent of emigration from the Highlands and instructed Sheriffs from the area to provide him with lists of those from their jurisdiction that had emigrated. These lists should be within the collections of the National Records of Scotland.

·      Archives Ontario have several letters relating to the Glengarry Settlement including letters sent to family back home encouraging them to come to Canada.

·       The PEI Historical Society has just released a very genealogically comprehensive book on the Glenalladale Settlers. 

     Archives for Glenfinnan are with the Highland Archives https://www.highlifehighland.com/archives-service/

·       For records pertaining to Lochboisdale, contact the Seallam! Centre on Lewis http://www.tasglann.org.uk/en

In July 1803, three ships, the Dykes, the Polly, and the Oughton sailed to Canada with eight hundred former crofters from the Western Isles and headed to Prince Edward Island where Lord Selkirk had managed to receive a land grant. The Polly carried passengers from Skye. The Dykes brought passengers from Mull. The Oughton carried passengers from Uist. Further Selkirk Settlers from Colonsay, Oronsay and Tiree arrived in 1806.

·         Lord Selkirk’s papers are available online at: http://www.canadiana.ca/

·         The Archives of Ontario also have a number of letters pertaining to Lord Selkirk and his   settlers. 

Passenger List reconstruction for ship Polly:

http://www.islandregister.com/selkirk_settlers.html

Passenger List reconstruction for ship Dykes:

http://www.islandregister.com/dykes.html

Passenger List reconstruction for ship Oughton:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pictou/oughton.htm