Discovering Ancestors in Industrial Canada
Summary DetailsLength: 60 minutes
Summary: Not all Canadian ancestors were farmers. Many worked in industrial communities built around mills, logging camps, or company towns. Discover record sources that reveal the lives of industrial workers, including labour files, union records, newspapers, and local archives. Learn how these communities shaped family life and migration patterns..
Audience Level: Intermediate
Requirements: Projection for computer on a large screen; internet connection
Content: 4-page PDF handout
Outline
Many Canadian ancestors did not live on farms but instead worked in the industries that drove Canada’s economic growth. This presentation introduces genealogists to the record sets created by mills, mines, railways, steel plants, and company towns. Attendees will explore occupational sources, including census returns, city directories, payrolls, and apprentice registers. Industrial sectors such as mining, pulp and paper, forestry, railways, shipbuilding, and hydro will be highlighted with examples of available records. Labour and union resources, including minutes, arbitration files, strike reports, and fraternal society records, will be showcased alongside community voices preserved in newspapers and the labour press. Government files such as workers’ compensation claims, coroners’ inquests, and Department of Labour reports provide further context. Research strategies will demonstrate how to track itinerant workers, reconstruct vanished company towns using maps, and trace cross-border migration tied to industry.
A case study will illustrate how to follow a worker’s journey through multiple sources, showing how industrial life shaped family structure and mobility.
Attendees will learn:
- How to identify and use records from Canada’s key industrial sectors.
- Where to find labour, union, and accident records.
- How to incorporate newspapers, maps, and local histories into research.
- Strategies for tracing ancestors in company towns and industrial migrations.
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Click HERE to have me present this webinar either through your group’s virtual meeting platform or my StreamYard platform. Includes 45-50 minutes of instruction plus 10-15 Q&A session, PDF handout and a limited time (one year) webinar recording.
