Survey says Canadians have a lot to learn about their family roots

Ancestry.ca, Canada's largest online resource for family history, recently undertook a national family history survey. The surprising results revealed that 65 per cent of Canadians can only trace their ancestry back 100 years, and 44 per cent don't know when their family first arrived in Canada.

Worse still, a surprising one-third (34 per cent) don't know the maiden names of either of their grandmothers and 37 per cent don't know where either grandmother was born.

Learning about one's past through family history research can be exciting and rewarding, however there are numerous factors that have traditionally contributed to an individual not exploring their family history, including lack of resources, time constraints and not knowing where to begin.

A great place for people to start is by taking advantage of the time spent with family this holiday season to tap into the knowledge and memories that older relatives can share about their ancestors. In fact, 36 per cent of Canadians plan to spend the holidays with three or more generations of their family, so this is a perfect opportunity to collect information for a family tree.

Once an individual has gathered as much information as they can, family history websites make the rest easy. According to genealogist Lesley Anderson, using online historical research tools can make creating your family tree easier than ever before.

“Websites like Ancestry.ca have a great database of censuses and immigration, birth, marriage, death and military records, as well as free family tree making tools. Creating your family tree online takes away so much of the work and time, and makes it easier and more fun to discover your family's story,” says Anderson.

For Canadians interested in learning more about their family history, the upcoming holiday season could prove to be the catalyst. The holidays are the perfect opportunity to gather with close relatives and start building your family tree.

www.newscanada.com