Automated Genealogy

A site that often goes unnoticed is Automated Genealogy. To quote from the site’s home page:

 “Automated Genealogy hosts several projects to index Canadian censuses. Over the last several years Library and Archives Canada has digitized their microfilms of the original census forms for several of the Canadian censuses and Automated Genealogy has organized volunteers to produce indices to the people enumerated in these censuses. Each project uses simple web forms to allow volunteers to transcribe census data from the images into a database, with the entered data being immediately available on the site. Following transcription further volunteers proofread and make corrections. Anyone with an internet connection can participate as a transcriber, proofreader, or just by submitting corrections as they use the site. The status of each census project varies depending on how long it has been active. There is a link to the LAC image of the original census page at the top of each transcribed census page.”

For our purposes this site is very useful when beginning research into an ancestor who was a veteran of the Great War. Lets take one example. I chose the surname Thomas mainly because two of my great uncles who went overseas were Thomas’s.

Scroll down the home page to “Linking Projects”, and click on “Soldier’s of the First World War Linking”. Various surname’s and christian name’s are listed. By no means does this represent even a fraction of the total; however you may get lucky. I chose C.E. Thomas or Charles Edward Thomas. So what we have is the 1901 & 1911 Canada Census, and at the bottom his attestation papers. Had he died in the war there would also be a link to the Canadian War Memorial.

This is yet another tool to use to begin your research, and I sincerely hope, that it is expanded and is continued. It is a boon to genealogists.