Ancestry Extra: Researching British Home Children – Free Access details, records and top tips

Free Access Terms and Conditions

To support the ‘Researching British Home Children’ video tutorial (hosted the Ancestry Canada Facebook page), we will be providing free access to the following collections from Tuesday 12th May at 10am EDT – Wednesday 13th May 10am EDT. To access these collections please click on the links below.

Free Access is from 12 May 2020 at 10 a.m. EDT to 13 May at 10 a.m. EDT. Registration required. After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using an Ancestry.ca paid membership.

Key collections and records on Ancestry mentioned in the session that are free to access for a limited time:

• London, England, Poor Law School District Registers, 1852-1918
• Canada Census collection
• UK Census Collection
• Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1826-1937
• Canada, WWI CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918

Five top tips for British Home Children Research:

• Use the same resources and methodology that you use for all your genealogical research. In addition, use resources offered in #4.  Let the facts drive your research.
• Work backwards through the person’s life.  The information found on his/her life in Canada will direct the research in the British Isles.
• Use Canadian census information.  The year of immigration can be found on the 1891, 1901, 1911, and 1921 census forms.  The more accurate date should be on census closest to immigration.
• Use the home children guides and databases offered by Library and Archives Canada https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca and BIFHSGO https://bifhsgo.ca/  Both organizations have a section devoted to home children with databases that can provide information about a child such as: age, date of immigration, ship, sending/receiving agency, destination, and possible originating Union.
• Remember the name of the sending Union provides the British location to initially concentrate your search.  Under Poor Law, this was the probable birth location of the child and one or both parents.

Speaker: Gloria Tubman

Gloria Tubman, herself a granddaughter of a home child, has been researching British Home Children for over 28 years and authored A Genealogists’ Guide to Researching BRITISH HOME CHILDREN.  Her areas of genealogical and historical research include British Home Children, Quebec, Ottawa Valley, and has led to research for “Who Do You Think You Are?”  She is a co-instructor of a genealogy course at the Ottawa Stake Family History Centre and a volunteer at  Genealogy Drop-In co-hosted by the Ottawa Branch Ontario Ancestors and the Ottawa Public Library.  She is a member of Ottawa Branch Council, Ontario Ancestors, and BIFHSGO.