Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Attention Canadians! I've Got An Important Question for You

Ok, without going into any detail really(I'll explain when and if it's time to), I need some help from any reader who lives in Canada.
And it's not help with being frugal or personal finance or such.  This is waaaaay different today!

If *someone*.....see me whistle and look nonchalantly at the sky.......was trying to locate someone who lives in Canada.....OR....if *someone*.....was trying to get the attention of someone else in Canada, who was looking for long lost family members in the USA.....what/where would *someone* want to do in terms of putting an ad in a paper or contacting some media people in Canada so that this *someone else* in Canada would notice this *someone* was looking for them as well?

Are you confused yet? lol

Basically I have found out that someone in my family, who has never met any of her kin in the USA is looking to find us but has hit a brick wall.  They sent a letter to one person they know to be a relative here but that very elderly person threw out or lost the letter, so we/I have no contact information or even a name to get in touch with her.  All I know is that she lives in Canada, having emigrated there from England.

Anyone have any ideas how I go about sending up a signal flare so that she sees it?
Where is TROY DUNN when I need him????!!!!

Sluggy

11 comments:

  1. Yeowza!!! you've got a dilemma! I'd prob get on some genealogy web sites.

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  2. McVal--Already been there, done that. I joined Ancestry dotcom and found this family member I am in contact with there. She told me about this woman in Canada who contacted the wife of the brother of our relations who are deceased.
    I guess I'll get the word out to this wife of my grandfather's brother and if she gets any more letters to let me know.

    Oh, my strange and wacky family.....

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  3. Everyone in Canada that I know is on Facebook, eh. I can see Canada from my house, so that makes me an expert... That being said, contact some of the morning shows on CBC or CTV. Maybe they'd be interested in a human interest sorta thing.

    Just as a well nature joke, we say on our side of the river, if you want to capture a Canadian put a box of doughnuts and a carton of cigarettes in a cage and just wait.

    OK, I know this is not all helpful and I'm being a real hoser.

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  4. If it helps any, I don't think many people live in this "Canada" place of which you speak.
    Good luck!
    m.

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  5. I live in the land of ice and snow in my igloo here in the north. We are all on facebook! (Seriously even my Dad). I've also had random people phone me out of the blue looking for relatives with the same name as me. (I'm from a tiny branch of my tree here in western Canada so I was of no help) If you could find out where in Canada she was it would help. I would facebook and phone if you knew the vicinity.
    Us Canadians are very helpful, friendly and don't mind helping out a neighbour. :)
    The Census has a crapload of info...
    http://automatedgenealogy.com/index.html
    This site has some good and some confusing... Remember parts of Canada weren't provinces until after 1905.
    And for the record I don't smoke, or say "Eh" but I do love Tim Hortons!!!

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  6. B-Kat--I may just take you up on your offer IF I can get a name and/or where she is living info. The geneaology stuff is interesting put won't help me much with this, as she was born in England during WWII years and emigrated to Canada at some point after 1945. Heck, the person could be the daughter of my grandfather's daughter even, so she would be around my age or so. If she is the daughter the last name would be Bowman, if the granddaughter the surname most certainly would be different tho(if her mother married).

    This whole story would make a great segment of a tv show!lol

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  7. I thought on Ancestry.com they had ship lists. I'm sure that's how we found some of our tree. There were only a few entry points into Canada... starting in Halifax and then along the St. Lawrence. But then everyone got on a train from there!! I am taking a trek to see family again this weekend and will see what rescources my mom and her sister used!

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  8. Go to ancestry.com and post on all the last names you know, explaining the situation and giving the name of the person who was contacted. That will get a guaranteed response. Maybe it is not ancestry.com, but it is one of those genealogy sites that is free.

    Say you name is podunk and you have ten last names that you know are connected to yours. Just go to those then last names and post the identical information that you told us, plus the elderly woman's name. If your grandfather is joe blow, put it there. If there is his son don blow, put the information there. You can search far and wide like this, free at the place I did this. I found a cousin just over in Arkansas, but Alabama where I am is a world away if you don't know the person exists. Her ggrandfather and my gggfather were brothers. And, we no longer have the family name.

    I am not from Canada, but this will work unless they have a website that other than ancestry.com that is popular up there. The site may be genealogy web something. I will check up on the site I used.

    Just remember to post all the information conversationally, no limits, all related names in one post. Do this three dozen times and you will get a response. The person may not look at the site for six months, but your message will remain for years. Mine has.

    Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Here:
    http://genforum.genealogy.com

    has message boards. Just go to Message Boards, pick the first letter of the last name, and you can find any messages she may have sent to that name that she knows. You may have to post on 20 name boards to get results. And, you may find a message to the last names you have, especially the older woman to whom she wrote or to older last names in your lineage.

    So, ancestry.com may not have the same thing. I will check.

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  10. Okay, the site I was speaking of is htto://genforum.genealogy.com. It is soooo easy to post. You don't have to registr like ancestry.com was trying to get me to do.

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  11. You could try this site and do a rough name search
    http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html
    Worth a shot :)

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