OK... Here's what I know... and as always, it's subject to additions, corrections, etc. First, there are relatively few records of passenger lists for people entering Canada. It was part of the British Empire, and folks emigrating from the British Isles did not need to pass emigration, etc. Further, those shipping companies that might have had passenger lists mostly chucked them. That said, there ARE a few lists... and should be checked. The link to the Ships Lists someone else gave recently is very useful. Second, emigration to Canada started with the French... to Quebec, and to Acadia [basically what is now the Maritimes]... so if you have any French Canadian ancestry... there are some good links available. Third... the next major wave of emigration to Canada involved the Loyalists... those Americans who stayed loyal to the King, and fled north during and after the Revolution. Some went north through New York, first to Montreal, and later were resettled along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Others traveled mostly by ship and were landed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, or in St.John, in what is now New Brunswick [early on it was a part of Nova Scotia; both had previously become British as a result of the French losing Acadia in the French and Indian wars]. There are extensive lists of the Loyalists available... and membership in the Loyalist organizations is rather like the DAR.... gotta show proof of ancestry. {:-) Fourth... During the Napoleonic War era, the British turned to New Brunswick as a source of Ship Timber, as the Scandinavian sources were cut off by Napoleon. As a result, following the war, a number of emigrants started traveling to New Brunswick as passengers on the outgoing empty timber ships. The timber ships tended to be smaller, and thus were known to travel around the coasts of Ulster and Scotland, soliciting passengers from many of the smaller outports. Most of these passengers ended up landing in Canada through St. John, New Brunswick, traveling on up the St. John River, and settling initially in areas which had apparently been recently logged off. Many of the emigrants in this era continued to refer to these parts of Canada as "America"... as it was part of the North American continent... and they did not much discriminate between Canada and the US. Notice also the different spellings: St.John, New Brunswick is often confused with St. John's, Newfoundland. They are two distinctly different places. Fifth... As settlements expanded along the "Upper" shores of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, successive waves of emigrants passed through Quebec, and on up to "Upper Canada", which subsequently was hived off from Quebec, or Lower Canada. Following the end of the Napoleonic War, many soldiers received land in Upper Canada in payment of their back pay, and settled in townships surveyed to the north of the original lands allocated to the Loyalists. Additionally, many Americans found they were more comfortable under the Crown, and drifted north to take up lands... often purchasing from Loyalists or other British settlers. Then, many of the Loyalists, other British, and former Americans drifted back south. It gets to be a complicated story. Many families had children born successively in the US, then Canada, and then again in the US. Sixth, up into the 1840's many Ulster folk emigrated either to New Brunswick or Upper Canada, often responding to land development schemes. Then, following the Famines in Ireland in the 1840's many folks from other parts of Ireland started emigrating to Ontario [by now renamed from Upper Canada] as well as to the US... Seventh... Newfoundland is a different story. It was a separate country up until the 1930's... and joined the Canadian Confederation in 1949. It started in the 1500's as a place where emigration was discouraged... only a few French, Portugese, and English fishermen and whalers, mostly men, temporarily sited at fishing or whaling stations along the coastlines. There were separate "French shores", English shores, and areas which formerly were Portugese or Spanish were largely taken over by the English. In the 1620's there was a considerable English colony set up at Fairyland, on the Avalon Peninsula, south from the present day St. John's. It was destroyed by the French in the 1740-50's, but rivaled Jamestown and Plymouth in it's day. Gradually, Newfoundland became settled by French, English, and Irish... many hailing from seacoast areas in their countries of origin. There were successive waves of emigrants to Canada throughout the later 19th and early 20th centuries... many from Germany, the Ukraine, Russia, and elsewhere. As with emigrants to the US... you need to know a bit about the ethnic origins of your ancestors in order to know where to start. Hope this helps. Dave Strong ==================== ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marilynn Masten" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 1:54 PM Subject: Re: [ARMSTRONG] Canada entry > McClement or McClymont, Robert, had daughter with wife (This is usually > the > case) in 1845, in Picton, Ont. Since this was the first child I know of, > he > and wife Eliza Jane MacAteer came into Canada sometime before that. But > maybe they met and married in Canada. I don't know. I found a female > Mater > (that's the way they pronounce it) in the census, unmarried and living > with > other people. {probably a servant) Never expected to look for this > family > on the A list.. > Marilynn > IBSSG > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 4:10 PM > Subject: Re: [ARMSTRONG] Canada entry > > >> Marilynn, >> >> Were you thinking of St. Johns, New Brunswick. When did they come - oh, >> dear >> now you will have to tell us which century. :))) Mary >> >> There's a St. John's in Michigan but it is not a port. However, if you >> came >> through Port Huron, Michigan, which comes from Canada through Sarnia, you >> would >> eventually go through St. John's to go further west into Michigan. >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >