My uncle name was Edward Conway born 1921 died 1945, in India served in the Canadian army. Married to Gladys Margaret Conway of London, Ontario. My question is how do I go about finding their children, and their children's children.

First, check out our How can I find someone in Ontario who may, or may not be deceased? post as the tips included there will work here as well.

To the list of things to check include London city directories (available at London Public Library). Start with the last known year of contact (1945?) and search forward to see if they remained in the city or not.

If Edward died while serving in the Canadian Army you can request a copy of his service file from Library & Archives Canada.

I want to put together a family tree and I don't know how to find relatives on my father's and mother's side. Is there a site I can go to and look up the parent's of my parent's and so on and so on?

The answer is dependent upon the place and time period. A small portion of genealogy records are available online, a larger portion are only available via the "old fashioned" route (libraries, archives, etc.). The chances of finding a website that already has your family tree laid out for you are slim. There are websites that will help you climb your family tree by offering records online but again they are dependent upon place & time (where are you looking and when?). Your best bet would be to first familiarize yourself with how to climb your family tree, then start climbing. On OntarioGenWeb we offer dozens of articles showing what genealogy records are available for what year and what place, as well as how to access these records. We also offer a Beginner's Guide and a Beginning Your Ontario Research guide.

Are there any Ontario records (birth or death) before 1869?

See our pages on what's available By Year

I don't have enough information to know how to start my search. I know the family surname, my ancestor's first name, his mother's first name, that they were probably farmers and that my ancestor was born in 1861 and was fluent in both French and English. He emigrated to western New York state. I believe he used the passage following the great ridge in western NY. Where would be a good place to start my search in Canada?

You do have enough information! You have his name, birth year, name of spouse and where he ended up... much more than most have to start a search. Before you start searching in Canada you should finish your research with New York State - it could give you clues or an exact location. For instance, when did he migrate to NY? Did he go with anyone? Siblings? Have you found their obituaries? Do you have your ancestor's obit? Do you have his naturalization/citizenship records? Canada is huge. Unless you have an approximate location it will be like searching for a needle in a mile-high haystack.

For more help in knowing "Where To Start" there are several websites dedicated to educating "newbies" as well as numerous books (In Search Of Your Canadian Roots by Angus Baxter, and Searching for your Ancestors by Doane & Bell are two excellent books every genealogist should check out). OntarioGenWeb also offers A Beginner's Guide.

If I know only that my ancestor was born in Ontario, how can I possibly find out what district the family was in? (This is a family that first went from Ireland to Canada then later moved on to the United States).

See OntarioGenWeb's Beginner's Guide for tips on "where to start" when you don't know where in Ontario you should be looking.
[From Ang] -- Have you checked through the LDS's Canadian Index for their birth? You can get this through interloan or through your local LDS family history center. Depending on the year you can look up births from as early as 1869. Another good place to look is the online 1871 canadian census. Hope this helps.

A lot of family member's have told me that my great grandfather changed his name to Freeman. When questioned to ask what his name use to be my response is either he was just French or La something. What I want to know how could I find out what his name use to be?

[From Forebears Research] - If you can go back into a couple of records prior to the name change that is alleged and see if by association you can deduce who he might have been - almost by filtering out each of the neighbours and accounting for each body so to speak then the odd one out, if it's the same person repeatedly, and especially if that name "disappears" when "Freeman" appears, is your man.

I don't know how to go about finding relatives that can supply me with general info history, medical.

Start with who you do know and request names & addresses of other relatives. When you contact these relatives ask the same question. Before you know it you'll have an address book full of relations. Another tactic is gleaning information from family documents such as obituaries, birth notices and the like. They usually provide names and in the case of some obituaries locations (ie, daughter Jane from Toronto, ON). Then take this information and scour the phone books for any matches.

Were unmarried women allowed to own property and hold mortgages in Ontario in 1865?

From MJ Smith -- I know that when my husband's grandfather died in the 1900 hundreds, the property that he owned had to be put into their son's name and the reason we have been given was that a women could not own property at that time! Maybe you could check the local municipality in regards to when this changed!? Some help i hope!!

I don't live in Canada. How can I do my Ontario research outside the country??

LDS Family History Centers are located worldwide. There you can order in Ontario microfilms and other research items to aid you in your search. Go to the LDS Web Site to discover the closest FHC.

Which area was considered as Western Canada during the 1830's and 1840's?

Ontario :-) From 1841-1867 Ontario was known as Canada West and the Province of Canada's western edge was the current Ontario-Michigan boundary line. From 1791-1841 Canada West was known as Upper Canada. Before 1791 it was part of Quebec

I have noticed many people who call themselves "professional genealogists". Some even appear to have a designation after their names. How does a person become a genealogist or researcher?

Becoming a genealogist or researcher is as simple as pursuing your interest in the family tree, however becoming a 'professional' takes quite a bit more time and money. Below are some instutions that offer accreditation in genealogy:
* National Institute For Genealogical Studies (Based in Toronto, Ontario)
* Board for Certification of Genealogists (Based in Washington, DC)
* Genealogical Institute of the Maritimes (Based in Halifax, NS -- focuses solely on the Canadian provinces of NS, NB, NF & PEI)

If interested in just pursuing instruction on genealogy research techniques:
* Brigham Young University
* National Genealogical Society

Could you please explain the breakdown of counties to townships, etc? What does "Concession" mean on the census list I retrieved?

A township is a geographic and/or municipal division of a county. Within each township boundary there will be numbered line roads which run in a common direction and numbered concession roads which run (usually) at right angles to the line roads. The exact location of an individual property -- a farm, for example -- can be determined by its Lot Number and the Number of the Line Road or Concession Road running across the front of the property -- usually a Concession Road. Many farm properties were further divided into halves or quarters -- i.e. "the north half, Lot 34, Concession 3". In the Prairie Provinces of Canada a township is an area of about 93 square kilometres and is divided into 36 sections. This does not apply elsewhere in Canada, Ontario, for example. It should also be noted that line and concession markings do not always indicate the existence of roads but, whatever roads were built, usually followed those surveys

In addition, Townships are used in genealogical research to narrow down the area in which to search. As most governmental records are first divided by county, then by township (such as census records) this would mean your first step in research would be to check township instead of the entire county. Using this method of township, then county, research cuts down on time spent needlessly looking in the 'wrong' area. Concessions are used to give an exact location of settlement. They are especially useful if your ancestor settled in a rural area (which means most of Ontario in the 1800's). Pictoral examples of Townships & Concessions