About Upper Canada Genealogy

Upper Canada Genealogy is dedicated to helping people learn about their early Ontario ancestors. In founding this company, I decided to focus on the Upper Canada period - 1791 to1841 - because it is the toughest to research (for beginners and professionals alike!). In this period, there are no colony-wide censuses, no civil registration (certificates of birth, marriage and death) and no centralized repository for church records. However, this doesn't mean that research is impossible in this period - far from it! It just takes a little more time, effort and expertise.

This is where Upper Canada Genealogy comes in. My goal is to provide the best and most comprehensive set of resources for family history research in this period. This includes professional research services, indexes to hard-to-access records, free reference resources with information about Upper Canada history, geography and resource centres, and links to other useful sites.

Janice Nickerson

About Janice Nickerson, M.A.


Family history research has been my passion for over 25 years. In my spare time I pored through books in libraries, squinted at microfilm in archives and wrote letters to ever increasing numbers of relatives. In university, my research projects invariably focused on some aspect of my family's history!

After studying anthropology in graduate school, I decided to make genealogy my life's work, specializing in Upper Canada to help others researching in this difficult period and location. Since that time, I've developed additional speciaties in fur trade and Aboriginal research, and turning bare bones genealogies into full-fledged family histories.


In addition to researching my clients' family histories, I also do heir searching for the Public Trustee, give talks to genealogical societies and write for genealogical magazines.

Recent projects have included providing "behind-the-scenes" genealogical research for the CBC TV program "Who Do You Think You Are?" (aired October 2007 to February 2008) and working with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples as a genealogical consultant for Métis genealogy.


I have researched and written the following genealogical studies:

  • Women and Property in a Nineteenth Century Ontario County
  • Ethnic Identity Among the Nineteenth Century Descendants of Hudson's Bay Company Fur Traders
  • The Chant Family History, or descendants of Robert Chant (1758-1836) of Somerset, England
The following genealogy how-to guides:
  • Money-savings tips for genealogists
  • Thirty-one ways to identify your immigrant ancestor's origins
  • How to locate an ancestor in Ontario, Canada West or Upper Canada

And the promotional booklets: 101 Best Genealogy Research Tips, Moorshead Magazines, 2006 and Saving Family Memories, Moorshead Magazines, 2009

My articles have appeared in the magazines Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, Discovering Family History and Your Family Tree:

  • "Has Your Family History Been Published?" Family Chronicle, December 2009
  • "Understanding Canadian Census Records," Discovering Family History, December 2009
  • "Hurray for Quarrelsome Ancestors!" Discovering Family History, December 2009
  • "Researching Aboriginal Ancestors in Ontario," Family Chronicle, October 2009
  • "One-Stop Genealogy: FHL Research Tools," Family Chronicle, October 2009
  • "Great White North: Canadian Civil Registration Records," Discovering Family History, October 2009
  • "Names, Nicknames and Spelling Variants," Discovering Family History, October 2009
  • "Canadian Place Names Explained," Discovering Family History, August, 2009
  • "Canada: What's Online and What's Not," Internet Genealogy, July 2009
  • "Reuniting Families: Red Cross and Salvation Army," Family Chronicle, June 2009
  • "Top Five Ways to Find Living Relatives!," Internet Genealogy, May 2009
  • "Our Future, Our Past: Alberta's Heritage," Internet Genealogy, May 2009
  • "Researching Early Ontario Ancestors," Family Chronicle, April 2009
  • "Getting Started in Canada!," Discovering Family History, April 2009
  • "Top Ten Sites for Finding Family Photos Online," Internet Genealogy, March 2009
  • "Toronto Genealogy Resources," Family Chronicle, February 2009
  • "Working in Archives," Family Chronicle, February 2009
  • "Top Family Networking Websites," Internet Genealogy, January 2009
  • "Top Ten Genealogy Blogs," Internet Genealogy, January 2009
  • "Tracking Down Living Relatives," Family Chronicle, December 2008
  • "Letter Writing for Family History," Discovering Family History, December 2008
  • "Check Your Sources!" Internet Genealogy, November 2008
  • "Seeking Canadian Ancestors Online," Internet Genealogy, November 2008
  • "Common Research Traps to Avoid," Discovering Family History, October 2008
  • "Academic Theses: A Genealogist's Tool," Internet Genealogy, September 2008
  • "10 Reasons to Look for Siblings," Family Chronicle, August 2008
  • "Easy Ways to Write Your Family History," Family Chronicle, August 2008
  • "Ancestors Are People Too!" Family Chronicle, August 2008
  • "Where are they Buried?" Discovering Family History, August 2008
  • "15 Ways Your Local Library Can Help," Discovering Family History, August 2008
  • "Case Study: Where did they go?" Internet Genealogy, July 2008
  • "African American Research on the 'Net," Internet Genealogy, July 2008
  • "Fur Trade Records: An Untapped Resource," Family Chronicle, June 2008
  • "Case Study: A Recipe for Canadian Family History," Discovering Family History, June 2008
  • "Tax Records: Bane of Today, but Boon for Genealogists!" Internet Genealogy, May 2008
  • "Net Note: Creative Genes' Carnival of Genealogy," Internet Genealogy, May 2008
  • "Almanacs," Family Chronicle, April 2008
  • "That's My Family," Internet Genealogy, March 2008
  • "Researching for TV," Internet Genealogy, March 2008
  • "What's In Your Attic?" Family Chronicle, February 2008
  • "Early Canadiana Online," Family Chronicle, December 2007
  • "Home Children - British Child Immigrants to Canada," Family Chronicle, December 2007
  • "How to Read Between the Lines of the Census," Family Chronicle, December 2007
  • "Secrets to Researching Smiths," Family Chronicle, Deccember 2007
  • "Religious Newspapers," Family Chronicle, October 2007
  • "Web Sites Worth Surfing," Family Chronicle, August 2007
  • "Family Migrations: Journey to the New World," Family Chronicle, August 2007
  • "We the Undersigned: Your Ancestors' Petitions," Family Chronicle, August 2007
  • "Is it True? The Genealogical Proof Standard," Family Chronicle, June 2007
  • "Digital History," Internet Genealolgy, May 2007
  • "Re-researching the Carter family," Family Chronicle, April 2007
  • "Finding and Using Online Maps," Internet Genealogy, March 2007
  • "Library and Archives Canada," Internet Genealogy, March 2007
  • "Champlain Society Digital Collection," Internet Genealogy, January 2007
  • "Finding a Wandering Relative: Proven strategies for tracking down ancestors who moved away from the family home," Family Chronicle, December 2006
  • "Upper Canada Links," Your Family Tree, Autumn 2006
  • "Finding Ancestral Artifacts on the 'Net'," Internet Genealogy, November 2006
  • "Our Ancestors' Daily Lives," Internet Genealogy, November 2006
  • "Learning about our ancestors' ships," Family Chronicle, October 2006
  • "Tebo, Thibow or Thibeault?" Family Chronicle, October 2006
  • "Family Tree Guide: A Review," Internet Genealogy, September 2006
  • "Genealogy web sites worth surfing," Family Chronicle, August 2006
  • "Do's and Don'ts," Family Chronicle, August 2006
  • "Illustrating Your Ancestors' Lives," Family Chronicle, August 2006
  • "Interviewing Relatives," Your Family Tree, July 2006
  • "10 Reasons to Join the Godfrey Memorial Library," Internet Genealogy, July 2006
  • "Giving Back: Join an Online Transcription Project," Internet Genealogy, Extra online edition, June 2006
  • "Case Study: Who Was Madison Davis?" Internet Genealogy, Extra online edition, June 2006
  • "Genealogy web sites worth surfing," Family Chronicle, June 2006
  • "Proving Parentage: 25 Ways to Discover and Document a Parent-Child Link," Family Chronicle, June 2006
  • "Top places to begin your research," Internet Genealogy, May 2006
  • "More places to start your research," Internet Genealogy, May 2006
  • "Genealogy web sites worth surfing," Family Chronicle, April 2006
  • "Criminals in the Family Tree," Family Chronicle, April 2006
  • "Genealogy web sites worth surfing," Family Chronicle, February 2006
  • "Top 53 Places to Start Your Genealogy on the Internet," Family Chronicle, forthcoming...
  • "Genealogical Etiquette," Family Chronicle, December 2005
  • "Looking for Lists in the all the Right Places," Family Chronicle, October 2005
  • "Canada's Home Children," Your Family Tree, August 2005
  • "Seeing the Ancestral Homeland," Family Chronicle, August 2005
  • "101 records you might have missed," Family Chronicle, June 2005
  • "Avoiding common genealogical traps," Family Chronicle, February 2005
  • "30 money saving tips," Your Family Tree, November 2004
  • "Digging Deeper," Family Chronicle, October 2004
  • "Twenty-five websites for Canadian Genealogy," Family Chronicle, June 2004
  • "My Hudson Bay fur trade ancestors," Your Family Tree, April 2004
  • "What to do when you're stuck," Family Chronicle, April 2004
  • "Making the most of resources in your ancestor's home town," Family Chronicle, February 2004
  • "Tracing your Canadian ancestry," Your Family Tree, Christmas 2003
  • "Genealogical gems in land records," Family Chronicle, December 2003
  • "Genealogy on a Shoestring," Family Chronicle, July/August 2003
  • "10 ways to locate your ancestor's birthplace," Family Chronicle, March/April 2003

As a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (and past chair of the Ontario chapter), I support its stringent code of ethics, including the principles of truthfulness, clarity and accuracy, and a commitment to support the collection and preservation of historical and genealogical records.

I am a proud 8th-generation Canadian, with English, German, Irish, Welsh and Aboriginal ancestry.

Comments, suggestions and questions about any aspect of this website or the products and services we offer are welcome. Please contact me by e-mail, or by mail at:

Upper Canada Genealogy, Suite 2807, 33 Isabella Street, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2P7


Upper Canada Genealogy © 2001-2009   Last Updated 30 October 2009