Start your family tree. It’s free.
Enter a few simple facts about recent generations of your family. We'll use what you enter to try and find more about your family in the world's largest online collection of historical records and family trees.
Or search our collections directly.
Already familiar with historical records? Simply enter what you know about one of your ancestors and we'll search billions of historical records for more information. Even a guess can help.
How Do Historical Records Make It Onto Ancestry.ca?
Family history records hold fascinating facts about real people in your family history. And Ancestry.ca is home to billions of them from every corner of the globe. In fact, we’re the world’s largest online collection of historical records full of details about your ancestors’ lives, careers, loves, loyalties and so much more.
Here’s a brief overview of how we bring you original records from around the world online:
Searching the World
Our expert content acquisition team never stops seeking out rich, original historical records we don’t yet have in our collection.
Gaining Access
This team works with governments, archives and content owners to make the records easily accessible to you on Ancestry.ca.
Scanning Content
Using our patented digitization process, we make high-resolution digital scans of all the documents.
Making It Accessible
Once the records have been digitally imaged, our indexing team transcribes the information into a format that makes it both searchable and easy to read.
Publishing the Records
After indexing is complete, we add the new records to Ancestry.ca.
Giving You Answers
If you’ve created or uploaded your family tree on Ancestry.ca, Ancestry Hints automatically searches key collections to find records for you. You can also search the new records directly and add any featuring your family to your family tree.