Documents created as people moved across the Canada-US border can provide a wealth of information to researchers, but finding those documents can be tricky. Knowing something about the border history helps one understand the records.

The Canada-US border of western North America was determined to be the 49th parallel by the Oregon treaty of 1846 between Britain and the United States. However, the westward advance of US settlers and no comparable increase in population in western Canada, meant the border line needed to be clarified on the ground. The Canadian government was anxious to lay formal claim to the vast, relatively unoccupied area, in order to prevent the US from annexing it. The North America Boundary Commission surveyed and marked the boundary between 1872 and 1876.

Simultaneously, the westward trek of the NWMP in 1874 established a Canadian police presence (as they ousted the American whiskey traders they came across) and prepared the way for settlers in western Canada, while the Canadian Pacific Railway, constructed between 1881 and 1885, provided the means to move settlers in large numbers onto the prairies.

As you are researching your family history, you may find that somewhere along the line your ancestors crossed the border. Depending on the timeframe, this created records with details about your family. Forms used vary through time and by government, so there is quite a range of information available.

Ancestry.ca has indexes to border crossing records and covers movement in both directions over the border, spanning from 1895 – 1956 for entry into the US, and from 1908 – 1935 for entry into Canada. They also provide access to scanned original documents. Whether a record is available or not has a lot to do with the specific location and date of crossing.

For example, my ancestors immigrated to Saskatchewan in 1902 from the US. Unfortunately, this predates the Canadian border documents. Some ancestors came on horseback and some came by train with all their settlers’ effects. Sadly, there are no passenger lists for trains (unlike the passenger lists that were created for ocean crossings), so I have no formal record of my family’s arrival in Canada.

Conversely, a different family that I was researching this month, crossed into the US in 1928 at Detroit and the records I found were treasures that contained various details of their lives: full names, signatures, ages, marital status, occupations, birthplaces, citizenships, ethnicities, languages spoken, former residences, destinations, past entries into the US, reasons for traveling, who they were traveling with and who paid for the trip. As well, the details of their original arrival in North America decades earlier (port of landing, date and ship) were also recorded, allowing cross-referencing of documents. Additionally, physical details of each individual such as height, complexion, hair and eye colour and even a photo were included there. A researcher really couldn’t ask for more!

So, remember to check for border crossings when doing your family history research. Even a holiday across the border may have generated a document that contains many exciting details. Also, be sure to check the limitations of whatever index source you are using before paying access fees, since the period you are interested in may not be covered.

A great educational (and humourous) short video on the Canada-US border can be found here.

This article was originally printed in the Bergen News and is being reprinted with permission.