Genealogists enjoy a great time in Montreal

Along with many others, from Canada, the US and further afield I spent the weekend in Montreal at Roots 2007 celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Quebec Family History Society. Aside from my own presentation I had no administrative commitments. That freedom allowed me to enjoy the presentations, see part of a movie being shot on the campus of McGill University and re-explore part of downtown.

One of the talks I particularly enjoyed included Lisa Dillon speaking on the University of Quebec at Montreal demographic project involving census records. They have a complete version of the 1881 census of Canada, improved over that at www.familysearch.org, available free after registration here. A part of the 1851 census (actually taken in 1852) is also available. Volunteers are being sought to extract more 1882 data online. Lisa mentioned that the LDS Church is intending to initiate projects to extract 1861 and 1871 Canadian census information.

Congratulations to QFHS President, Gary Schroder, and his team for organizing a most stimulating conference.