Ancestry.com Adds the United States-Canadian Border Crossings Collection

The following announcement was written by The Generations Network, owners of Ancestry.com:

PROVO, Utah, March 28 -- Ancestry.com, the world's largest online resource for family history, today announced the addition of the first and only online collection of more than 4 million names of individuals who crossed the U.S.-Canadian border between 1895 and 1956.  These historical records are the latest addition to Ancestry.com's Immigration Records Collection, which also includes more than 100 million names from the largest online collection of U.S. passenger lists, spanning 1820 to 1960.

An often-overlooked, but major U.S. immigration channel, the U.S.-Canadian border typically offered easier entrance to the United States than sea ports such as Ellis Island.  This new collection includes immigrants who first sailed to or settled in Canada before continuing to the United States as well as U.S. and Canadian citizens crossing the border.

"Everyone has their unique family story -- not all our immigrant ancestors came to America on board a ship," said Megan Smolenyak, Chief Family Historian for Ancestry.com.  "This collection represents a significant opportunity for people whose ancestors had Canadian roots or entered the country via Canada to trace their footsteps back in time."

Ancestry.com transcribed the names in the collection from more than 1 million documents, some containing passport-type photos of immigrants.  The records were culled from more than 100 land-ports of entry, from Washington to Maine. Among the busiest ports of entry on both sides of the border were Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Detroit, Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto.

The border crossings also contain a surprising number of nationalities with Russians, Italians and Chinese among the most common nationalities of people crossing the U.S.-Canadian border.

Among notable border crossers is Superman creator, Joseph Shuster.  Born in Toronto, Shuster moved to the United States as a child, eventually becoming a U.S. citizen.  His 1941 return to Canada, crossing at Buffalo, NY, is documented in the Ancestry.com collection.

About Ancestry.com

With 23,000 searchable databases and titles, Ancestry.com is the No. 1 online source for family history information.  Since its launch in 1997, Ancestry.com has been the premier resource for family history, simplifying genealogical research for millions of people by providing them with many easy-to-use tools and resources to build their own unique family trees. Ancestry.com is part of The Generations Network, Inc, a leading network of family-focused interactive properties, including MyFamily.com, Rootsweb.com, Genealogy.com, and Family Tree Maker.  In total, The Generations Network properties receive 9.6 million unique visitors worldwide and over 380 million page views a month (© comScore Media Metrix, February, 2007).

Comments

[Jinny]

Dick, I just found out that one of our oldest residents in Bend - Harrison Eastman - died this week at age
103. He was born 27 January, 1903 to Mary Lee and Arthur Randall Eastman of Fond du Lac, WI. 12th of
13 children. His grandfather was Julius Jonathan Eastman. Know this line?

Jinny

[Dick Eastman]

Thank you for the information.

He probably was not a close relative. A book printed in 1901 said there were more than 40,000 EASTMANs then, I am sure the number is several times that by now.

My own EASTMAN ancestors have been in the Bangor, Maine area since 1830 or so. I was born only a few miles from Bangor, within a few miles of where my father, grandfather and great-grandfather were born. We never moved much. (smile) I made up for lost time: I have lived in seven states and four countries.

- Dick Eastman

[Cathi]

Will the border crossing records be available to those with a US Records subscription or to those with a Canadian records subscription, or both?