QUEBEC-RESEARCH-L Archives

From: Sue Martinson <>
Subject: [Q-R] The PRO
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:13:37 -0700 (PDT)

 I recently asked the question if I should be researching early Canadian ancestors in the PRO.
 I haven't been in those records for a long time but I think I got in there through www.dogpile.com.
To answer my own question, yes, I should definitely check out the PRO for Canadian colonial records.
 
The PRO is the Public Records Office in England.  When I researched my ancestors in Barbadoes and Virginia,
I  checked the PRO for 1700 and 1800 records.  This was because many US colonial records were lost but
duplicates were filed in the PRO. Also, people who had property in Virginia and Barbadoes filed their wills in England
because they did not trust the US colonial government.  Or, they may have had family still in England who wanted to use
the English courts and not the colonial courts. There were apprenticeship records for people who were sent to the colonies to
serve as apprentices and shipping records.  
 
I'll bet the PRO has all the  Canadian land grants, assisted passage, etc. for the earliest years of Canadian settlement.
But I still wonder if that applies to Quebec. 
 
Now I'm thinking that the PRO may have records that apply to Irish research.  The English landowners of
Ireland may have filed records of assisted passage or poor law contributions in the PRO.
 
Sue in Florida

This thread:

• [Q-R] The PRO by Sue Martinson <>