© 2002-07 AFHS
18 Jul 2002
Border Crossings (US/Canada)
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1 March 1999 IntroductionI am pleased to share with you what I've learned on this topic. First, I'd like to acknowledge Mr. Kenneth Aitkin who was a guest speaker at the Wildrose Seminar in October 1997. I learned a lot from him by attending his session. He has extensive background information and historical understanding of the migration and settlement patterns into western Canada. The Seminar pamphlet said Mr. Aitken was the Director of the Family History Center (FHC) in Regina. He is also the Prairie History Librarian with the Regina Public Library, is a certified genealogical researcher and instructor, and lectures and writes on such matters. If he is invited to come again ... I'll be there! Now, too, a big thanks to Roy Strickland, also a staff member at our Family History Center who found the records on our computers from the LDS Family History Library Catalogue (FHLC, i.e., Salt Lake's holdings). The computer organization of records available through the FHLC was a real stumbling block for me when I first began to investigate border crossings. The Lethbridge staff didn't know how to access the records from Salt Lake City on the computer -- after all, they have a huge collection of border crossing films (400). Nor could anyone on my shift at the FHC in Calgary do it. We tried. Roy spent considerable time at the FHC trying to bring the records up and he finally succeeded. These border crossing resources may open another area of research to you that you might not have considered or used yet. Two CollectionsThere are two collections, of course, from Canadian and American ledgers. Both sets of records are primarily taken at land ports (Coutts, Windsor, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Cornwall, Emerson, Sweetgrass, Sarnia, Kingston and some from parts that are now "extinct", e.g. Pinhorn, Alberta and Twin Lakes, Alberta. There are some sea port records as well (Nanaimo, Victoria, Yarmouth, and Ocean Falls). It's probably a good guess that these records are not listings of passengers on overseas voyages.The Public Archives of Canada and the United States Department of Immigration and Naturalization have microfilmed records of these crossings. For United States into Canada movement, the years covered are only from 1908-18. The originals are held in Ottawa at the National Archives and what you see on the film are "originals". I'll discuss these records in more detail shortly. For movement from Canada into the United States, records were kept from 1895-1954. I'll discuss these records more fully too. Canadian RecordsFinding AidsThe Canadian records which hold both admissions and rejections are available on microfilm and are at the Main Calgary Public Library downtown on the 4th floor. There is a binder there (i.e., a finding aid) and it is easy to use. It has the ports of entry listed and some maps. 
There are 46 reels. Remember the crossings into Canada were recorded only between 1908-1918. The starting years aren't constant, however, as you'll see. In this finding aid, the ports are first listed geographically from West to East. The first of 12 pages are reproduced here.
CoverageIf your ancestors came into Canada from the United States prior to 1908, as mine did, you are out of luck. No records exist. As Ken Aitken said, "Not even any little bits" My maternal great grandparents arrived in the Waterton (Alberta) area by horse and wagon from Idaho in 1902. My grandfather, the youngest of their children, was seven. My paternal grandparents arrived in 1904. Did they come up from North Dakota as many Scandinavian families did to settle the Claresholm/Stavely area? No record exists. It is estimated that over 1.25 million people crossed into Canada to the Prairie Provinces alone; the peak years being from 1896-1910 (Source: Ken Aitken). But, It wasn't until 1908 that the Canadian government thought to obtain immigration statistics and set up its ledgers. Alternative Sources of InformationNow if you have immigrant ancestors who came up from the United States ...
Define your GeographyIn this timeframe, there were three Alberta ports of entry:
See also (West to East):
Most settlers entered the Prairies through Manitoba and Saskatchewan ports as that is where the big railway terminals were. For North Portal, Saskatchewan there are seven reels. For Emerson, Manitoba there are seven reels. You will remember that little or no farmland was left in Manitoba at this time - so families likely moved West into Saskatchewan, Alberta or on to British Columbia over Canadian railways. Kenneth Aitken had the names of two railroad atlases, one of which is at the downtown library:
His session at the Wildrose seminar included an extensive bibliography from which one could gain historical background information and understanding. Summarized Points
To summarize Canadian records on border crossings
from USA into Canada:
Examining the InformationI have the information on the admissions transparency. When you're looking at these forms downtown, they are copies of the original ledgers. Some of the record takers were exact; others casual. It is a thrill to find in the "where from" column: Hot Springs, South Dakota; Boise, Idaho; Havre, Montana; Denver, Colorado. Or, in the "Where to" column: Maple Creek, Saskatchewan; Coronation, Alberta; Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Campion, Carmangay, Tisdale. You can review a sample "rejections" page. United States Records1060 reels exist of persons crossing from Canada into the United States through land ports during the years 1895-1954. All of these films can be ordered via any FHC from the Salt Lake Center. Or, you can view 400 of them if you take a trip to the Lethbridge FHC, or you can view our collection of six, at the Calgary FHC. You'll remember that Roy was able to access Salt Lake's holdings on the computer at the Calgary FHC. Roy went into Canadian Records with cross-referencing in mind he reduced the search time - which was considerable as it was. Under the topic of Canada, then, there were 277 headings as opposed to 824 if you went into the catalogue under USA. Now, looking down that list of 277 you'll come to Emigration and Immigration for which there are 154 records (in the United States there would have been 751 records to search out under Emigration and Immigration). Following are Roy's procedures for your use:
On record #136, St. Alban's District Manifest records is an umbrella term, for all border crossing registers from "foreign contiguous territory". Now on record #137, St. Albans was strictly St.Albans, Vermont. And, the Calgary FHC has that collection of six reels on indefinite loan. During the depression, government clerks were involved in a make-work project, transcribing onto individual cards, double-sided, from the original manifests, the names and other details of "aliens" crossing into the United States from Canada. The original ledgers were destroyed.
There is a book at the FHC which gives you the numerical value for each letter or letter combination - or you can derive the Soundex code using it. Or, you can use an online utility. For my maternal line, Taylor, there are two reels holding Soundex T-460. On this reel are variant spellings of Taylor, as well as Towler, Tyler, Tuller and more, as you'll see when you scroll through the films. that's why I said Soundex is sort of alphabetical.  Some
of the record cards are arranged strictly alphabetically. Some are
arranged in time frames, some by crossing points, or combinations.
When I go to Salt Lake City again - I'll do some "sampling" As I said, Lethbridge has 400 reels on Record #136. If you have extensive research or several surnames you can sure save a lot of money than if you ordered them from Salt Lake City through the FHC here. The Lethbridge reels are all "Soundexed" and span 1895-1924 only. If you do go to Lethbridge, the FHC is not located at the address listed in their phone book. They moved just before Christmas and are near to the Lethbridge Regional Hospital. The LDS Church is at 1912 - 10 Avenue South. Okay. Just a little review.
I have made transparencies of some of the record cards I found on reels in Lethbridge
I want you to know that it was through an examination of these border crossings on reels in Lethbridge that I found my great grandparents, newly married, on the 1870 census of Montana. He was born in Texas 1848. She was born in Illinois 1852. It raises the question: "How and where did they ever meet?" Because David Elias Taylor said he was going to visit his uncle in Ruby, Montana and both he and his brother stated they were born in Virginia City, I was led to examine Montana records. I also learned that my great grandfather's brother (the Uncle William mentioned on the border crossing) married my great grandmother's younger sister (Charity Hinch). I hope I've presented border crossings in a way that shows you some possibilities. Thank you and this has been fun. Aitken's Bibliography
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