Heritage Resources for Genealogy & Family History

Canada First Nations ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and other agency records.

Indigenous Peoples of the United States Genealogy is a guide to beginning Native American research, available records types, BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) agencies and reservations, census, church, military records, schools, annuity, allotment, treaties, removal records, archives and libraries, cultural groups, and forts. Several approaches could be taken to locate information about a potential Native American ancestor.

Sources for indigenous family history research are to be found primarily in federal government records but also in provincial government and private records, many of which are incomplete. Itis often necessary to consult records from a wide range of sources. This guide will focus on
those which relate to British Columbia First Nations and are available at the BC Archives, with references to related resources found elsewhere.

People have lived in Canada for thousands of years – European settlement is a relatively recent phenomenon. Several sources will help you trace First Nations ancestors, as well as Métis – basically, descendants of liaisons between aboriginals and Europeans.

Among the billions of historical records housed at the National Archives throughout the country, researchers can find information relating to American Indians from as early as 1774 through the mid 1990s. The National Archives preserves and makes available the documents created by Federal agencies in the course of their daily business.

NICWA (National Indian Child Welfare Association) receives hundreds of inquiries each year from people seeking instruction on how to confirm their Native American heritage. This article is intended for those tracing their Native ancestry and for the service providers who may encounter ancestry questions from the communities they serve.

Conducting genealogical research into one's Indigenous ancestry can be particularly challenging due to the difficulty of locating and interpreting records, with different sources often contradicting one another and all reflecting the perspectives of their creators. Additionally, records that contain personal information may be subject to access and privacy legislation or to restrictions placed on them by donors. The focus of this page is on Indigenous peoples in British Columbia, though some information on other Indigenous groups is also provided.

This is a collection of links to Native American Online databases. Many of these links will be repeated on Native American tribal and topic pages. This resource from FamilySearch.org adds "Remember that your Native American ancestors are also represented in all the usual records made about the general populace: census, cemeteries, obituaries, military, and so on. This chart shows records that specialize in just Native Americans, but you should also search all the online records for the states in which they lived."