This excellent website is devoted to descendants of early explorers, fur traders and settlers who first inhabited the great Northwest Territory or Rupert’s Land, and more particularly the region of the Red River of the North. Your host, Gary Still, was born in 1939 in Selkirk, MB, and raised in the adjoining community known as Mapleton or Old England.
“My hobby of genealogy began with me tracing my own ancestors, but soon grew to include many of my friends and neighbours. Over the period of almost half a century I gradually amassed a large database of information about the ancestry of virtually everyone I knew”.
The website has an Ancestor Index with a link (red underlined) to Family Pages featuring individual families (or topics) with links to other related families or topics wherever possible.
http://www.redriverancestry.ca
I have Red River Ancestry in depth on my father’s side dating back to James Curtis Bird of the HBC whose descendants have intermarried with many of the Red River families.I have done family research so have information of my own that could help expand the website.
I would like to donate to this website but would need some advice about what Family Page I would possibly choose for development .
I believe I am a direct descendant of James Pruden. I need help finding out!
Please email your query to our MGS Research Committee at research@mbgenealogy.com.
They will try to help you.
Looking for ancestors of Joseph or James st. Luke could use any help I could get. I have a record of one ancestor a pvt Joseph st. Luke born in Selkirk Manitoba, died serving In the Union Army April 18 1865 Thankyou
Thank you for your inquiry. Our Research Administrator may be able to help you further. I recommend you send him an email at Research@mbgenealogy.com
I find the website redriverancestry has a Scottish bias, and some anti Metis sentiment. Saying things like “In true Scottish courage and determination, they started over”, and elsewhere on the site calling the Battle of Seven Oaks the “massacre” of seven oaks, and saying the Metis engaged in “senseless killings”. As a Metis person, I find this quite offensive, and would question how some of the information on here is portrayed, as well advise the reader to be cognizant of the slants the author appears to take.
For the website Red River Ancestry .CA unfortunately the original owner of the site has passed on. His children posted of his passing back in April of 2018 it is listed at the bottom of the home page for the site. So not sure if there is anyone still contributing to the site any longer. I do know his family is willing to keep it running though. Just some information and hopefully if no one has gotten answers they can understand why.
Thank you for your update Teresa. I became aware of these circumstances a short while ago. Their web site remains available for now, although has not been updated for some time. Still, useful information is available for those researching their Scottish heritage.
How do I prove metis ancestry? My family has a book written about them entitled, The Lilley Family History A Manitoba Metis Genealogy by Mary Conway. My name is on page 89 of the book.
The Centre du Patrimoine (St. Boniface Heritage Centre) at 340 Provencher Blvd. Winnipeg is the best organization to help you research your Métis heritage. For information see their website https://shsb.mb.ca/en/genealogy
or phone 204-233-4888.
The St Boniface Centre is only as good as existing paper trails. Our maternal lineage ran out for lack of baptismal records either lost during dangerous trips by canoe from mission to mission or the custom of blurring the facts for Northwest Company owners whose relatives were rather less than honourable gentlemen, to put it tactfully.
For a fee, they used the information we supplied and left off at the brick wall we encountered and needed information on.
Yes. This is true not just in Manitoba’s history but all over the world—some documents survive, other documents don’t. In addition, some families never reported children who died in infancy—I have that in my family. But sometimes, when digging for one thing, you come across something else that sheds light on our ancestor’s story. We are modern day detectives on a cold case…..
I’m trying, without success, to track the mother of Mary Leland (born 1836, Red River Settlements), Jane McDougall (born 1818) and particularly the names of her parents. Jane was married to Richard Leland (born 1809). Daughter Mary married Joseph Monkman Jr. in 1860. Any leads greatly appreciated . . .
I would start here: https://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php Good luck.
Hi William,
The MGS Store has a number of publications indexing the newspapers birth, marriage and death records of the Red River Settlements. https://mani.mbgenealogy.com/store/BookInfo.php?
The Legislative Library at the Archives of Manitoba might also be helpful. https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/
Hi, I hope this page is still up. I need help with genealogy, I have most information.
Hi Richard,
Yes, Red River Ancestry (dot) ca is still a valid website url. Our research team may be able to help you. research@mbgenealogy.com
Angela