I looking for any information about my fourth great grand parents who immigrated around 1820 to the Cavin, Peterborough area of Ontario from Ireland and were in the Orange Lodge. their names are Joseph Burns and Ann Madill. Their son John Thomas Burns was born 1838 in Cavin died 1931 in Toronto. I don't know how many other children they had. As for John I don't know his wife's name or how many children they had.It surprised me that Peter didn't have any census record information for his family. Since the son John Thomas Burns was born ca 1838 in Ontario and died 1931 in Toronto Ontario, he should be found on the census records which were taken every 10 years - 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, and 1921 (the last publicly available census for Ontario). Many of these are free on Library and Archives Canada. Researchers can also find them on Ancestry, and some are available on FamilySearch.
So while I love a good challenging brick wall to break down, genealogists should always do basic research before asking for help. The family unit can usually be put together by getting those census records. In fact a 5 minute search of census records gave me John's wife's first name and one child.
Searching for Vital Records such as marriages and deaths after 1869 can also help determine family groups. Another 2 minutes and I found two marriage records giving the full name of John's wife and the names of two other children.
I realize that Peter might be new to Canadian research, specifically Ontario, so I hope this blog post will lead him in the right direction to get the answers to those questions he posed.
