Canada, New Brunswick Provincial Deaths - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection covers the deaths registered from 1815 to 1938.

Registration of deaths began in 1887 in order to keep a written record of the population for use by the government.

The death registrations are recorded on individual, printed forms and consist of completed statements regarding deaths in New Brunswick. These statements were submitted to district registrars and registered by the registrar or director of Vital Statistics.

New Brunswick is one of the four original provinces of Canada. The province entered into the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867. Following the passing of the Vital Statistics Act of 1887, registrations of death were collected and kept by the provincial government. In this collection, there are a number of records which date from before the passing of the act. The oldest of these dates is 1815.

Death registrations are the best source of death information in New Brunswick beginning in 1815.

The certificate numbers for the death returns are printed numbers, and some pages include handwritten numbers. Death dates are generally in chronological order in the county registers. The years listed are death years and not registration years.

Record Content


Death records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of death
 * Name and residence of deceased
 * Age of deceased in years, months and days
 * Gender, race, marital status and occupation of deceased
 * Date and place of birth of deceased
 * Name and birth place of father
 * Maiden name and birth place of mother
 * Cause of death
 * Spouse, if married
 * Name of informant and their relationship to deceased
 * Burial information

How to Use the Records
To begin your search in this collection, it would be helpful if you knew the following information:


 * Name of ancestor
 * Approximate year and place of death
 * Name of parish/town

When searching: Look at the images one by one, comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images to your ancestors to make this determination. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

For tips about searching online collections, see FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

Search the Collection
For searching the New Brunswick, Provincial Returns of Deaths, 1815-1919 collection:

To search the collection images, you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "Year" category ⇒Select the appropriate "Beginning Name - Ending Name" category, which takes you to the images.

For searching the New Brunswick, Death Certificates, 1920-1934 collection:

To search the collection images, you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "County/City" ⇒ Select the appropriate "Year Range" ⇒Select the appropriate "Parish/Town," which will take you to the images.

For searching the New Brunswick, Death Certificates, 1935-1938 collection:

To search the collection images, you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "Year" category ⇒Select the appropriate "Certificate Number Range" category, which takes you to the images.

For searching the New Brunswick Provincial Deaths, 1815-1938 collection:

This collection is an index. To search, fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This will return a list of possible matches.

Whether you search by images or through the index, compare the records to the information you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

Using the Information
When you have found the record that you are looking for, the following will help you further your research:


 * Use the age to calculate the year of birth, then search for a birth record of your ancestor.
 * Search for a birth record of the deceased's father as well as the mother
 * Search for a marriage date for the spouse of your ancestor if they were married at the time of their death.
 * Search for a marriage record of the father and mother.

Related Websites

 * New Brunswick Provincial Archives
 * Online Death Indexes Records for Canada
 * Canada History Links
 * Canada Historic Maps

Related Wiki Articles

 * New Brunswick
 * New Brunswick Genealogy
 * New Brunswick Vital Records
 * Name Variations in Canadian Indexes and Records

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection Citation:

New Brunswick, Provincial Returns of Deaths, 1815-1919

Image Citation:

New Brunswick, Death Certificates 1920-1934

Image Citation:

New Brunswick, Death Certificates 1935-1938

Image Citation:

New Brunswick Provincial Deaths, 1815-1938

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: