Canada, New Brunswick Provincial Marriages - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada New Brunswick

What is in this Collection?
This article is about two collections of New Brunswick marriage records.

When complete, the collections will contain marriage records from New Brunswick, including:


 * Marriage Registers — 1789-1889
 * Marriage Certificates — 1887-1950
 * Delayed Registration of Marriages — 1920-1945
 * Returns of Marriages — 1887-1950

Records are written in English.

The provincial government of New Brunswick began recording births, marriages, and deaths in 1888. For 1810 to 1887 records, there is a "Late Registration" compilation which is indexed. It is located at the Provincial Archives. These records were registered after 1888.

Vital records are the responsibility of the provinces except for the registration of First Nations individuals (Native Canadians), which is a federal responsibility. In some provinces, authorities began registering births, marriages, and deaths since the 1860s. Complete registration in all the provinces and territories was achieved in the 1920s. After this date, almost all individuals who lived in Canada are recorded.

The information recorded in civil records of vital registration varied over time. Later records generally give more complete information. Vital records are usually written in English or French, but content varies by time period and province. For example, before 1907 in Ontario, parents’ names were not usually on death certificates, but they are after that date.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Records generally contain the following information:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Groom's full name
 * Groom's age, marital status, occupation and residence
 * Groom's place of birth
 * Groom's religious denomination
 * Groom's literacy
 * Name of groom's father's and birth place
 * Maiden name of groom's mother and birth place
 * Bride's full name
 * Bride's age, marital status, occupation and residence
 * Bride's place of birth
 * Bride's religious denomination
 * Bride's literacy
 * Name of bride's father and birth place
 * Maiden name of bride's mother and birth place
 * Names of witnesses

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate year of marriage.
 * The place where the marriage occurred.
 * The name of the intended spouse.

See Images and Search by Name, in the New Brunswick Provincial Marriages 1789-1950 collection: by visiting the Collection Page. This collection has an index and images. To search, fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This will return a list of possible matches. The images are listed by film number and identifying data is more difficult without using the index.

See Images, in the New Brunswick Provincial Returns of Marriages and Late Registrations, 1920-1950 by visiting the Browse Page. Once you've reached the browse page, follow these instructions to get to the images: ⇒Select the appropriate "Record Type" category, ⇒Select the appropriate "Year or Year Range" category ⇒Select the appropriate "Certificate Range" category, which will take you to the images.

As you are searching, it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, as well as some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. 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.

I Found Who I was Looking for, Now What?

 * Find information about the parents and where they were born.
 * Find the maiden name of the bride and her parents.
 * Use this information to look through the Canadian Census collections. That information could help you find out the parents approximate birth date, their birth places, and their children.
 * County marriage records written before 1888 can be found at the Provincial Archives for several counties.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, Now What?

 * Expand your search of marriage records to include family members, such as when and where children were born, records of brothers and sisters and possible relatives found in the area where your ancestor lived. This can help narrow down the place to search in other records.
 * See what records exist in the family, such as Bibles, letters, obituary clippings, or records from previous research by yourself or a family member
 * If you believe a marriage took place but cannot find a record of the marriage, search records of intent to marry.
 * Your ancestor might have lived in a different place from where you were looking for the birth, marriage, or death.
 * Your ancestor may have used a nickname or a different surname, or the registrar spelled the name wrong. See Name Variations in Canadian Indexes and Records.
 * Your ancestor might have lived at a slightly different time from the years you were looking.
 * For more information on how to use this record, go to Canada Vital Records.

Citing 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

Record citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation

Collection Citation Record citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation