New Brunswick Birth, Marriage, and Death Records - International Institute

New Brunswick History
When the mainland of Nova Scotia was ceded to Britain in 1713, France retained the area north of the isthmus, where Acadians had settled along the rivers and built forts to protect themselves. These forts were taken by the British in 1755 and the Acadians were expelled although some returned in 1786 and received land at that time.

New Englanders and British immigrants, as well as men from the disbanded regiments, arrived shortly after 1755. The arrival of the Loyalists in 1784 augmented the population and in 1784 the province of New Brunswick was created. In 1867 New Brunswick was one of the founding provinces of the Dominion of Canada with Confederation.

When New Brunswick was established in 1784 it was divided into eight counties. As time progressed and the population expanded the original counties were divided and new counties were set up. The final total was 15 and these counties are subdivided into civil parishes similar to American townships: Madawaska; Restigouche; Gloucester; Northumberland; Kent; Sunbury; Westmorland; Albert; Queens; Kings; St. John; Charlotte; York; Carleton; Victoria.

Provincial Archives
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick has County Guides available in PDF format on their website. This assumes you know in which county your ancestors lived. They show the material which is microfilmed, with reel numbers for most items—marriage, church, probate court, land, and other records—and therefore available for borrowing on inter-institutional loan. You may order three films per request, through a public library near you which has a microfilm reader. As well, digital images of the records are being added to the database quickly. For example, in the month of December 2012 alone over 10,300 images were added.

On their website is a federated database which searches 30 individual databases simultaneously (January 2013). Individual databases are also available to be searched. Vital Statistics indexes from Government Records (RS141) are available as follows: birth records 1800-1917; marriage records 1847-1962; death records 1885-1962 (as of January 2013).

Archives staff can make copies of other, non-filmed material, for a specific written request but their time is limited in answering general inquiries. Precise questions have the best chance of being answered. Where possible, they will check indexed sources to give you some guidance but because of the volume of inquiries, neither extensive research nor extensive photocopying can be done.

They also offer a number of specific genealogical publications that can be ordered directly from their website.

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick 23 Dineen Drive, UNB Campus Fredericton, New Brunswick Mailing Address: P.O. Box 6000 Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5H1 Telephone: 506-453-2122

Government Vital Records
For vital statistics records later than the cut-off dates above, you must contact the following or visit their website:

Service New Brunswick P.O. Box 1998 Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5G4 Telephone: 506-453-2385

The fee is $15 for a search of a three-year period and $10.00 for any additional periods of three years to be searched; a statement of facts will be issued if data is found.

If you decide to hire someone, researchers available for New Brunswick records as well as books available from the society and individual publishers are included in the New Brunswick Genealogical Society’s information sheet, or at the website of the Genealogical Institute of the Maritimes.

New Brunswick Genealogical Society P.O. Box 3235 Station B Fredericton, New Brunswick E3A 5G9

New Brunswick Museum Archives and Research Library 277 Douglas Avenue Saint John, New Brunswick E2K 1E5 Telephone: 506-643-2322 Toll free: 1-888-268-9595

Anglican Diocese of Fredericton
This collection is in the possession of the Diocese of Fredericton but has been located in the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick since 1988. You will find documents from the 1600s to 1994 but the dates most predominant will be from 1800 to 1950. The Diocesan Archivist acts as liaison between the two groups. The collection does not circulate. No charge is made for searches but donations to PANB are gladly accepted.

An excellent three-part description of this collection has been written by Harvey Malmberg, Diocesan Archivist, and Twila Buttimer of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Briefly, the organization of the Diocesan Archives reflects the organization of the Diocese―that is, records created by any one organization (Parish, Deanery, Bishop, etc) are kept together as a unit and then the records within that unit are arranged and described. Records of the Parishes, which account for approximately half of the collection, are first arranged alphabetically by the name of the Parish and within each parish the records are organized under pre-determined headings, such as vestry records, parish registers, correspondence, etc. At PANB all of the Anglican records that were transferred from the previous archives are held together under Manuscript Collection 223 (i.e. MC223). However, some Anglican records arrived at the archives as part of other collections and therefore are filed in the other collections. An example might include items such as historical articles on a particular church or family histories contained in a Historical Society Collection.

For more information about the Anglican diocese holdings, contact:

Twila Buttimer, Archivist c/o Provincial Archives of New Brunswick P.O. Box 6000 Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5H1 Telephone: 506-453-2637 Email [mailto:twila.buttimer@gnb.ca twila.buttimer@gnb.ca]

Searchable Databases Related to Anglican Records A searchable database of baptisms, burials and marriages for Gagetown Parish of the Anglican Church, Queens County, New Brunswick is available. A word of caution: this has been transcribed from a transcription so there may be errors. Researchers are advised to use this only as a finding aid and to seek out the original records.

Anglican Church of Canada General Synod Archives 80 Hayden Street Toronto, Ontario M4Y 3G2 Telephone: 416-924-9192

Anglican Diocese of Fredericton Archives Frank Morehouse 33 Alban St. New Maryland, New Brunswick E3C 1E4 Telephone: 506-459- 3637

United Church Records
The United Church of Canada Archives holds the local church records of the United Church and its uniting denominations (Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian—1925 union; and Evangelical United Brethren joined in 1968). The records of the churches which did not join at union but remained part of the continuing Presbyterian Church in Canada after 1925, are held at:

Presbyterian Church in Canada Archives and Records Office 50 Wynford Drive Toronto, Ontario M3C 1J7 Telephone: (416) 441-1111

Maritime Conference Archives, United Church of Canada 21 Wright Street Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 4P8 Telephone: 506-536-1334 ext. 208

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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