Canada, Prince Edward Island Marriage Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada Prince Edward Island

What is in this Collection?
This collection contains images to marriage records, as well as an index. It covers records from 1832 to 1888.

Dates in these indexes correspond to dates of marriages, and marriage records are arranged by date of registration, so the dates of the indexes and the marriage records do not always match. The handwritten indexes are also alphabetized by first letter of the surname only. In some indexes, the "Mc" and "Mac" names are indexed by the first letter after "Mc" or "Mac".

The records include marriage records that have been taken from newspapers, church records and other sources. The information is handwritten on a printed form. There are two to three records per page.

Marriages took place in churches and before Justices of the Peace. The government of Prince Edward Island did not make the recording of marriages mandatory until 1886. This collection was created from newspapers, church records, and other sources. The information given is limited and the source of the information is not always clear or provided. The card index was prepared by the Prince Edward Island Division of Vital Statistics.

These records were created to provide information on the marriages that took place in Prince Edward Island before the recording of marriages became mandatory in 1886.

These records are generally reliable. As they are a compilation of records from other sources transcription errors may exist.

For the marriage index currently published in this collection, select the Browse.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Marital status of groom
 * Marital status of bride
 * Occupation
 * Names of witnesses
 * Name of officiant at ceremony

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

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what 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.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search this collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse Images" on the initial search page ⇒Select the appropriate “Record Type and Years” which will take you to the images.

Whether using the index or the browse, you may need to look at several records and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s marriage record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct
 * Remember, the information in marriage records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created later.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one marriage record to another record.

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

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Search for the marriage record of the marriage partner if known.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.

Citing This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image. Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: