Canada, New Brunswick, Provincial Returns of Births and Late Registrations - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This collection includes birth records from 1869-1905, and 1906 (only surnames beginning with letters A-Be); and also late registrations, 1810-1905.

Record Description
Registrations were kept on printed forms and then bound into volumes. The entries are arranged chronologically by date of registration.

Provincial vital registrations are considered a reliable source in family history research because they contain a record of an event usually registered very near the time the event occurred. Especially with death registration, the reliability depends on the accuracy of the informant.

Record Content
Important genealogical information found in most New Brunswick civil births:


 * Name of child and place of birth
 * Name of Father and occupation
 * Maiden name of Mother

Important genealogical information found in most New Brunswick civil births, late registrations:


 * Name of child
 * Place of Birth
 * Name of Father
 * Name of Mother
 * Occupation of Father
 * Some of these records contain an explanation of the circumstances of the birth and why it was late

How to Use the Records
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Use the locator information in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the birth records. Compare the information in the birth record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination. Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur. When you have located your ancestor’s birth 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.

For example:


 * Use the birth date 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 father’s occupation can lead you to other types of records such as employment or military records.
 * The parents' birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.

It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile birth entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the birth records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby.

Keep in mind:


 * The information in birth records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.

Record History
New Brunswick is one of the four original provinces of Canada. It entered into the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867. Following the passing of the Vital Statistics Act of 1887, registrations of birth were collected and kept by the provincial government. Also, the government collected delayed registrations dating back to 1801.

Births were recorded in New Brunswick to better serve public health needs, and to provide demographic and personal identification.

Related Websites
Canada New Brunswick Archives

Related Wiki Articles
New Brunswick Genealogy

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. 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.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the Wiki Article: Help:How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection

 * "New Brunswick, Provincial Returns of Birth and Late Registrations, 1810-1906." index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 31 March 2011. entry for Alice Maud Peterson, born 27 August 1880; citing Birth Records, FHL microfilm 1,943,967; New Brunswick, Vital Statistics Branch, Canada.
 * "New Brunswick, Provincincal Returns of Birth and Late Registrations, 1810-1906." index and images. FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 31 March 2011. citing Birth Records, FHL microfilm 1,943,962; Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Sources of Information for This Collection:
“New Brunswick Provincial Returns of Births and Late Registrations 1810-1906,” index and images, (https://www.familysearch.org) from New Brunswick. Vital Statistics Branch. " New Brunswick provincial returns of births, 1869-1905, 1906 (A-Be); late registrations, 1810-1905; indexes to late registrations, 1900-1904," Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick. FHL microfilm, 142 reels. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.