Baptist Church in Canada

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Historical Background
The Baptist denomination has its roots in the Anabaptist movement which placed emphasis on a personal profession of faith by adults or persons at an age of discretion. Infant baptism was not practiced. The movement had a strong following in the United States and moved to Canada at an early period (before the War of 1812). Baptist conventions in Atlantic Canada, and Ontario and Québec acted as umbrella organizations, but each congregation had power over its own affairs. Record keeping was never a strong point, except perhaps for minutes and other business records.

There were a great many kinds of Baptists and theological differences throughout the nineteenth century, often drifting across the border from the United States. However, it is unlikely that there was more than one Baptist church in most towns; congregations might change their organizational affiliation and individuals might leave a church over doctrinal differences but they may not have had an alternative place to worship. The large schism in Canadian Baptist history occurred in 1929 when many churches left the Convention of Ontario and Québec and formed the Fellowship Baptist organization.

Information Found in the Records
To effectively use church records, become familiar with their content. Click on these links to learn about a specific record type:

Look for online records.
'''Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, and MyHeritage.com can be searched free of charge at your local family history center or the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.


 * 1621-1968 - Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968, index and images ($). Can be used free-of-charge at a Family History Center.
 * 1642-1967 -, digitized, browsable index.
 * 1763-1967 -, images only.


 * 1661-1959 - Index only.
 * 1661-1949 - Index only.
 * 1664-1955 - Index only.


 * Canadiana Online
 * Canadian National Digital Heritage Index (CNDHI)

Look for digital copies of church records listed in the FamilySearch Catalog.

 * The Family History Library (FHL) has microfilmed and/or digitized records for churches in the Canada.
 * Online church records can be listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under the province or a town.
 * If you find a record that has not yet been digitized, see How do I request that a microfilm be digitized?
 * Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a Family History Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations.
 * To find records:
 * a. Click on the records of Canada.
 * b. Click on Places within Canada and a list of provinces will appear.
 * c. Click on your province.
 * d. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Or click on Places within Canada, [PROVINCE] and a list of towns will appear.
 * f. Click on your town if it appears, or the location which you believe was the parish which served your town or village.
 * g. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * h. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the records.

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Consult available finding aids.
These aids generally provide lists of records that are known to exist and information on their location.

Correspond with or visit the actual churches.
Some records are still held in the local churches. Contact the current minister to find out what records are still available.
 * Make an appointment to look at the records. Or ask the minister of the church to make a copy of the record for you.
 * To find church staff available, you might have to visit on Sunday.
 * Ask for small searches at a time, such as one birth record or a specific marriage. Never ask for "everything on a family or surname".
 * A donation ($25-$40) for their time and effort to help you would be appropriate.
 * If the church has a website, you may be able to e-mail a message.
 * See the Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters.

Addresses
There are numerous Baptist umbrella organizations. First try using Google to locate Baptist churches in a specific town or by a specific name. The listings below are highly incomplete.
 * Canadian Church Directory
 * KJV Fundamental.org Directory
 * Independent Baptist Friends Directory
 * International Reformed Baptist Church Directory
 * Reformed Baptist Church Directory

Check the church records collections in archives and libraries.
Some church records have been deposited for preservation in government archives or in libraries. Watch for links to digitized, online records offered by the archives. Some archives provide research services for a fee. For others, if you cannot visit in person, you might hire a researcher.

Canadian Baptist Archives McMaster Divinity College 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1 Canada Telephone: (905) 525-9140 ext. 23511 E-mail: divinity@mcmaster.ca
 * Several hundred Baptist congregations have deposited their original records in the Archives, which also contains the official records of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, Union d’Eglises Baptist Francaises au Canada, and other organizations. Special collections include documents for the Plymouth Brethren, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and British Christianity.
 * Genealogical Research Policy: Genealogical researchers have found the Canadian Baptist Archives (CBA) to be of assistance in accessing important information about family members. Genealogical researchers are always welcome to come and use the archives in person at no cost. Before researchers arrive at the archives, the archivist can provide upon request a list of material that may be relevant to their research. All other information relating to fees and services can be found on the Fees Information web page. Starting September 1, 2011, due to our limited hours of operation, the CBA will no longer perform genealogical research for patrons. Patrons that cannot come to the archives in person will need to hire a professional researcher to do this work for them.

Esther Clark Wright Archives Vaughan Memorial Library Acadia University P.O. Box 4 Wolfville Nova Scotia B4P 2R6 Canada Telephone: (902) 585-1011 Email: archives@acadiau.ca Visiting Address: Kirkconnell Reading Room, Level B1, Vaughan Memorial Library, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
 * Atlantic Baptist Archives
 * Search
 * Baptist Digital Collections

Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center Augustana College 639 38th Street Rock Island, Illinois, 61201 Toll-free phone:800-798-8100 Phone: 309-794-7000
 * Swedish-Canadian Church Records
 * Visiting for Genealogy Research
 * Genealogy Research Services

Library and Archives Canada 395 Wellington Street Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Service Points Outside Ottawa

Telephone: 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 (toll-free in Canada and the United States) TTY: 613-992-6969 or 1-866-299-1699 (toll-free in Canada) Fax: 613-995-6274 Library and Archives Canada holds only a small collection of parish registers, none of which are comprehensive for any region. Most are transcripts rather than originals, available on microfilm and listed in our Checklist of Parish Registers (ISBN 0660538636). Due to the heavy volume of inquiries we receive, we are unable to conduct searches in parish registers.
 * Genealogy and Family History
 * Aurora: Library Search
 * Voilà: Library Search
 * Archives Search Select "Textual material" to limit your search. Keywords: name of place or religious denomination with "church records," "registres de paroisses," "registers of births," "marriage records," "registers of marriages," "death registers," "burials," "baptisms," "baptêmes," "mariages," "sépultures".

Canadian Council of Archives / Conseil Canadien des archives 130 Albert Street, Suite 1201 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4 Canada Toll free 1-866-254-1403 Fax (613) 565-5445 Email: info@archivescanada.ca
 * ArchivesCanada.ca Archive Search You can search the holdings of more than 800 archives across Canada through this portal, formerly known as CAIN (Canadian Archival Information Network).

In 2018, CRKN merged with Canadiana.org, an organization dedicated to the preservation and access of Canada’s documentary heritage since 1978.

Canadian Research Knowledge Network 411 - 11 Holland Avenue Ottawa, ON Canada K1Y 4S1 Phone:(613)907.-7040
 * Canadiana Online
 * Canadian National Digital Heritage Index (CNDHI)

Correspond with genealogical or historical societies.
Some church records have been given to historical societies. Also, historical societies may be able to tell you where the records are being held. To find a society near you, consult these lists:
 * Society Hill List of Canada Societies

Contact local libraries.
Churches sometimes donate their records to local libraries. Call or write to the libraries in the close vicinity of the church your ancestors might have attended and the towns where they resided.


 * Libraries in Canada

Look for published books with transcripts of church records.
Many early records, especially from the 1600's and 1700's, have been transcribed and published in books. These books can be digitized and available online. Check these online digital libraries:

Try different keywords in various combinations:the name of the town, the name of the specific church, the denomination, "church records", and "[PROVINCE] church records".


 * Google Books
 * Internet Archive
 * Digital Public Library of America
 * HathiTrust Digital Library
 * FamilySearch Digital Library

Consult the PERSI index for records published in journals.

 * PERSI is the Periodical Source Index and is available at FindMyPast.com:PERSI., ($). It can be searched for free at any Family History Center. PERSI is an index to family and local history periodicals from 1847 to the present. Many of these periodicals publish church records. If you locate an index entry for a church, you will then need to find the periodical. Use the WorldCat.org search engine to find a library near you that carries the periodical. Library reference desks can be contacted to request a copy of articles, or you may need to hire a researcher.

Carefully compare any record you find to known facts about the ancestor
You will possibly find many different people with the same name as your ancestor, especially when a family stayed in a locality for several generations, and several children were named after the grandparents or aunts and uncles. Be prepared to find the correct church records by organizing in advance as many of these exact details about the ancestor as possible:
 * name, including middle name and maiden name
 * names of all spouses, including middle and maiden name
 * exact or closely estimated dates of birth, marriage, and death
 * names and approximate birthdates of children
 * all known places of residence
 * occupations
 * military service details

Carefully evaluate the church records you find to make sure you have really found records for your ancestor and not just a "near match". If one or more of the details do not line up, be careful about accepting the entry as your ancestor. There are guiding principles for deciding how to resolve discrepancies between records that are seemingly close. For more instruction in evaluating evidence, read the Wiki article, Evaluate the Evidence.