Canada, Newfoundland Vital Statistics - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada Newfoundland and Labrador

What is in this Collection?
This collection contains records dating from 1753 to 1893.

The records include images of church record transcripts. These records contain baptisms, marriages, and some burials from many churches in the province.

Burial records were not systematically gathered for this collection so only a very small number are found in the collection.

Civil registration started in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1891 and 1892. At that time, all clergy were required to register every baptism, marriage, and burial conducted within their jurisdiction. Prior to 1891, no central registry existed, so the only record of a baptism, marriage, or burial was the one held by the church.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Sir John Charles Puddester was disturbed that the original parish registers were in bad condition and some of the records had been lost in fires and other disasters. So, he initiated a program of transcribing the pre-1891 church records. Burial records were not requested, although some churches did submit them. The collection contains mostly Protestant records; only 6 of the 124 volumes are Roman Catholic records.

Civil registration did not exist in Newfoundland and Labrador until 1891 or 1892. The Newfoundland Registers of Vital Statics were created in order to gather birth and marriage information from churches for the time period before 1891.

These records are generally reliable, but not all churches and clergy responded to the request for records, so the collection is not complete. Also, because most of the records were handwritten and then copied, there may be transcription errors and mistakes in the spelling of some individuals’ names. It is important to check for alternate and similar spellings.

For a list of records by localities and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

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


 * Child's name
 * Names of parents
 * Date and place of birth
 * Gender of child
 * Date and place of baptism
 * Religious denomination of child
 * Father's occupation

Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Name of groom and bride
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Age of bride and groom
 * Marital Status
 * Occupation
 * Religion Denomination
 * Residence
 * Names of witnesses
 * Officiator at marriage

Burial records may contain the following information:


 * Name of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Cause of death
 * Age, gender and occupation of deceased
 * Place of birth
 * Religious denomination
 * Burial information

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The religion your ancestor practiced.
 * The place where your ancestor lived.
 * The names of family members and their relationships.

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 "District/Municipality/Town" ⇒Select the appropriate "Church" ⇒Select the appropriate "Record Type and Years" which will take you to the images.

Important: The information in some of these records may not be complete.

Look at the images one by one, comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images 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 birth, marriage, or death 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?

 * If you found a birth record, use the names of the parents to search for their marriage record in this collection.
 * Use the age to calculate the approximate year of birth. Then search for a birth record of the bride or groom.
 * Use the place of birth, and the calculated year of birth to search for a birth record.
 * The religious denomination named in this record will help you with your search in the church records.

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

 * Look for other spellings of the surname. Spelling wasn't standardized, meaning that different spellings of uncommon surnames were quite common.
 * Try looking in the Newfoundland, Vital Records collection or the Newfoundland Church Records collection for vital information about your ancestors that may help narrow down the search in this collection.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

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: Image Citation:

Digital images of originals housed at various municipal archives throughout Newfoundland.