Canada, Prince Edward Island Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada Prince Edward Island

What is in this Collection?
This collection includes church records for the years 1777-1985.

This collection contains baptisms, marriages, burials and other records from several churches from the following denominations:


 * Anglican Church of Canada
 * Catholic
 * Church of Christ
 * Church of England in Canada
 * Church of Scotland
 * Free Church
 * Methodist
 * Presbyterian
 * United Church of Canada

The Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church kept more detailed records than some other religions. Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and other groups, especially those that did not baptize infants, often did not keep church registers unless required by law. You can find a person’s religious affiliation in Canadian censuses beginning in 1851.

Children were generally christened within a few days of birth. Christening registers usually give the infant’s and parents’ names, names of godparents or witnesses, and the christening date. You may also find the child’s birth date, father’s occupation, and the family’s place of residence. Death information has sometimes been added as a note.

Burials were recorded in the church record of the parish where the person was buried. The burial was usually a day or two after the death in the parish where the person died. However, many burials were not conducted by clergy and were not recorded by the church.

Early French Catholic records are usually quite detailed, but Protestant marriage records and civil records often give little information about the parents of the couple until mid-19th century. In Upper Canada the names of the bride’s and the groom’s parents began to be recorded in the county marriage registers in 1858.

For a list of records by localities, document type and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse.

Please note that there are a few images which are totally unreadable, specifically the first 25 relating to the Births and Baptisms for Church of Scotland, Canoe Cove, Cape Traverse, DeSable in Kings, Queens, Prince Edward Island.

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


 * Name and gender of child
 * Child's date and place of birth
 * Date and place of baptism
 * By whom baptized
 * Name of father and his occupation
 * Maiden name of mother

Confirmation records may contain the following information:


 * Name of ancestor
 * Age
 * Date and place of baptism
 * Date of confirmation

Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Residence of groom
 * Residence of bride
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of witnesses

Death records may contain the following information:


 * Name of deceased
 * Age of deceased
 * Date of death
 * Date of birth
 * Date of funeral
 * Date and place of burial
 * Name of officiating minister

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The place where your ancestor lived.
 * The approximate year a birth, marriage, or death occurred.
 * The names of family members and their relationships.

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 “County” ⇒Select the appropriate “City/Town” ⇒Select the appropriate “Denomination/Parish” ⇒Select the appropriate “Record Type and Year Range” category, which will take you to the images.

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 church 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 have a baptism record, the record could reveal your ancestor's parents names and their residence at the time of your ancestor's baptism.
 * Using the residence can help you with researching the census collections
 * Marriage records can provide the maiden name of the bride. They sometimes will reveal the parents names, but not often.

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

 * Look for brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts. Often previous research on relatives gives information or clues about your ancestor as well, including where he or she lived.
 * People sometimes went by nicknames or translated names from French to English.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki 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
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:

Image Citation: