Canada, Manitoba Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada Manitoba

What is in this Collection?
This collection contains churc records for the years 1800-1959.

These records contain baptisms, marriages, deaths and other records from some Catholic, Lutheran, and Unitarian parishes in Manitoba. The Lutheran records from Bifrost, Gimli, and Winnepeg are written in English but consist mainly of people from Iceland and an understanding of Scandanavian naming conventions is helpful in researching your ancestors. The Catholic records from Brochet, St. Eustache and St. Francis Xavier are mainly written in French and an understanding of French Records and naming patterns will be helpful in researching your ancestors. The Winnepeg Unitarian records are partially written in English and partially in the Icelandic language.

Canadian church records began in the 1620s in Quebec with French Catholic Records. These early records were kept according to a 16th-century French law. English-language church records begin in 1749 in Nova Scotia with Church of England records. Canada had French citizens until 1763, so most Protestant records begin much later. Church records were kept at the local parish of the church. A parish is a local congregation that may include many villages. Your ancestor may have lived in a village and belonged to a parish in a nearby larger town.

Reading These Records
Many of these records are in French. For help with reading the records, see the following resources:


 * French Handwriting
 * French Wordlist
 * France Language and Languages
 * BYU French Records Extraction – An Instructional Guide
 * Icelandic Word List
 * Scandinavian Given Names

How Do I Search the Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The name of a relative or date of the event

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select Place
 * 2) Select Denomination and Parish
 * 3) Select Record Type and Year Range

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the information to find other records such as baptism, census, court, and land records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

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

 * Try viewing the original record. Indexes and transcriptions may not include all of the data found in the original records. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name, especially French versions.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Manitoba, Canada Genealogy.
 * Search in the FamilySearch Library Catalog

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:

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