Nova Scotia Birth, Marriage, and Death Records

In 1864 an attempt was made to register vital statistics in Nova Scotia. From 1867 to 1874 these records are fairly complete. In 1877 birth and death registration was discontinued and in 1908 it began again. Birth and death records from 1864 to 1877 are indexed by and within the family name by county.

Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management has put many vital records online. To see these go to:


 * https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/

The Family History Library has the following birth and death records:


 * Nova Scotia. Board of Statistics of Marriages, Births, and Deaths. Births, 1864–1877. Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1983. (On 37 FHL films beginning with film 1318341) The records organized are by county, then town, then year.
 * Nova Scotia. Board of Statistics of Marriages, Births, and Deaths. Death Records 1864–1877. Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1980. (On 38 FHL films beginning with 1293436) The records organized are by county and then by year.

Marriage records from 1864 to 1908 are indexed by county and (within the county) by the family name. The Family History Library has the following records:


 * Nova Scotia. Board of Statistics of Marriages, Births, and Deaths. Marriage records, 1864–1875. Salt Lake City; Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1982–1983. (On 17 films beginning with 1317402) The records organized are by county and then by year.

The Public Archives of Nova Scotia also has marriage licenses from about 1849–1851 to the county cutoff dates. These are available at the Family History Library on the following microfilms:


 * Nova Scotia. Board of Statistics of Marriages, Births, and Deaths. Marriages Licenses, 1849–1918. Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1981–1982. (On 535 FHL films beginning with 1301853). The records are organized by county and then by year.

The cutoff dates for the above records are:

Annapolis 1908

Antigonish 1910

Cape Breton 1912

Colchester 1914

Cumberland 1913

Digby 1909

Guysborough 1906

Halifax 1916

Hants 1916

Inverness 1908

Kings 1909

Lunenburg 1908

Pictou 1917

Queens 1910

Richmond 1918

Shelburne 1908

Victoria 1918

Yarmouth 1908

Records of marriages after these cutoff dates (as well as of births and deaths after 1908) can be obtained from:

Vital Statistics
Department of Business and Consumer Services P.O. Box 157 Halifax, NS B3J 2M9 CANADA Telephone: 902-424-4381 Fax: 902-424-0678 Internet: http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/vstat/history.asp

Marriage bonds exist for 1763–1863 (specifically for the years 1763, 1765, 1770–1780, 1782, 1784–1799, 1801–1850, 1854–1856, and 1858–1863). They are arranged in chronological order, and no index is available. They are located in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia and are on the following microfilm at the Family History Library:


 * Transcripts of Marriage Bonds Issued at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1763–1871. Salt Lake City: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1983. (On FHL film 1376196 items 2–3 and film 1376197 items 1–3)