Collections of Records
* Some collections are available online. For example, please
refer to our section on Records of Births,
Marriages and Deaths for information.
*For more detailed descriptions of the holdings within each of
the above collections, along with some other possible collections
for genealogical information, please refer to the information
below:
Registers of Vital Statistics
- consists mainly of transcripts of the baptism and marriage
records of various churches throughout Newfoundland and Labrador
- pre 1892/1893
- contained in 124 bound ledgers and 14 reels of microfilm
Background
Civil Registration started in Newfoundland and Labrador in
1891. Beginning at that time, all clergy were required to register
with the government, every baptisms, marriage and burial conducted
within their jurisdiction. Prior to 1891, no such central registry
existed, so the only record of baptism, marriage or burial was
the one held by the church.
During
the Commission of Government in the 1930's and 1940's, Sir John
Charles Puddester was the Commissioner of the Department of
Public Health and Welfare. In the early 1940's, Sir John was
apparently disturbed by the fact that the original parish registers
held by some churches were in a fragile condition and that the
records of some other churches had already been lost through
fire.
To prevent any further loss of records and so that the government
could have some record of vital statistics prior to the start
of the 1891 system of registration, he initiated a program to
have churches transcribe these pre 1891 records. The Department
of Public Health and Welfare offered ten cents a name as compensation
for those clergy who arranged for the transcription of the baptism
and marriage records of their parishes. Burial records were
not requested, although a few churches did submit a number of
these records.
These volumes which came to be referred to as the DPHW volumes
of the "Black Books" are now known as the registers
of Vital Statistics.
The collection is not complete as many clergy and churches
did not respond to the request of the Department of Public Health
and Welfare to transcribe their records. The collection is predominately
Protestant as only 6 of the 124 volumes are Roman Catholic.
The remainder are the records of the Church of England, Congregational,
Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed Episcopal Churches.
There are errors in these volumes as there would be in any
transcription project of this magnitude. Some of the original
entries in church registers may not have been clearly legible.
Such entries would be copied as they were interpreted by the
particular transcriber.
Some volumes contain births for years much earlier than the
time frame noted for the baptisms. Often, in the very early
years of some parishes, clergy only visited some places once
every few months especially during the winter season when travel
was often difficult. For this reason, children were sometimes
not baptized until months after their birth. There are also
records of entire families being baptized at the same time when
clergy would visit a particular area for the first time.
The information contained in some of these volumes may not
necessarily be complete. As an example, the Roman Catholic Harbour
Grace baptisms and marriages were transcribed in Volume 42 and
Volume 42A. Maiden names are not given for the women, but they
were listed in the original church registers. Some churches
ended their transcriptions with the 1891 records while others
transcribed to 1892 or 1893. All years may not necessarily be
complete and some churches did not copy their earliest registers.
The
finding aid for the REGISTERS OF VITAL STATISTICS COLLECTION
is arranged alphabetically by PLACE name. Some places may be
noted under more than one PARISH for the same RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION.
The clergy of early parishes in Newfoundland and Labrador often
were responsible for large geographical areas which included
numerous communities. The boundaries of some of these parishes
changed considerably through the years. As more clergy became
available to serve the people, parishes were subdivided to include
fewer places. Sometimes a place is noted under a parish name
which is a considerable distance from the actual place. The
reason for this is that visiting clergy sometimes performed
baptisms and marriages and took the record of the same back
to their own parishes. As well, people may have visited or worked
seasonally in other areas of Newfoundland and Labrador. If married
there, for example, the record would have been recorded there
and not in their home parish.
All information in the finding aid for the Registers of Vital
Statistics Collection has been entered in a database
at the Provincial Archives. A search can be performed
on the basis of PLACE, PARISH or RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION.
Because there are errors and omissions in the Registers of
Vital Statistics, it would be advisable to consult the Parish
Records Collection when the records for the same parish
and the same time frame are available.
Parish Records Collection
- photocopies and/or microfilm copies of original church registers
of baptisms, marriages and burials, as well as records of confirmations,
minute books and other records of parish life.
Background
There
are approximately 200 parishes within Newfoundland and Labrador
which are represented in this collection. The religious denominations
include the Anglican, Congregational, United Church, Moravian,
Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and Salvation Army faiths. For
the purposes of this collection, the term PARISH refers to a
district having its own church (or churches) and clergy. Thus,
parish is used not only for the Anglican and Roman Catholic
churches but also for United Church pastoral charges and congregations,
Moravian missions and Salvation Army corps.
In the 1970's, the increased interest in genealogy was such
that the Provincial Archives began to make available records
of interest to genealogists. This led to the copying of parish
registers to make them available to researchers. This was the
start of the Parish Records Collection.
Although this is an extensive collection, it is by no means
complete. The Provincial Archives is not a registry of such
records. It is through the good will of parishes that copies
of their records are made available for genealogical research.
Each parish determines the time frame of the records which it
will release for copying. As the growth in the number of family
history researchers continues, many parishes are inundated with
requests for access to their records.
Unfortunately, most parishes do not have the staff resources
to make these records available at the parish level. Thus, our
program of copying parish records works well for both parishes
and for researchers. Parish staff are able to direct researchers
to the copies which are available at the Provincial Archives,
and researchers reap the benefit of having a large collection
of parish records accessible in one repository.
Many parish records in this collection were photocopied a number
of years ago when the quality of copier prints was far below
today's standard. Some of these poor quality copies have been
replaced with better ones, and there are plans to have others
recopied.
The acquisition of new parish records continues with most now
being microfilmed instead of photocopied as the latter is very
labour intensive. No original parish registers are held in this
collection. Each original register, as well as a copy of it,
is returned to the parish. Some parishes prefer to use the copies
provided by the Provincial Archives in cases where the original
records are in a fragile or deteriorating condition.
In recent years, the Provincial Archives has cooperated with
the United Church of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador Conference
Archives in copying Methodist/United Church records. The Conference
Archives has been responsible for borrowing the original registers
of its many pastoral charges throughout the province. The Provincial
Archives has then arranged for the photocopying or microfilming
of these records. Copies of most of these records are available
at both the Provincial Archives and the Conference Archives.
All information in the Parish Records finding aid has also
been entered in a database at the Provincial Archives. A search
can be performed on the basis of RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION, COMMUNITY,
PARISH, RECORDS or BOX NUMBER.
The finding aids for both the Registers of Vital Statistics
Collection and the Parish Records Collection are available for
consultation in the Research Room of the Provincial Archives.
Newfoundland Births, Marriages, and Deaths
- from the Vital Statistics Division
The Vital Statistics Division, of the Newfoundland Department
of Government Services and Lands, operates a Central Registry in
St. John's for the registration of births, marriages and deaths.
In 1891, the General Assembly of Newfoundland passed An Act to
Provide for the Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths.
Section 2 of the Act stated, "All births, marriages and
deaths that take place within this Colony shall be registered in a
public registry to be kept in the town of St. John's..."
In 1998, the Vital Statistics Division transferred a number of its
original registers to the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and
Labrador (PANL). The decision was made to release births
that were at least 100 years old, marriages that were over 75
years old and deaths that were over 50 years old.
Records for the following years were transferred:
Births - 1891-1899*
Marriages - 1891-1922
Deaths - 1891-1949
Because of the large size and the fragility of these registers, an
agreement was reached with the Genealogical Society of Utah to
have them microfilmed. The Vital Statistics Division uses
this microfilm for the issuance of certificates. The
microfilm is available for research in the Reference Room at PANL.
It is also available for research through the Family History
Centres operated by the Genealogical Society of Utah.
PANL is not able to make prints of these records for clients or
issue certificates based on the records. Certificates can be
obtained from the Vital Statistics Division.
Newfoundland Vital
Statistics Division
Department of Government Services & Lands
Government Services Centre
5 Mews Place
P.O. Box 8700
St. John's, NL
A1B 4J6
ph: (709) 729-3311
* PANL already had microfilm copies of births from the Vital
Statistics Division from 1891-1923, which had been acquired a
number of years ago.
All Newfoundland Births
This collection of baptism/birth records was acquired from the
Vital Statistics Division
of the Newfoundland Department of Health.
These records contain:
- Sworn affidavits of persons attesting to the age of relatives,
friends, or acquaintances.
- Delayed registrations of birth, (if a birth was not registered
within one year from the date of the birth, an application had
to be completed and supported by written evidence of birth).
- There are photocopies of actual baptism/birth certificates.
- There are extracts, by clergy, from parish registers of baptisms.
- and there are lists which include more than one family member.
(Sometimes copied from a Family Bible.)
Some records may duplicate baptisms already available in the
Collection of Vital Statistics Registers or the Parish Records
Collection. Some are records of baptism/birth which may not be
found elsewhere. This is especially true of church records which
have been destroyed by fire and which predated the start of civil
registration in 1891.
This collection contains a number of marriage records, as well
as one death record. They are noted in the indexes.
There are thirty-four boxes of bound records for the years, 1840
to 1915, inclusive. Each box contains a finding aid for the volume(s)
in that particular box. The finding aid lists, alphabetically,
the surnames of all records contained in that box. The year of
each record is noted. Each volume of records is arranged alphabetically.
There is also a master index or finding aid which lists, alphabetically,
the surnames of all records contained in the entire collection
of 34 boxes of the All Newfoundland Births. The year of each record
is noted and the box in which it is contained. The information
in this finding aid is also available on a database at the Provincial
Archives and is accessible by Name or Box #.
Other Collections Of Interest
Gertrude Crosbie Collection. Mrs. Crosbie's compilation
of births, marriages and deaths from 19th century newspapers
bridges some of the missing gaps in church records.
Conception Bay area of Harbour Grace and Carbonear,
extracts of births, marriages and deaths from newspapers, circa
1850-1900. Compiled in response to the frustrations of researchers
at the loss by fire of various parish records in that area.
Daily News Deaths. Listing of deaths from the year-end
editions of the Daily News from 1913 to 1963.
Government Records Collection. Original records of government
departments, some dating from the early 1600's.
Census Records. 1675-1945.
Voter's Lists. 1832- 1980's.
Registry of Crown Land Grants. Crown Land purchases
from 1830-1930.
Probated Wills of the Supreme Court. 1825-1900.
The Plantation Books. Registers of ownership of fishing
rooms for Bonavista Bay, Conception Bay and Twillingate, circa
1804-1806.
Court Records. Include Surrogates Court, Magistrates
Court, Supreme Court, Court of Sessions and Vice-Admiralty Court.
They can be used for the identification of individuals in their
community. They are also important sources for documenting economic
relationships and the position of individuals in the economy.
Sources
for Military Research.Listing of military references and
records held by the Archives. Late 1600's up to and including
the Second World War.
Governor's Office. Miscellaneous Dispatches and Local
Correspondence. Covers a broad range of topics from the state
of the fishery to appointments to public office, circa 1850-1952.
Colonial Secretary's Office. Outgoing correspondence
from 1749 to 1948 and incoming correspondence from 1825-1891.
There are the special subject files of this office as well as
a collection of reports and petitions.
Colonial Office Records. From the 17th to the 20th centuries
(on microfilm).
Manuscripts Collection.
Includes letters, personal diaries, scrapbooks and family histories
of the citizens of our province. Minute books and ledgers offer
insights into organizations and business firms. They reveal
the day-to-day history of our society.
Manuscript Inventory is available on a database at the
Provincial Archives and is accessible by Title, Description
or Manuscript Number.
Still and Moving Images Collection.
Contains over 400,000 items. Includes photographs, glass plate
negatives, slides, albums and earlier forms of still images
such as daguereo types, ambrotypes and tintypes.
Cartographic Collection.
Over 50,000 historic maps, architectural plans and drawings.
Reference Library. Newspapers on microfilm, the early
directories, yearbooks and almanacs and the Journals of the
House of Assembly.
And the list could go on and on. Every record at the Provincial
Archives is a potential source of genealogical information.
Reference staff are available to assist you in locating these
sources and consultations can be arranged with any of the archivists
responsible for major collections. New finding aids are being
created to assist researchers and the introduction of new databases
at the Reference Desk will make collections more easily accessible
than ever. We welcome any opportunity to assist you in your family
history research.
