New Brunswick Military Records

Online Resources

 * See Canada Online Genealogy Records
 * Canada, WWI CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918 at Ancestry.com ($) - index and images
 * New Brunswick Loyalist Pensions, Old Revolutionary Soldiers and Their Widows, index
 * Provincial Archives of New Brunswick Records of Old Revolutionary Soldiers and Their Widows Index and images.
 * Provincial Archives of New Brunswick Index to death registration of soldiers, 1941-1947
 * Provincial Archives of New Brunswick Canadian Forces Base Gagetown Cemeteries

Militia
The militia depended on a form of universal compulsory service by all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60. Units were formed on a local basis, usually by county.

Published militia lists, naming officers only, are quite common in the almanacs and directories. Actual muster rolls listing all militia members are rare, but may turn up in the provincial archives, or local museums. One muster roll from 14 July 1790, is printed by M.G.Reicker in ''Those Days are Gone Away: Queens County New Brunswick. 1643-1901'', pages 162-163, as well as a list of the officers of the First and Second Battalions, Queens County Militia, 1862, on pages 164-165. David Facey-Crowther, The New Brunswick Militia 1787-1867 (Fredericton: New Ireland Press and New Brunswick Historical Society, 1991), is an in-depth examination of the militia and its many units across the province. Illustrated, well annotated with a full bibliography (it started as a Masters thesis at UNB), it lists all the units of militia, dates of formation and commanding officers.

British Garrisons
British regiments served in Canada until the Treaty of Washington in 1871. Saint John and St. Andrews were the two main Garrison towns, with a smaller group at Fredericton. In addition to their actual military duties, the British regiments made a large contribution to the colonies, not just by their services as surveyors, engineers, and builders, but to the social and cultural life of the garrison towns and cities where they served. Some married and children might be born in several towns as the regiment’s posting changed. The annual New Brunswick Almanac will contain a page or two listing the “Staff of the Army, Serving in the Province of New Brunswick” as well as “A Corrected List of Militia Officers Within the Province.”

Military “C” Index
The Encyclopedia of Canada’s “Militia” entry is a concise source for information on Canada’s defence forces up to the First War and in the 1930s. British War Office (Army) and Admiralty (Royal Navy) records are in the Public Record Office in England, but most material related to Canada is available on microfilm at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. The Military “C” card file index (also microfilmed) simplifies access to these earlier British Army records.

Captain?
Some families treasure great-grandfather’s “Commission,” and believe he was an officer in the British Army, when in fact he was an officer of the County Militia. Actually reading the commission will make this clear. Such militia commissions, however, do indicate that this ancestor was a man of some standing in the community.

Library and Archives Canada has extensive runs of the British Army Lists, which list all officers, by regiment, as well as those on half pay. A quick check will show whether or not the ancestor actually was an officer. However, a disbanded sergeant might well become a captain in the local militia, depending on how many actual officers were settled in the area.

World War I (1914-1918)

 * Personnel Records of the First World War, index and images.
 * Canada, WWI CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918 at Ancestry.com ($) - index and images

These service records contain detailed information from enlistment to demobilization (discharge). Information may include each person's date and place of birth, address at time of enlistment, name and address of next of kin, marital status, occupation, personal description (eye and hair color, height, weight, distinctive marks or scars), and religion.