Canada, Manitoba Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada Manitoba

What is in this Collection?
This collection contains 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 BYU 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.

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

Sample Images
Birth records may contain the following information:


 * Date of birth
 * Place of birth
 * Full name
 * Gender
 * Name and maiden name of mother
 * Name and surname of father
 * Occupation of Father
 * When baptized

Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Name of Groom and Bride
 * Groom's place of birth
 * Groom's Occupation
 * Full name of parents
 * Age
 * Residence when married
 * Place of Birth
 * Maiden name of bride with parents
 * Names of witnesses
 * Date and place of marriage
 * By whom married
 * License or Ban
 * Place of birth of father

Death records may contain the following information:


 * Name of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Age at death
 * Occupation
 * Place of birth
 * Cause of death
 * Name of Physician
 * Date of funeral service
 * Signature of Clergyman or Minister

How do I Search the Collection?
See Images, in this collection by visiting the Browse Page. Once you've reached the browse page, follow these instructions to get to the images: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the "Place" category ⇒Select the "Denomination and Parish" category ⇒Select the “Record Type and Year Range" category which takes you to the images

Important: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.

Search the collection by image, 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.

I Found Who I was Looking for, Now What?

 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.
 * Titles may be clues to property ownership, occupations, rank, or status within the community.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives. Finding complete families may give you more information on the relative of interest.

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

 * Search for nicknames and various spellings of the name.
 * Sometimes church records were kept in the church and sometimes in the home of the minister. The records may still be at the church, with the present minister, at a local historical or genealogical society, or they may have been deposited in an archive of the denomination.
 * It may be necessary to look at the records of all the churches near your ancestor's home to locate your ancestor's church records.

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.

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