British Columbia Releases About 700,000 Birth, Death, and Marriage Documents Online

Full digital images of the original records of births, deaths and marriages in British Columbia are now available for FREE OF CHARGE through the Royal B.C. Museum and B.C. Archives websites. The move is a result of a partnership involving the British Columbia Archives, the Vital Statistics Agency, and FamilySearch International. Indexes previously accessible could provide only the brides' and grooms' names, along with the dates and places of marriage. The new release offers full images of the original documents that can provide extra information. For example, the original record of a marriage reveals names of the bride and groom, their ages and occupations, and parents' names. Even the witnesses are listed. About 700,000 images have been scanned, including births from 1854 to 1903, deaths from 1872 to 1991, and marriages from 1872 to 1936. Phase 2, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, will add more images and information, including pre-1872 records and deaths overseas during the Second World War. You can read more in an article by Richard Watts in the Victoria Sun at http://goo.gl/iLdR5.

Hudson's Bay Company Archives

"The Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA), a division of the Archives of Manitoba, is home to one of Canada's national treasures— the records of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC).

"The Hudson's Bay Company's records document the history of the HBC since its inception in 1670 following the history of the fur trade, North American exploration, the development of Canada as a country and the growth of HBC's Canadian retail empire.

The HBCA is dedicated to making our records available and accessible to clients locally, nationally and internationally. Whether you are tracing your family tree, working on a school project, looking for a map or photograph or doing in-depth historical research, we'll do our best to help you find what you need."

You can also contact them by regular mail or email:

HBCA
130-200 Vaughan St.
Winnipeg, MB
Email: hbca@gov.mb.ca

Newfoundland's Grand Banks

The website boasts to contain the “largest storehouse of original resource material on the Internet, relating to Newfoundland,” and “enjoys the largest number of visitors of any site providing genealogical information for the province of Newfoundland.” Found on the site are such genealogy jewels as historical articles, cemetery transcriptions, will transcriptions, obituaries, headstone photos, directories, passengers and immigrants lists from Newfoundland, Canada and the United States, newspaper clippings, census records. The Newfoundland's Grand Banks website is operated completely on the generosity of its volunteers. To help support the growth of the website, you can help identify a photo, submit an historic photograph, transcribe original records, transcribe a cemetery or make a monetary donation. ~ Diane Tibert's Family Attic

New Brunswick, Canada Records

The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Canada --

"Established in 1967, the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick collects and preserves the documents of the people, institutions and government of the province. Most of the holdings are for the period from 1784, when New Brunswick was made a separate province of British North America. However, some materials relating to the earlier exploration, Acadian and pre-Loyalist periods have also been acquired.

Under provincial legislation the Archives has responsibility to assemble, and to make available for research, records bearing upon the history of New Brunswick. The Records Management Program ensures the regular transfer and archival retention of all non-current government records that have permanent legal and historical value. The records of individuals, churches, businesses and associations are acquired through donation of original material, and loans for copying.

The documents in the Archives are provincial treasures. Many are fundamental in protecting the rights and interests of the people, or are essential for understanding and preserving our heritage and culture. Materials which are not in archives, particularly those in danger of being lost or destroyed, should be brought to the attention of the Archives staff."

Acadian Records

For research on Acadian, French Canadian roots, there is a site that offers a variety of many genealogy records and resources of interest.

AcadianRoots.com is devoted strictly to genealogical and census records of Acadian people. Currently, the site has extracted census records of Acadian family names found in the following census records:

1861 Bathurst, New Brunswick
1871 Bathurst, New Brunswick
1871 Beresford, New Brunswick
1881 Beresford, New Brunswick
1878 Palmer Road, Prince Edward Island
1861 Saint Basile, New Brunswick
1861 Shediac Parish, New Brunswick
1861 Shippagan, New Brunswick
1891 Cocagne, Notre Dame, Grand Digue, Kent County, NB
1851 Northumberland, New Brunswick