Saturday, July 26, 2008

LAC Releases Marriage Bonds

On June 26th, the Library and Archives released the marriage bonds for Lower Canada (Ontario) and Upper Canada (Quebec) called "I Do: Love and Marriage in 19th Century Canada" <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/love-and-marriage/index-e.html>.

There is a nominal database with more than 10,000 Upper and Lower Canada marriage bonds. Bonds issued in Upper Canada are for the years 1803 to 1865, and the bonds issued in Lower Canada cover the period from 1779 to 1858.

I put in my maiden name, Barclay, and discovered 5 results - four from the Lower Canada Marriage Bonds, and one result from the Upper Canada Marriage Bonds.

If you click on a name, you will be taken to the webpage which gives you such information as the residence, the name of the future husband/wife, his/her residence, the date the bond was signed, the reference number, the volumes, the bond number, and the microfilm reel number.

Besides the search results, there is also a online exhibition of the letters and journal entries of Mary Westcott and Louis-Joseph-Amedee Papineau.

One should note here that the Nova Scotia Archives also has their marriage bonds (1763-1864) online. They have over 12,000 records, and they have been on since October, 2007.

They are available at <www.novascotiagenealogy.com>.

No comments: