More Vital Statistics added to Nova Scotia Archives database

 An additional 26,625 historical vital statistics have been added at www.novascotiagenealogy.com! 

These records were released on 31 December 2014 and they have been digitized, fully indexed and checked for quality control.

This year's posting include 15,123 births (1914), 5,086 marriages (1939) and 6,416 deaths (1964).

As usual, the birth records include some 'delayed' entries for individuals born in 1914 (or earlier) but not registered until a later date.

Meanwhile, FamilySearch has added more Nova Scotia indexed records, such as -

Nova Scotia Deaths, 1864-1871

27,717 images organized by county (Annapolis, Antigonish, Cape Breton, Colchester, Cumberland, Digby, Guysborough, Halifax, Hants, Inverness, Kings, Lunenburg, Pictou, Queens, Richmond, Shelburne, Victoria, Yarmouth) and year range.

The site is at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2242825

Nova Scotia Marriage, 1864-1918

21,950 images organized in the same way as above.

The site is at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2242886

Nova Scotia Births, 1864-1877

35,025 images organized in the same way.

The site is at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2243378

If you are looking for an Nova Scotian ancestor, I would advise you to look through the entire section, because I have found births, marriages and deaths on each roll of microfilm, regardless if it says, for instance, Nova Scotia Deaths. Although, through FamilySearch, you do have direct access to the records, that may not be available elsewhere.

 Happy Researching!

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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/06/canadian-week-in-review-cwr-29-june-2015.html

  It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

Women of Digby County, 1950

 

Nova Scotia is a province of many different faces, and the Women of Digby County, 1950 is a virtual exhibit presented by the Nova Scotis Archives. 

 

It was first developed as a traditional exhibit entitled Women: Their Lives in Rural Nova Scotia, 1950. Launched in Digby in October 2011, it travelled to various locations throughout southwestern Nova Scotia over the following year, including a month's detour to the Nova Scotia Archives in April 2012. 

 

The exhibit celebrated the work of John Collier Jr., an eminent American photographer who spent time in Digby County during 1950 and 1951, and whose photographic record of those years is now among the collections held by the Nova Scotia Archives. 

 

The exhibit is at http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/digbywomen/

 

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Need help finding your ELUSIVE Canadian ancestors???

 

As a nod of the hat to the Ontario Genealogical Conference being held in Barrie, Ontario from May 29 to May 31, may we offer a month-long discount on our research and consultation services of 15% (ends 11 June at midnight).

 

Just go to Elizabeth Lapointe Research Services website at www.elrs.biz, or send an email with the subject "special" to genealogyresearch@aol.com to see how I can help you find that elusive Canadian ancestor!

 

Research Tip! The Nova Scotia Archives is a wonderful place to research your ancestors in person. Their latest fonds is the Annapolis Royal Registry of Deeds (1763-1980). It includes 185 land transaction registers (‘deed books’), 1763-1954; deed registry will books, 1878-1867 (kept at the registry); and land grant registration books, 1854-1963. Contct the Nova Scotia Archives at http://novascotia.ca/archives/newholdings.asp
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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

 

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/06/canadian-week-in-review-cwr-01-june-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

Nova Scotia Archives - New vital statistics will be added

Good news from Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax! They are preparing to put on new vital statistics records on the Internet. The vital statistics was released on 31 December 2014 and is now being prepared for www.novascotiagenealogy.com.

They say that ‘The records are currently being digitized at the Nova Scotia Archives, electronic indexes are being constructed or improved upon, and quality control testing is underway. We anticipate uploading in July, with further information to be posted as we approach launch date’.

This year, the records include births registered in 1914 (including delayed registrations); marriages registered in 1939; and deaths registered in 1964.

Over 25,000 records will be added!

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/02/canadian-week-in-review-23-february-2013.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

 

The Courage to Remember: The Holocaust 1933-1945

In recognition of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th—and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz—the Atlantic Jewish Council, in partnership with the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, presents the Simon Wiensenthal Center exhibition, "The Courage to Remember" http://novascotia.ca/archives/chase

This exhibition features 200 Holocaust photos that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. They are at the Chase Exhibit Room of the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax until the end of January 2015.

The Nova Scotia Archives is at http://novascotia.ca/archives

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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-19-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Nova Scotia Census, Assessment and Poll Tax Records, 1770-1795, 1827

Ancestry.ca has taken the records from Nova Scotia Archives and under agreement with the archives, have put them online. 

The Non-Census Records in the Collection Nova Scotia Poll Tax Rolls, 1791–1793.
The index includes the name and location for each person. Records in this collection are from the following counties -

· Annapolis

· Antigonish

· Colchester

· Cumberland

· Guysborough

· Halifax

· Hants

· Kings

· Lunenburg

· Pictou

· Queens

· Shelburne

Tax Records

The tax records are from the Gideon White Family Papers. Gideon White was a loyalist from Massachusetts who moved to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, after the American Revolution. He served as tax collector for a time, and tax records for the years 1786–1787 are included in the collection.

The tax records provide names and addresses of Shelburne taxpayers, occupations, and county and poor taxes owed.

They can be accessed at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=8809

You can also go to the Nova Scotia Archives at http://www.novascotia.ca/nsarm/virtual/census/ and read the individual narrative about each record, and go in-depth into the tax and census records for each of the areas noted above.

Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics

An additional 25,120 historical vital statistics have been added to the Nova Scotia Vital Statistics website. 

These records were released on 31 December 2012 and since then have been digitized, fully indexed and checked for quality control. 

This year's accruals include 14,378 births (1912), 4,359 marriages (1937) and 6,383 deaths (1962).

As usual, the birth records include some 'delayed' entries for individuals born in 1912 (or earlier) but not registered until a later date.

To search the records, go to https://novascotiagenealogy.com/Start.aspx

Twitter Will Preserve Memories of Halifax Explosion

There is a news story this morning in the online newpapers that the Nova Scotia Archives will collect stories about the Halifax explosion which happened on December 6. They are going to do this by the use of Twitter.

They are hoping that Twitter brings in new views and details about the explosion, and the period afterward when Halifax struggled to get on it’s feet again.

The project begins tomorrow which is the 95th anniversary of the harbor front First World War event that devastated Halifax.

About 2,000 people died, and thousands more were injured.

The hashtag is #hfxex1917

You may read about the explosion at the Nova Scotia Archives where they have a Virtual Exhibit, a Remembrance Book, and a film “The Way We Were: Nova Scotia in Film, 1917-1957.”

The website is http://gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/default.asp?Search=THexp

Nova Scotia Land Papers 1765-1800

The Nova Scotia Archives has gathered land records (1765-1800), and has put them on it's online database.

The information that is on the website says that “The records are a collection of petitions made to government by individuals or groups of people seeking grants of Crown Land for settlement purposes in early Nova Scotia”.

The database contains 11,464 names, and links from the petitioner's name to the fully digitized document files created for that particular land grant — 1890 files, containing 9259 image that were scanned.

They say that if you are searching for online information about early land settlement in Nova Scotia, you have come to the right place – you get to read the original document! The land records are from the "Record Group 20, Series A, Land Petitions and other material."

I did come across records belonging to Andrew BARCLAY, in Shelburne County, which completed, for me, his land records that I had been looking for from 1783 to 1785.

The website for the archives is http://gov.ns.ca/nsarm

The land records are at http://gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/landpapers

In addition, there are some records here from New Brunswick before it became a separate province in 1784.

Postscript: I am slowly going through the Nova Scotia Historical Newspaper Records for news about the Barclay family from Shelbure County, and the Webster family from Kentville, Kings County, although it does seen that I have not made much progress.

You can go to http://gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/newspapers

Some Canadian Archival Resources

Douglas Brymner (Dominion Archivist) July 3, 1823 - June 18, 1902

Douglas Brymner became Senior Second Class Clerk in 1872, and was responsible for the creation of a national archives in Canada. The government had voted for $4,000 to be spent in overseeing the collection of records, and in undertaking "general archival responsibilities".

Two archives that I use on a regular basis are the Nova Scotia Archives www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm and the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick http://archives.gnb.ca/archives because I have relatives in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The NS Archives astounds me every time I go to it – there is always something new. I have searched their vital records and have found births, marriages, and deaths there; I have searched through one of their virtual archives, 'Seeing Yarmouth': Celebrating 250 Years of Community Life, and have found areas there that interest me; and I have spent hours reading the Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers from Shelburne, finding my family name (Barclay) in them.

Go to www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual to get a complete listing of their Virtual Archives.

The archives in New Brunswick holds Nova Scotia newspapers, and I found things here that I couldn't find anywhere else, especially in their Daniel F. Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics webpage at http://archives.gnb.ca/APPS/NewspaperVitalStats/?culture=en-CA. So it is well-worth a look, as they are adding to it all the time.

If you go to the Archives of Manitoba website at www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives looking for estate records, take a look at the Winnipeg Estate Indexes, 1870-1983 webpage at www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/probate/wpg_estate.html.

I was lucky to find what I was looking for (for many people did go "Out West" when it was opened to find their fortune), and you just may be lucky enough to find your people listed in the estate indexes.

And, of course, I always come back to the Library and Archives Canada's (LAC) website at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca

One area that is worth a look on their website is the Search All search box, found in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Just put the name of the person you are looking for in the box, and you can search through four of their portals - "Library", "Archives", "Ancestors", and "Website" to see if there's a match.

You may be as surprised as I was when I discovered that a relative in the Boer War received a land grant from Canada, even though he had fought with the British in South Africa instead of with the Canadians!

So there is lots of information to find at these archives, either through the Internet, or by inter-library loan. All that one has to do is ask!

Tomorrow's Blog: Ontario Genealogical Groups

The Nova Scotia Archives Asks for Your Help

I recently received from the Nova Scotia Archives a notice that they have digitized a large number of old, and fragile nitrate negatives, and they need your help!

A selection of 150 negatives of "turn-of-the-last-century black-and-white photos showing Nova Scotians having fun at home and far away, including the Canadian West, Italy, Japan, maybe Russia and some places we cannot identify. Perhaps you can help us?"

They can be seen on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsarchives/

They are looking for details such as locations, landmarks, the identity of those photographed, the year or decade, and other pieces of information that will add useful context.

We look forward to your contributions! Tags added to the photos will be
screened by Archives staff for accuracy, and then used in the next few
months to create a permanent virtual exhibit.

African Nova Scotian Diaspora: Selected Government Records of Black Settlement, 1791-1839

Here is a press release that I received from the Nova Scotia Archives -

"The Nova Scotia Archives is pleased to present a significant new online resource features unique documents reflecting the struggles and survival of African Nova Scotians, as the world marks the United Nations' International Year for People of African Descent.

It contains over 500 digitized and fully searchable government documents relating to early African Nova Scotian immigration and emigration. Many of the documents are rich in the names and reflect the experiences of Black Refugees who came here at the close of the War of 1812.

You can visit the exhibit at: http://gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/diaspora"

Lauren Oostveen
Public Information Officer
Nova Scotia Archives
Department of Communities, Culture & Heritage
6016 University Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia
CANADA B3H 1W4
Ph:902-424-6073
oostvelj@gov.ns.ca