Canada, Manitoba, Church Records, 1800-1959

What is in This Collection?

This collection contains church 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 the 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. 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.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

Reading These Records

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
• Icelandic Word List
• Scandinavian Given Names

To Browse This Collection

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  1887 Baptism

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  1920 Marriage

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  1922 Death