Do you need research help in New Brunswick, Canada?

Question

My research interests continuously grow with connections branching throughout Canada, United States, England, Wales, Scotland, NE Germany (Prussia), and beyond.  That said, the majority of my few decades of research experience remains rooted in the Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, collectively known as The Maritimes, or for me, it's simply referred to as home.

I have an ever-expanding personal library of New Brunswick history books and reference material, as well as, an extensive understanding of regional geography, area surnames, and online resources. If you require some assistance with your genealogy research in New Brunswick, Canada, just send me a brief personal message outlining your request and I'll assist with your query as my time permits.

NOTE: I no longer live in New Brunswick, so unable to do any "on the ground" requests.

GenWeb Project Coordinator: New Brunswick GenWeb htttp://sites.rootsweb.com/~cannb/
Society Member: New Brunswick Genealogical Society https://nbgs.ca/
WikiTree Project Team Member: Canada Project: Province of New Brunswick Team https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Space:New_Brunswick_Team&public=1
WikiTree Project Team Member: England Project: Somerset County Team https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Somerset_Team

WikiTree Project Team Member: Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Project https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Religious_Society_of_Friends

Answer 1

Hi Todd!!

Thank you so much for this! I don't need any help in New Brunswick currently, but have you seen the list of New Brunswick Unsourced Profiles?? It definitely needs help if you are so inclined!!

Comments

Hi Christine,

I'm presently chipping away at the NB Suggestions, as those have even more daunting total numbers (6000+) than NB Unsourced.

Here's a challenge to all NB WikiTreers to spend just a few minutes of time toward improving existing NB profiles. Everyone start with a quick check of their own managed profiles by clicking MY WIKITREE menu and choosing SUGGESTIONS. If you find zero suggestions for your managed profiles, that's wonderful news. Great job!  Since you were planning to work on suggestions anyway though, why not click on this link...

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Automated:DD_Suggestion_List_CAN_NBR

...and choose any 5 other NB suggestions to clean up instead? If we all did 5-10 periodically, the numbers would drop dramatically and our entire community wins with improved NB profiles.

As the saying goes, many hands make light work.

Take care everyone and all the best with your research!

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I try to clean up some from time to time.

Note that the suggestions include also those from New Brunswick, New Jersey.

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I fully appreciate anyone who researches any province other than Ontario!! My comfort zone is pretty small, LOL.

Todd, I noticed that New Brunswick doesn't have any other Maintenance Categories (such as NB, Needs Birth Record, etc.). Would this be useful for you?? I use them a lot while I wade through the Ontario profiles. Let us know and someone can get them set up for you.

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Christine, yes please. If NB could be afforded similar maintenance categories as Somerset, England team enjoys, that would be grand.  Thank you.

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We do!  They were a little scattered, but I've gathered them into this page, which should help make them easier to find.  You'll notice that things like "records needed" aren't as granular as Somerset, but if they get too full we can consider breaking them up. 

Answer 2

Todd, this is a wonderful offer, thank you.  How far back are you comfortable going?  There are a few Acadians that have been hard to pin down . . . I would say 1700's mostly, and particularly the late 1700's after the expulsion but seemingly ended up elsewhere in New Brunswick.  I find no entries in the New Brunswick archives until the 1800's.

Comments

Todd, I found one!  Can you find her death recorded anywhere?

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Godin-89

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Hi Cindy,

I should narrow the general scope of my offer a bit. Although I can lend general guidance throughout NB's various migration periods, I readily admit substantial difference exists between what my early Acadian "help" might be compared to say for Yorkshire Settlers, Planters, Loyalists, Home Children, Scot, Irish, German, Dutch migrations.

Given widespread "anglo-cizing" of names (Schwartz to Black, Stieff to Steeves, Leblanc to White) by many groups in Southeast NB, whether for gaining work, blending in, or avoiding expulsion orders and mortal dangers in the case of Acadians, the late 1700s/early 1800s is tricky at best for finding useful NB records. That said, there are 32 head of household census available free online for Southeastern NB from 1671 to the first full NB nominal census in 1851. All are accessible via 3 sites...

Acadian-Cajun http://www.acadian-cajun.com/genac1.htm

NB GenWeb Project http://sites.rootsweb.com/~cannb/

Mount Allison Univeristy https://www.mta.ca/marshland/index.htm

As an example, the "Census of the inhabitants in Dorchester in the year 1820" is on NB GenWeb and it includes a "Peter Cormia" (Cormier), likely family of the profile you raised in your post below, with household containing 1 man... 1 woman... 5 children.

Maritime Church records hold the real keys to early NB research though, but they are only now slowly shifting toward digitization, given the vastness of the archives and funding needs. There have been very recent advancements of projects though.

NB Genealogical Society just completed digitizing the NB Anglican Registers for their members.

https://nbgs.ca/cpage.php?pt=250

Atlantic Baptist Archives (Acadia University) has several online datasets now.

https://archives.acadiau.ca/atlantic-baptist-history

United/Methodist Maritime Conference Archives (Sackville) remains fairly physical for their archives.

https://ucceast.ca/fsldw-region-15-archives/

as does St. Michael’s Museum and Genealogical Centre (Miramichi).

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Best I can do for death date of https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Godin-89 is provide a liklihood she was the woman living with Peter Cormia (Cormier) with 5 living children in 1820 in Dorchester Parish, as per the "Census of the Inhabitants in Dorchester in the year 1820".

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If someone is looking for early Westmorland County Census, I have a collection here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Westmorland_County_Census_1770-1820

Sorry, I don't have any from the Acadian period.

Answer 3

I could use help in New Brunswick, tracking down the Mitton family tree. I have precious little info.

Comments

Hi Tamara,

Provincial Archives of NB database has the following number of Mitton BMD files...

Births 997 Marriages 468 Deaths 255

https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA

Accordingly, I'd need some specifics on your Mitton line to guide you further so suggest you access the PANB data searches first with what you currently have for info and see how yo make out there.  Once you've narrowed your Mittons down to a NB region, I might be able to assist further from there.

Feel free to PM me from my profile page too.

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Based on information from my genetic first cousin once removed (same maternal Haplogroup), here is what I know:
 Mitton branch in Westmorland County, NB.

That cousin's maternal grandparents were from Calhoun, NB and Moncton.

Paternal grandparents were from Berry Mills, NB and Cornwall, England.

Mitton relations to surnames: Glendenning, Strayhorn, Lewis, Johnson, Laity

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Also can you tell me how to message someone directly? I can't seem to find that info in the help files. Going to your profile page, I don't see a "message" button or equivalent. Yes I'm a rank newbie! LOL

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For accessing my profile directly, hover over my name at bottom of any message and it will open up my profile card; then click on my name in that card to go to my profile page. Once on the profile page, toward the bottom just above the comments section, you will see a link for "send a private message".

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The places you mention in NB (Calhoun Mills and Berry Mills) surround the City of Moncton. Both have always been very small pockets of population so that definitely narrows it down.  Also, Glendenning is not a widespread name in NB, but has a presence in Moncton and up the coast into Kent and Northumberland Counties. Lewis is an old name in Moncton area and Lewis Mountain is just west of Moncton. Laity and Strayhorn are unfamiliar to me.

I'm quite intrigued now, as my 2 of my ggg-grandfathers settled the first land grants in Calhoun Mills and I have a few Mittons in my extended tree too.

Answer 4

Hi Todd!

Thank you so much for offering! My biggest brick wall is in New Brunswick! I will put together what I have in a message in the coming days for you to look at! Looking forward to talking! Cindy

Answer 5

Hello Todd, I too have learned to enjoy New Brunswick. I have been researching the Kimball family of this region and I was wondering where or who to go to if I was looking for birth certificates in St John, Saint John, New Brunswick. I heard mention of a fire that wiped out a portion of years from the archives. Sad. My Kimball's name was David Kimball (1797-1874) and his wife Mary Spolden Oram (1801-1868) who was born supposedly in St John. Im also looking for his parents, whom ever they are. Any information or directions in the right way would be helpful. Thank you.

Jocelynn ~~

Comments

Hi again, Jocelynn.  Aside from the Kimball/Oram land grant and Kimball Anglican marriage info in Saint John/Westfield/Kingston area, which I provided earlier, I was unable to find much else online that directly connected to any David Kimball of the era.

Regarding further records, beyond PANB late 1800s/1900s databases, most of the earlier records would be church-based.  Unfortunately, the majority of these are in physical, not digital, form for now.  During COVID, some are offering assistance via email; however, the research would have to be fairly specific in nature for them to attempt lookups.

Catholic diocese of Saint John

https://www.newirelandnb.ca/diocesan-archives-saint-john/

Maritimes - United/Presbyterian/Methodist

https://ucceast.ca/fsldw-region-15-archives/

Anglican Registry is available to NBGS members and I've searched it already for you with only the limited marriage info of area Kimballs provided earlier, without any Davids.

Atlantic Baptist Archives

https://archives.acadiau.ca/atlantic-baptist-history

I hope this helps, but research gets quite difficult in 1700s with the older BMD mostly in physical form.

Todd Gilbert

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Hello Todd, I must have spaced the details to the correspondence. My apologies. You have been more than helpful..., twice now. Next time I hope I have a better question to ask.

Sincerely embarrassed,

Jocelynn ~

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Absolutely no reason for any embarrassment at all, Jocelynn. I only wish I could help you more, but you’re into that painful timeframe of physical records. The hope for all New Brunswick Euro-immigrant researchers is for their lines to go back just far enough to still easily trace a connection to country of origin. Once you get into the 1700s, NB gets tricky at best for most surnames. That said, the multiple church archives are slowly being digitized (NBGS just completed the NB Anglican registers) and it will be wonderful when others become accessible online too.

Take care.

Todd