Nova Scotia Resources

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Nova Scotia Canada
Surname/tag: Nova_Scotia

This page is managed by the Space:Nova Scotia Team, a sub-team of the Space:Atlantic Canada Team and part of the Canada Project.

Contents 1 Resources 1.1 Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death records 1.2 Census information 1.3 Land and Location 1.4 Immigration 1.5 Military Heritage 1.6 Community Histories and Newspaper records 1.7 Some families that settled in Nova Scotia 1.8 Ideas for in-person visits

Resources

Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death records

• Nova Scotia Archives, Nova Scotia Births, Marriages, and Deaths is a searchable collection of birth, death, and marriage records from Nova Scotia, from about 1850-1920 (some earlier some later). The images have a lot of interesting detail that the transcriptions might not contain.^[1]
• Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, 1759-1960
• Historical sources for non-members of the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia (GANS). Membership is less than $50, and members gain access to other online resources, including the Township Books, church, cemetery and newspaper records that otherwise require an in-person visit.

Census information

• Nova Scotia Archives; Census Returns, Assessment and Poll Tax Records 1767-1838 is an assortment of early census, property assessment, and poll tax records for heads of household, providing a total of 69,807 personal names. An excellent resource for piecing together the residents of entire communities.
• 1861 Census (heads of household only in Nova Scotia before Confederation in 1867
• Federal Censuses - 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921, 1931

Land and Location

• Nova Scotia Land Papers 1765-1800 is a searchable database for 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 will link from the petitioner's name to the fully digitized document file created for that particular land grant — 1890 files, containing 9259 image scans.
• Historical Maps of Nova Scotia is a database of early maps, including town maps with landowner names.
• Place names and places of Nova Scotia

Immigration

• Acadian Reliable Sources - prior to 1759
• New Englanders in Nova Scotia, a collection of genealogical articles and research material concerning 48,165 names in more than 650 families of New England Planters and Loyalists who settled in Nova Scotia beginning in 1759. It includes a series of articles written by Fred E. Crowell in the 1920s and 30s for the Yarmouth Herald as well as his extensive research notes and other manuscripts. Mr. Crowell donated all of this material to NEHGS, and in 1979 the Society published a microfilm version of it.
• Planters And Pioneers, Wright, Esther Clark, 1895-. rev. ed. [Canada: s.n.], 1982 There is not yet an online version of this text but members of the WikiTree Project on Montbeliard immigration have indicated which members have a copy and are available to do lookups
• Montbéliard immigration to Nova Scotia, 1749-1752 by Punch, Terrence M. 2014, Baltimore, MD. There is not yet an online version of this text but members of the WikiTree Project have indicated which members have a copy and are available to do lookups
• Book of Negros
• United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada: Loyalist Directory

Military Heritage

• Military Heritage: British Colonial Era
• Military Heritage: Loyalists
• Library and Archives Canada: Military Heritage: Service Files of the Royal Canadian Navy, 1910-1941
• Library and Archives Canada: Military Heritage: First World War
• Library and Archives Canada: Military Heritage: Second World War

Community Histories and Newspaper records

Sorted by County

• Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Archives, Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers is a searchable database for 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 will link from the petitioner's name to the fully digitized document file created for that particular land grant — 1890 files, containing 9259 image scans.
• Nova Scotia: Murdoch, Beamish. A History of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie (A & W. MacKinlay, Halifax, 1865)
• Annapolis: Calnek, William Arthur. History of the County of Annapolis, Including Old Port Royal and Acadia (W. Briggs, Toronto, 1897)
• Annapolis: A.W. Savary, History of the County of Annapolis Supplement, 1913; reprinted 1973.
• Antigonish: Rev. D.J. Rankin, A History of the County of Antigonish, Nova Scotia; 1929 (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Cape Breton: Brown, Richard. A history of the Island of Cape Breton (S. Low, son, and Marston, London 1869,)
• Cape Breton: Robert J. Morgan, Orphan Outpost: Cape Breton Colony 1784-1820; 1972. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Colchester:Miller, Thomas. Historical and Genealogical Records of the First Settlers of Colchester County (Halifax, N.S. : A. & W. MacKinlay 1873)
• Colchester: Israel Longworth, Israel Longworth’s History of Colchester County; 1866, published 1989. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Cumberland: Pierce Stevens Hamilton, "History of the County of Cumberland"; unpublished history, 1880. (Available at the Nova Scotia Archives)
• Digby: Isaiah W. Wilson. A geography and history of the County of Digby Nova Scotia (Holloway Bros, Halifax, 1869)
• Guysborough: Harriet Cunningham Hart, History of the County of Guysborough; 1877, published 1975.
• Guysborough: A.C. Jost, Guysborough Sketches and Essays; 1950. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Halifax: Akins, T.B. History of Halifax City (ova Scotia Historical Society, Halifax,1895)
• Halifax: Lawson, Mrs. William. History of the townships of Dartmouth, Preston and Lawrencetown (Morton, Halifax, 1893)
• Halifax: J.P. Martin, The story of Dartmouth; 1957. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Hants: Gwendolyn V. Shand, Historic Hants County; 1979. (if you find an e-book, please add a link)
• Hants: John V. Duncanson, Falmouth: A New England township in Nova Scotia; 1965. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Hants: John V. Duncanson, Newport, Nova Scotia: A Rhode Island Township; 1985. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Hants: John V. Duncanson, [Duncanson, Rawdon and Douglas: Two Loyalist Townships in Nova Scotia; Rawdon and Douglas: Two Loyalist Townships in Nova Scotia]; 1989.
• Inverness:MacDougall, J.L. History of Inverness County Nova Scotia (Truro, 1922)
• Kings County: Eaton, Arthur. The History of Kings County Nova Scotia Heart of the Acadian Land (The Salem Press Company, Salem, Mass., 1910)
• Lunenburg: DesBrisay, Mather Byles. History of the County of Lunenburg (W Briggs, Toronto, 1895)
• Pictou: Grant, Rev. Robert. East River Sketches, Historical and Biographical, with Reminiscences of Scottish Life (S.M. MacKenzie Publisher and Printer, New Glasgow, N.S., 1895)
• Pictou: Illustrated Historical Atlas of Pictou County, Nova Scotia (Meacham, J.H. & Co., 1879)
• Pictou: MacLaren, George. The Pictou Book: Stories of our Past (The Hector Publishing Co., Ltd., New Glasgow, 1954)
• Pictou: MacPhie, Rev. J. P. Pictonians at Home and Abroad: Sketches of Professional Men and Women of Pictou County - its History and Institutions (Pinkham Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 1914)
• Pictou: Patterson, Rev. George. Memoir of the Rev. James MacGregor, D. D. (J.M. Wilson, Philadelphia, 1859)
• Pictou: Patterson, Rev. George. A History of the County of Pictou, Nova Scotia (Dawson, Montreal, 1877)
• Pictou: Ross, D. K. The Pioneers and Churches (New Glasgow, Nova Scotia: The Hector Publishing Co., Ltd.).
• Pictou: Ward, R. H. Farms and Farmers of Pictou County
• Queens: More, James Fullerton. The History of Queens County (Nova Scotia Printing Company, 1873)
• Queens: The Diaries of Simeon Perkins, 1766-1812 (volumes I-V) The Publications of the Champlain Society
• Queens: T. Brenton Smith Genealogy online at FamilySearch also available on microfilm, accessible at the Nova Scotia Archives and the Thomas H. Raddall Research Centre in Liverpool, NS
• Queens: Annals of Queens County, by Robert J. Long on microfilm accessible at the Nova Scotia Archives and the Thomas H. Raddall Research Centre in Liverpool, NS (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Shelburne:Marion Robertson, King’s Bounty: a history of early Shelburne; N.S. founded in 1783, 1983. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Shelburne: Crowell, Edwin. A History of Barrington Township and Vicinity, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, 1604-1870 (1973)
• Shelburne: Poole, Edmund Duval. Annals of Yarmouth and Barrington (Nova Scotia) in the Revolutionary War (J. Murray Lawson, Yarmouth, N.S., 1899)
• Victoria: G.G. Patterson, Patterson’s History of Victoria County, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; 1885, edited by W. James MacDonald, 1978. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Yarmouth: Brown, George Stayley. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, A Sequel to Campbell's History (Rand Avery Co., Boston, 1888)
• Yarmouth: Campbell, John Roy. A History of the County of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (J. & A. McMillan, Saint John, N.B., 1876)
• Yarmouth: George S Brown Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, genealogies : transcribed from the Yarmouth Herald Baltimore, MD : Genealogical Pub. Co., ©1993. (if you find an e-book, please replace this link)
• Yarmouth: Poole, Edmund Duval. Annals of Yarmouth and Barrington (Nova Scotia) in the Revolutionary War (J. Murray Lawson, Yarmouth, N.S., 1899)

Some families that settled in Nova Scotia

A Catalogue of Published Genealogies of Nova Scotia Families, Second Edition by Allan E Marble (Note: many of these are online, including the following)

• Burris: My Pioneer Ancestors, The Burris Family of Musquodoboit N.S. by Matthew George Burris, M. D., 1887 - 1948. published 2010 online edition (Dartmouth, N.S.: published privately, 1948),
• Chute: Chute, William. A Genealogy and History of the Chute Family in America (Salem, Mass, 1894)
• Coldwell: Caldwell, Charles Tufts William Coaldwell, Caldwell or Coldwell of England, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Nova Scotia (Press of Judd & Detweiler, Inc, Washington, D. C. : 1910)
• Cone: William Whitney. Some Account of the Cone Family in America (Crane & Co. Topeka, Kansas, 1903)
• Doane: Doane, Alfred Alder. The Doane Family (Boston, MA, by A. A. Doane, 1902)
• Foote: Foote, Abram. Foote Family: Comprising the Genealogy and History of Nathaniel Foote, of Wethersfield, Conn. (Tuttle Co., Rutland, VT, 1907)
• Freeman: Freeman, Frederick. Freeman Genealogy in Three Parts (Franklin Press, Rand, Avery, and Co., Boston, 1875)
• Massicotte: Massicotte, Edouard. La Famille Massicotte (Montreal, 1904)
• Robinson: The Robinsons and Their Kin Folk (The Robinson Genealogical and Historical Association, New York, 1902)
• Warren: The Descendants of William Warren and Jane Gouldrup Miriam Neill, published in the PEI Island Register
• Whitman: Farnam, Charles. History of the Descendants of John Whitman of Weymouth, Mass. (Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven, 1889)

Ideas for in-person visits

• Nova Scotia Archives
• Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia library
• Many communities have a local historical and/or genealogical society (you don't have to join to pay them a visit, its a good idea to contact them in advance to make sure they are open when you stop by)
• A listing of Nova Scotia cemeteries by county. This does not include a database of persons