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| [http://www.therooms.ca/archives/ Provincial Archives] of Newfoundland and Labrador<br>9 Bonaventure Avenue<br>P.O. Box 1800, Station C<br>St. John’s, Newfoundland A1C 5P9<br>Telephone: 709-757-8000<br><br> | | [http://www.therooms.ca/archives/ Provincial Archives] of Newfoundland and Labrador<br>9 Bonaventure Avenue<br>P.O. Box 1800, Station C<br>St. John’s, Newfoundland A1C 5P9<br>Telephone: 709-757-8000<br><br> |
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| === Older Records ===
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| Historical vital records and genealogical material are in the provincial archives. Their website does a stellar job in describing their collections, and permission has been granted to reproduce portions of it here.
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| The Family History Collection has, within it, four groups of records which contain baptisms, marriages and burials. They are:
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| #Registers of Vital Statistics (pre-1892-93) - No central registry so only records were created by the community. An index of communities linking to microfilm number is online.
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| #Parish Records (online index under development as of January 2013)
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| #Newfoundland Births, Marriages and Deaths - from the Vital Statistics Division
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| #All Newfoundland Births (1840-1915)
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| Some of these collections are available online. Check the section on Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths for more information.
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| ==== Registers of Vital Statistics Pre-1892-93 ====
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| One of the two most frequently used of these groups is the Registers of Vital Statistics Collection. It consists mainly of transcripts of the baptism and marriage records of various churches throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. The records are pre-1892/1893 and are contained in 124 bound ledgers as well as on 14 reels of microfilm.
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| Civil registration started in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1891. Beginning at that time, all clergy were required to register with the government every baptism, marriage and burial conducted within their jurisdiction. Prior to 1891, no such central registry existed, so the only record of baptism, marriage or burial was the one held by the church.
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| During the Commission of Government in the 1930s and 1940s, Sir John Charles Puddester was the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health and Welfare. In the early 1940s, Sir John was apparently disturbed by the fact that the original parish registers held by some churches were in a fragile condition and that the records of some other churches had already been lost through fire.
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| To prevent any further loss of records and so that the government could have some record of vital statistics prior to the start of the 1891 system of registration, he initiated a program to have churches transcribe these pre 1891 records. The Department of Public Health and Welfare offered ten cents a name as compensation for those clergy who arranged for the transcription of the baptism and marriage records of their parishes. Burial records were not requested, although a few churches did submit a number of these records.
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| These volumes which came to be referred to as the DPHW (Department of Public Health and Welfare) volumes of the “Black Books” are now known as the registers of vital statistics.
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| The collection is not complete as many clergy and churches did not respond to the request of the Department of Public Health and Welfare to transcribe their records. The collection is predominately Protestant as only 6 of the 124 volumes are Roman Catholic. The remainder of the volumes are the records of the Church of England, Congregational, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed Episcopal Churches. | | The collection is not complete as many clergy and churches did not respond to the request of the Department of Public Health and Welfare to transcribe their records. The collection is predominately Protestant as only 6 of the 124 volumes are Roman Catholic. The remainder of the volumes are the records of the Church of England, Congregational, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed Episcopal Churches. |
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| All information in the finding aid for the Registers of Vital Statistics Collection has been entered in a database at the Provincial Archives. A search can be performed on the basis of Place, Parish or Religious Denomination. | | All information in the finding aid for the Registers of Vital Statistics Collection has been entered in a database at the Provincial Archives. A search can be performed on the basis of Place, Parish or Religious Denomination. |
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| Because there are errors and omissions in the Registers of Vital Statistics, it would be advisable to consult the Parish Records Collection when the records for the same parish and the same time frame are available. | | Because there are errors and omissions in the Registers of Vital Statistics, it would be advisable to consult the Parish Records Collection when the records for the same parish and the same time frame are available. |
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| === Parish Records Collection === | | === Parish Records Collection === |