New Brunswick Cultural Groups

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Cultural Groups

Acadians

• Généalogie Acadienne Database--Search Engine The biggest Acadian genealogy database. More than 800,000 individuals are available.
• 1757-1946 - Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1757-1946], index and images, ($). List of Acadian parish registers in the Drouin collection
• GenealogyQuebec.com, the Drouin Instiute’s genealogical research website, offers two research tools dedicated to Acadian genealogy. ($)

• The Drouin Collection Database, a collection of parish registers (baptisms, marriages and burials) from Quebec, Acadia, as well as parts of Ontario, New Brunswick and the United States. The collection also contains Acadian censuses from 1673 to 1784. ($)
• The Acadia Families Tool This tool contains family files based on the Acadian parish records mentioned above. In total, the tool contains 96,000 family files from 1621 to 1849 and is equipped with a search engine which allows searches by last name, first name, date and parish. In addition, the original records are attached to the family files, allowing the information contained in them to be viewed and verified.($)

• Acadian Family Names of the 18th Century

This list of approximately 300 family names was drawn from parish records, census records and other documents from Acadia/Nova Scotia in the first half of the 18th century. All Acadian civilian families known to have lived in the colony at any time between 1700 and 1755 are included. This list does not include the families of the French garrison which served in Acadia.

• Who's who in Acadian/Cajun genealogical research
• Acadian Censuses at WikiTree 1671-1809
• Acadian Censuses at Acadian-Cajun Genealogy and History, 1671-1752
• Acadian census and church records

The area comprising today's New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island was once known as Arcadie. Eventually the name became Acadia. The area was first settled by the French in 1605. The territory passed back and forth from French to English hands many times. In accordance with the Treaty of Utrecht, France ceded the Nova Scotia peninsula and the New Brunswick area to England. England did little to settle the area and the French-speaking Acadians were the majority until about 1750. France still retained Ile Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island) and Cape Breton Island (now part of Nova Scotia).

A large number of the Acadians were deported by the English from 1755 to 1760. To escape deportation, many fled to Québec or to what is now New Brunswick. Many came to Prince Edward Island causing the population to rise near 5,000. The Island was essentially a refugee camp. In 1759, the Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island areas fell to Britain and the settlers were deported to France. In 1763 France ceded most of its maritime lands to England and the area became known as Nova Scotia.

In 1769, a separate province, Saint John's Island (Ile St. Jean), was established. It became Prince Edward Island in 1799. In 1784, the New Brunswick area also became a separate province. About this time many Acadians who had been deported agreed to sign the oath of allegiance to England and were allowed to take up lands in the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island). They worked primarily as farmers and fishermen. For the most part, they continued to speak French and uphold their Roman Catholic faith.

Library and Archives Canada

• Acadian Genealogy Resources Library and Archives Canada.
• Finding Aid for Acadia Records
• How to access Library and Archives Canada records

• Hire a Freelance Researcher

Reading French Records

• French Genealogical Word List
• Latin Genealogical Word List
• Reading French Handwritten Records
  • 1: The French Alphabet,
  • 2: Key Words and Phrases
  • 3: Reading French Records
• French Records Extraction Manual, Full Manual

Black History

• Black History in Canada Genealogy Resources Library and Archives Canada.
• Wikipedia: Black Canadians
• New Brunswick Blacks (National Institute)
• 1783 - Carleton Papers – Book of Negroes, 1783, index.
• 1899-1949 - Immigrants to Canada, Porters and Domestics, 1899-1949 Database

A few thousand Africans arrived in Canada in the 17th and 18th centuries as slaves. After the American Revolution, the British gave passage to over 3000 slaves and free Blacks who had remained loyal to the Crown. These Black Loyalists joined the many other United Empire Loyalists in settlements across the Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Other Black slaves joined their Loyalist slave owners when they migrated to Canada. Other migrations of Black people from the United States occurred during the War of 1812, when over 2000 refugees came to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Many Black people migrated to Canada in search of work and became porters with the railroad companies in Ontario, Quebec, and the Western provinces or worked in mines in the Maritimes.

British Immigrants

• British Genealogy Sources Library and Archives Canada.
• 1777-1785 - Loyalists in the Maritimes — Ward Chipman Muster Master's Office, 1777–1785
• New Brunswick Loyalist Pensions
• 1772-1784 - Carleton Papers – Loyalists and British Soldiers, 1772-1784, index.
• 1776-1835 - UK, American Loyalist Claims, 1776-1835, index
• 1783 - Carleton Papers – Book of Negroes, 1783, index.
• UELAC Loyalist Directory
• The Old United Empire Loyalists List, index
• Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution Lorenzo Sabine, Kennikat Press, Port Washington, 1966. Included in PANB's Biography Database.
• 1785 - Return of Loyalists settled in various parts of New Brunswick in the year 1785 : apparently compiled in connection with an investigation into the accounts paid out by the government in behalf of the Loyalists This manuscript is from the collection known as the Winslow Papers. Part of this collection was published under the title, the Winslow Papers, edited by W. O. Raymond, but this manuscript was not included. Includes index.
• Family histories and pedigrees from the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick Microfilm of a collection of typescripts, manuscripts and some published works in possession of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N.B. Covers mainly families connected to New Brunswick, with a few from other Canadian provinces and U.S. states.
• Biographical data relating to New Brunswick families, especially of Loyalist descent
• List of Loyalist records for individuals, found in the FamilySearch online collection

From 1775 to 1783, during the American Revolution, an influx of English Loyalist settlers migrated to Nova Scotia, Lower Canada (Quebec), New Brunswick and Upper Canada (Ontario). The exodus from the United States to what would become Canada lasted until the War of 1812 when the British Forces mobilized their regiments to defend their colony from an American invasion.

Danish

• Danish Immigrants Genealogy Resources, Library and Archives Canada.
• History Federation of Danish Associations in Canada
• New Denmark, New Brunswick Wikipedia
• New Denmark, New Brunswick, the Oldest Danish Community in Canada

New Denmark, the oldest Danish settlement in Canada, was founded in New Brunswick in 1872. Captain Søren Severin Heller, a Danish sea captain recruited twenty-seven people comprising of five young families and seven single men to come to Canada and settle in New Brunswick. They set sail for Halifax and arrived in New Denmark on June 19th, 1872, just two days short of Midsummer's Day which is a traditional day of celebration in Denmark. New Denmark, an agricultural area, well-known for its potatoes, is situated southeast of Grand Falls. Upon entering the community of New Denmark you will come across two churches standing opposite each other. St. Ansgar's Anglican Church and St. Peter's Lutheran Church. Niels Hansen, a Lutheran lay missionary arrived in New Denmark in 1875, along with his wife, eight children and 20 others from his parish in Denmark. Life was very difficult at that time in New Denmark so the Hansens soon decided to return to Denmark. A visiting Anglican clergyman suggested to Hansen that he should become a minster of the Church of England which would then provide support. Hansen believed that the differences between the Anglican and Lutheran churches were not doctrinal but rather in the form of services. St. Ansgar's Anglican Church was consecrated in 1884. The Danish language continued to be used and the church had a Danish character as well as the Danish flag adorned the interior.

First Nations

• First Nations in New Brunswick Wikipedia
• New Brunswick First Nations
• Indian land records
• Aboriginal residents of New Brunswick in the 19th century : found in Moses H. Perley's 1841 report; the census of 1851; the census of 1861

The First Nations of New Brunswick, Canada number more than 10,000, mostly Mi'kmaq and Maliseet. Although the Passamaquoddy maintain a land claim at St. Andrews, New Brunswick and historically occurred in New Brunswick, they have no reserves in the province, and have no official status in Canada. New Brunswick is home to 28 Indian reserves, of which 18 are recognized as census subdivisions by Statistics Canada.

German Immigrants

• German Immigrants Genealogy Resources Library and Archives Canada.
• Internet Listing of Hessian Soldiers of the Revolution
• Hessian Guide: Hessians remaining in America including Canada
  

The British purchased the services of 30,000 German Soldiers for $150,000, all of which went into the royal coffers of the German princes. These troops came from Hesse Cassel, Hesse Hanau, Brunswick, Anspach, Bayreuth, Anhalt Zerbst and Waldeck. A large migration of Germans to Canada occurred during the period after the American Revolution. A total of 30,000 Germans fought in North America between 1776 and 1783; among them, 10,000 men served in Canada and almost 2,400 settled there after the war, mainly in Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Irish Immigrants

• Irish Genealogy and Family History Library and Archives Canada.
• New Brunswick Irish Portal Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
• New Brunswick Irish (National Institute)
• Passenger Lists, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick Most of these passengers were Irish
• 1816-1858 - Teacher Petitions Index, index and images, Only lists teachers born in Ireland.
• 1841-1849 - Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849 ($)
• 1847-1856 - Fitzwilliam Estate Emigration Books, 1847-1856 Database
• 1851, 1861 - New Brunswick, Canada, Irish Immigrants In The New Brunswick Census Of 1851 and 1861 Index, 1851, 1861, index, ($)
• Brenan's Funeral Home Records, Saint John

• The Irish probably represent the largest group of immigrants to come to New Brunswick.
• By far, the largest immigration of the Irish to Canada occurred during the mid-19th century. The Great Irish Potato Famine of 1847 was the cause of death, mainly from starvation, of over a million Irish. It was also the motivation behind the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Irish to North America. Because passage to Canada was less expensive than passage to the United States, Canada was the recipient of some of the most destitute and bereft Irish.

Jewish Immigrants

• Jewish Immigrants Genealogy Resources Library and Archives Canada.
• Canadian Jewish Heritage Network
• JewishGen Canada Database
• New Brunswick Jewish Records
• New Brunswick Jews (National Institute)
• Index of Jews Resident in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island according to the 1861 to 1901 Censuses of Canada, by Glen Eker and Deborah Pekilis. (AMICUS 28938341)

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