Manitoba

Brief history of Manitoba

From 1867-70, the entirety of what is present-day Manitoba was Rupert’s Land. In 1870, the Northwest Territory and Rupert’s Land merged to become one vast territory encompassing modern day Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northern Quebec. This page last updated 30 May 2024.

Hudson’s Bay

Prior to the Dominion of Canada, the territory was administered by Great Britain. See the records of the National Archives at Kew, London.

• 1670 – the Hudson’s Bay Company was created by British royal charter
• 1763 – the North-West Company was formed to encompass and exploit that part of the territory not covered by the HBC charter
• 1820 – HBC was joined with the North-West Company
• 1869 – HBC sold its rights to the two-year old Dominion of Canada

From: Mandy Banton, Administering the Empire, 1801-1968: A Guide to the Records of the Colonial Office in the National Archives of the UK (London, UK: University of London Press, School of Advanced Study, Institute of Historical Research, 2020), https://humanities-digital-library.org/index.php/hdl/catalog/book/administering-the-empire-1801-1968 : accessed 14 Jun 2021.

Confederation

This page contains resources primarily for Manitoba, Canada. Main archives and lesser known locales have location maps. Listings are under the following categories:

• Archives, Local Histories
• BMDs and Divorce
• Cemeteries, Obituaries
• Church Records
• Courts, Law, Legal, Prison
• Historic Maps of Western Canada
• Hospitals
• Land, Directories, Property
• Lists
• Maps – See Historic Maps of Western Canada
• Newspapers
• Western Canadian Censuses

Archives, Local Histories

Name	Address	Notes
Archives of Manitoba	130-200 Vaughan St. Winnipeg	This is the provincial archive. Look here for the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives holdings (see below), wills, WWI soldier database, and much more.
Centre du patrimoine	340, boulevard Provencher, Winnipeg	This is the Francophone genealogy centre. Research focuses on genealogy for francophone and Métis history in the prairies. The archives hold fonds, a library, microfilms, and periodicals. It is the only Centre recognized by the Manitoba Métis Federation for preliminary work regarding citizenship. The online Collection Search is here.
FamilySearch – Manitoba, Canada Genealogy	online	The FamilySearch wiki should be the first stop on any genealogist’s journey.
Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research	917 – 22nd Street West Saskatoon	Located in SK, but filed here to keep Métis-related research together. This is a site for genealogists looking into Métis ancestry.
Hudson’s Bay Company Archives	located at the Archives of Manitoba: 30-200 Vaughan St. Winnipeg	The HBC was a colonial superpower. Its records are the records of pre-Confederation Canada, from the Bering Strait to the Pacific Northwest, Pacific to Atlantic. The records of this important company have been gifted to the archives of Manitoba. Some thousand reels have been digitized, in addition to ten thousand volumes. See Western Canadian migration before the CPR: Tracing the voyage of the Princess Royal, London to Fort Victoria (1858-59), and Exploring the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives with the surprisingly detailed story of Thomas Thomas (1766-1828), governor of HBC.
Manitoba Genealogical Society	1045 St. James Street, Winnipeg	The SE & Winnipeg Branch, MBGS, is located here. Staffers run a free genealogy service for the public every Thursday. The archive holds a select library and important church records. I’ve been a member since 2022.
Peel’s Prairie Provinces	Internet Archive	The beloved site’s resources have been relocated to the Internet Archive. There’s a heavy focus on Alberta, but Manitoba records may also be found here.
Pembina Manitou Archive	Manitou	The municipality of Pembina touches the Canada / United State border and encompasses the communities of Darlingford, Kaleida, La Rivière, Manitou, and Snowflake.
Red River Ancestry	online	A site for Métis research.
(City of) Selkirk Museum		Northeast of the provincial capital of Winnipeg, Selkirk’s museum has a small but growing digital collection including city fonds, family biographies, and a timeline of significant events in the area.
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections	Room 330, Elizabeth Dafoe Library 25 Chancellors Circle University of Manitoba Winnipeg	An important archive for the province. You wouldn’t go far wrong to start here and explore the many collections.
Winnipeg Public Library	251 Donald Street (Millennium Library), Winnipeg	Winnipeg’s Local History archivists have assembled some resources for the online genealogist. Among them are Henderson’s Directories 1880-1965, abt. 130 postcards, and Winnipeg neighbourhood guides. The newspapers are for library members. Recommended titles for learning more about Manitoba hstory: “Rooster Town: the history of an urban Métis community 1901-1961,” by E.J. Peters, and “the North-West is Our Mother: the story of Louis Riel’s people,” by Jean Teillet.

Local Histories – Local History Books, Manitoba

A unique feature of prairie genealogy, at least in Western Canada, is the local history book. This is a collection of stories put together by the local historical society, and is a total goldmine of genealogical information. If you find one for your family, you are fortunate, because you are guaranteed to find something you wouldn’t normally know, in addition to a deep look at the place they lived and the people they knew. I’m a big proponent of Friends, Acquaintances, and Neighbours (“FAN”) research, and a local history book is stuffed with FAN details: the post office, the history, the homesteads, and sometimes biographies of the locals who served in wartimes.

How do you find if a local history exists for your family? First off, you need to know where your ancestor lived. You’ll get this information from censuses. The censuses ending in “1,” i.e., 1881, 1891, 1901, will have district and subdistrict information avaialble at Library and Archives Canada. The censuses for the prairies 1926 will have the legal land description and the area. Then, you’ll need to find a title.

Here is a bibliography for local histories for Manitoba. It’s a little dated (1989) but it’s a good place to start.

Local Histories – Red River Ancestry.ca

A volunteer effort about the descendants of the Red River.

Local Histories – Red River Colony and Red River Rebellion

A good summary of the Red River Colony (1812) and the Red River Rebellion (1869-1870).

Local Histories – Virtual Heritage Winnipeg

An old site but still running. Photos of old Winnipeg.

BMDs and Divorce

BMDs – Adoptions

See this page for detailed information on adoptions in Manitoba.

BMDs – Manitoba Vital Statistics

Ancestry.com scrapes from and links to this site, but you may be able to find the original record details here. You may need to pay if you would like a copy of the actual record. Note that each province has the right to restrict records as they see fit, so here are the limits for the Manitoba vital statistics:

• Births more than 100 years ago
• Marriages more than 80 years ago
• Deaths more than 70 years ago

I found to my delight that the site accepts Boolean searches, which is a huge plus when searching for scrambled names. For example, I was searching for Jacob, and found Jacob, Jakob, Javol in various records. Using a Boolean search for “Ja*” will return all my known variants. Similarly, the year field will accept Boolean searches, in addition to the 3 dropdown choices of “Match”, “Or earlier”, and “Or later.” For example, if you are looking for records in the 1920s, you can specify “192*” to get them all. Like some other provinces, Manitoba charges for documents. Depending on whether your records are unrestricted or restricted, the fees are different. For restricted records, the fee is $30 each. For unrestricted records, the fee is $12/record. I have ordered unrestricted records from Manitoba Vital Stats, and I am finding it takes about 4 months to receive my documents.

Cemeteries, Obituaries

Winnipeg Free Press – Passages 

Obituaries from 2000 onward may be found here. Free.

Church Records

Consult the FamilySearch wiki. Then check the Archives of Manitoba Keystone Archives Database Search for keywords, e.g., Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian.

About Anglican Records

Parish records predate civil records by generations, and were created well before Canadian Confederation (1867). Below is a draft summary about English and Welsh Anglican records as a proxy for this period in Canadian church history.

• Researchers need to know if the records are held at i) the county or city General Records Office (GRO); ii) the local library; or iii) (less commonly) the parish
• parish records are most often now only on microfilm but first consult the International Genealogical Index (IGI) of 20M indexed names
• 17th century registers may have been in Latin
• There are about 11,000 parishes in England and Wales, with the largest divided into chapelries (records could be held in either the parish, the chapelry, or both if the parish copied the chapelry register into its own)
• 1753: marriages either by publication of banns in the parish churches of both parties (three successive Holy Days) or by license
• 1813: The format for parish registers dates from 1 Jan 1813 – this format can be seen in Anglican records of the British Empire; recorded baptisms, births, burials, and marriages
• 1837: English civil registration began in England; be careful with dates prior to 1752, when England’s calendar began 25 March
• Two sets of parish registers were created although one or more may have been lost: the original parish register and the Bishop’s transcript
• baptismal registers – record the date of baptism / christening but not birth; could be entered in the parish register years after the event; the birth date cannot be assumed
• Confirmations – Over time, what is now called confirmation in the Church of England became a separate rite from baptism, as a bishop needed to perform the confirmations, and bishops could not attend all baptisms. Confirmation now usually comes later in life and affirms one’s commitment to the Christian life represented by baptism. Thus, most of the people named in these registers are teenagers and young adults. Confirmation records may include Parish, County, Borough, Name, Confirmation date, Age, Estimated birth year.
• Types of marriage registers: i) registers of marriages; ii) registers recording the publication of banns (the public announcement in a Christian parish church, or in the town council, of an impending marriage between two specified persons); iii) registers of marriage licenses; iv) Bishop’s Register/ Transcript (transcripts of parish records)
• Marriage by license – by diocesan consistory courts, and recorded in the Bishop’s Registers only if bride and groom of the same diocese; for different dioceses, marriage only after application to the Vicar-General of Canterbury or York
• The Anglican term of Nonconformist means Baptists, Independents / Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Quakers.

Here is a current map of Canadian Anglican dioceses.

About Roman Catholic Records

• Baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials. Records typically appear in either register or paragraph format, and are written in French and English. Some registers may have latin headings, but the entries will be written in English or French.
• Baptism: Name, Birth Date, Baptism Date, Parent Names
• Burial: Name, Age, Parent or Spouse Names, Death Date, Burial Date
• Confirmations: Children were typically confirmed after age 12, and records can include: name of the person being confirmed; date, name of clergy, and location of confirmation; parents’ names; age; residence
• Latin – records often in Latin. See “Common Latin Genealogy Terms (Latin to English)“
• Marriage: Name, Age, Parent Names, Spouse Name, Spouse Age, Spouse, Parent Names, Marriage Date

Here is a current map of Canadian Catholic dioceses and equivalents: eparchies and ordinariates.

Manitoba Church Records Finder

Below is a draft list of church records for Manitoba and Western Canada.

Denomination	Place	Dates	Provider	Details & Links
Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Roman Catholic	Territory of Hudson’s Bay Company	1820-1920	Héritage Canadiana	Parish registers : Manitoba; H-1344 (Anglican and Roman Catholic), image 17 lists the records index; H-1812 (Anglican); H-1813 (Presbyterian)
Anglican and Protestant	Territory of Hudson’s Bay Company	1821-1950	Héritage Canadiana	Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.) fonds (FA only)
Anglican, Roman Catholic (The Kipling Collection)	Red River Colony	1820-82; 1835-84; 1835-84	Héritage Canadiana	St. John’s Anglican Church (Red River Colony, Manitoba) : Registers, 1820-82 St. Andrew’s Anglican Church (Red River Colony, Manitoba) : Registers, 1835-84 St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church (Red River Colony, Manitoba) : Registers, 1835-84
Anglican parish registers	Red River	1820-51, 1937-38	Archives of Manitoba	Extracts from registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials in Rupert’s Land
Lutheran	Canada, U.S.	1800-1947	Ancestry	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Swedish American Church Records, 1800-1947
Methodist	RT Rundle, missionary, register of marriages and baptisms, Saskatchewan District	1840-48	Archives of Manitoba	Robert Terrill Rundle fonds, FA only
Methodist	Canada	1828-1910	Ancestry	Web: Canada, Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register, 1828-1910
Methodist	Rev. J. Ryerson, missionary, Hudson’s Bay Company	1855	Internet Archive	Hudson’s Bay: or A Missionary Tour.
Presbyterian	Manitoba	various	Archives of Manitoba	Erskine, Kildonan, Oak Bluff, Orrwold, Presbyterian Church of Canada, Presbyterian Missions Manitoba (no records, just preliminary FA)
Presbyterian	Manitoba	bef. 1951	Archives of Manitoba	William Douglas and G.B. King collection, FA only
Presbyterian	Rev. John Black, first Presbyterian minister, Northwest Territories	1846-83	Archives of Manitoba	Reverend John Black fonds, FA only
Presbyterian	Winnipeg	[1925]-75	Archives of Manitoba	Winnipeg Presbyterial Women’s Missionary Society fonds, FA only
Roman Catholic	Archidiocèse de Saint-Boniface	2024	Archidiocèse de Saint-Boniface	Parish Listing
Roman Catholic	Belleau Collection, Archidiocèse de Saint-Boniface	1815-[1925]	Archives of Manitoba	Belleau collection (FA only)
Roman Catholic	The Grey Nuns of Montréal, serving AB, MB, QC	abt. mid-18th cent.	The Grey Nuns of Montreal	Archives and Collections (description of collection only – research by request and fee)
Roman Catholic – Jesuit	Les archives des jésuites au Canada	?	Les Archives des jésuites au Canada	Les Archives des jésuites au Canada
Roman Catholic – OMI	Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Grey Nuns – Western Canada	1911-82	Archives of Manitoba	Oblates of Mary Immaculate collection (FA only)
Roman Catholic – OMI	Oblates of Mary Immaculate – Manitoba, Saskatchewan, NW Ontario		Centre du Patrimoine, St. Boniface	Centre du patrimoine (Collection Search)
United Church (Methodist, Presbyterian)	Western Canada	unknown	United Church of Canada Archives (UManitoba)	Formerly United Church of Canada Archives Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario (FA only)
United Church	Western Canada		United Church Archives (Winnipeg)	United Church of Canada Archives Manitoba Northwestern Ontario and All Native Circle Conferences
Mixed	Protestant and Catholic schools, Board of Education	1871-90	Archives of Manitoba	Board of Education meeting minutes and office files (FA only)
Mixed	Manitoba churches, Ruperts Land (MB)	ca. late 19th cent.	Archives of Manitoba	F. P. V. Cowley collection (FA only)
Mixed	Catholic, Lutheran, Unitarian records, Manitoba	1800-1959	FamilySearch	Canada, Manitoba Church Records, 1800-1959
Mixed	Catholic, Lutheran, Unitarian, Saskatchewan and Manitoba	1834-1959	Ancestry	Manitoba, Canada, Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1834-1959

Courts, Law, Legal, Prison

Category	Provider	Details and Links	Notes
Courts	Courts of Manitoba	Manitoba Courts	Look here for the Court of Appeal, Court of Kings Bench, and Provincial Court. Each court may be searched for recent judgements.
Law	Internet Archive	The Canadian North-west, its early development and legislative records, O.E. Henry	1914 overview of the Hudson’s Bay Company, laws of the Northwest, pioneer legislation, from Imperial Blue Books, Dominion Sessional Papers, Journals of the Council and Legislative Assembly of the North West Territories, Parliamentary Returns and Departmental Files.
Legal	Ancestry	The Manitoba Reports, Containing Reports of Cases Decided in the Court of Queen’s Bench for Manitoba	Vols. 1-12 (1884-1900); a round up of civil and criminal court cases.
Prison – Brandon Reformatory			See Hospitals, below
Prison – Headingly Gaol	Manitoba Historical Society	Headingley Gaol (RM of Headingley)	built 1929-30; inmates can be found in the 1931 census
Prison – Manitoba Jail (Winnipeg)	Census of Canada	Library and Archives Canada Census Search	Can be found in the 1921 census, District of Winnipeg, keyword “Manitoba Jail”
Prison – Manitoba Penitentiary (Lower Fort Garry)	Library and Archives Canada	Manitoba history and the penitentiary at Lower Fort Garry, 1871–1877	Built Lower Fort Garry (30 kms north of Winnipeg) 1871; called “The Stone Fort,” or “The Lower Fort,” functioned as both asylum and prison.
Prison – Stony Mountain Institution	LAC, MB Historical Society	Library and Archives Canada – Stony Mountain Penitentiary (Winnipeg, Manitoba); Manitoba Historical Society and Archives – Stony Mountain Penitentiary	Located 25 kms northeast of Winnipeg; opened 1877, adjacent to Rockwood Institution [prison]; when opened, prisoners from Lower Fort Garry were transferred here.
Wills and Probates	Abbotsford Genealogical Society	Non-BC Wills	About two hundred wills not from BC, e.g., AB, SK, MB.
Wills and Probates	Ancestry	[NIL Apr 2024 – Wills, Probates, Land, Tax & Criminal]	Court records; prairie homestead records are different from the ones held at the provincial archives.
Wills and Probates	Ancestry	Manitoba, Canada, Probate Records, 1871-1930	Digital images; Surrogate Court, Central Judicial District, Estate File Index, May 1884 to Jan 1937.
Wills and Probates	Archives of Manitoba	Manitoba Estate File Index	This index was created by the Archives of Manitoba to facilitate access to estate files and associated probate records for deceased individuals whose estates were probated in a Manitoba court. The index covers files from 1870 up to and including 1984. (Note that both this index and the Court Registry may need to be consulted for 1984 files.)
Wills and Probates	Manitoba Court Registry System	Name Search	Probates after 1984.

Hospitals

Category	Provider	Details and Links	Notes
Hospitals – Brandon Asylum, Brandon Mental Hospital, Brandon Reformatory for Boys	Manitoba Historical Society and Archives	1921 census on Ancestry; BMHC North Cemetery; Manitoba Historical Society and Archives and MHSC link to South Cemetery	Originally designed as the Brandon Reformatory for Boys when it was built in 1890, the building was converted to the Brandon Asylum for the Insane in 1891, and renamed the Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases in 1919. A fire destroyed the complex in 1910, but it was rebuilt to house 700 patients by 1912.
Hospitals – King Edward Memorial Hospital	Manitoba Historical Society and Archives	King Edward Memorial Hospital (1 Morley Avenue, Winnipeg)	Built for treating tuberculosis in 1912, closed 1970
Hospitals – Selkirk Asylum	City of Selkirk Museum	City of Selkirk Museum	The 100K ft^2 asylum with 167 beds was completed 1886, soldiers wing 1923; repurposed to the Selkirk Mental Health Centre

Land, Directories, Properties

Directories – Ancestor Hunt – Manitoba Directories

Thanks to the work of Kenneth R. Marks and Miriam Robbins, we have a site for Canadian directories. This site is always being updated. As of July 2020 there are directories for Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Plans are underway for Alberta, BC, Newfoundland & Labrador, PEI, Quebec, and the Territories.

Land – GridAtlas

If you’re not a farmer, you probably have a little trouble reading the legal land descriptions for the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This is my goto lookup – and it’s free for the first 20 searches / day. [EDIT: This is no longer my goto lookup – see below the Legal land descriptions at Manitoba AgriMaps.]

Land – Legal land descriptions at Manitoba AgriMaps

Wouldn’t it be amazing if somone could put together a legal land description lookup combined with hi-resolution maps so you could not only find your ancestors homesteads but also see the features of their particular piece of land? How much would that be worth to you? Lucky for you, the government of Manitoba has assembled AgriMaps, which does all of the above and much more. The layers of mapping show features from topography, roads and rail lines, and there are tool for measuring and drawing.

Land – Township Canada: Canadian Township Grid System

This is one of the best descriptions of the township system in Canada I have ever seen, because it includes the provinces of BC and Ontario. If you’ve ever wondered what “DLS” meant, or wondered how Ontario was different from Saskatchewan, or why British Columbia was different from Alberta, this is the page to see. This is the only page I’ve ever seen that included Legal Subdivisions (LSDs) subdivisions in its descriptions, encompassing the urban and the rural. Also has a free lookups, limited to ten lookups/month. If you’re wondering why you might need this tool, I have one phrase for you: homestead files.

Land – Prairie Towns (Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, BC

I had to find a list of small towns in Alberta, and this site was the answer to my question. There are maps as well – a real genealogical find.

Land Exceptions

It’s important to note that not everyone was eligible to participate in the Dominion Land homestead process – one had to be a British subject. For this reason, at least two major communities were specifically excluded: Indigenous and “Orientals,” which included Chinese, Japanese, Persians and more. See the Canada Year Book (1915), p. 632. Thus, homestead records generally will not be available for these populations.

Lists

to come

Notes for Table

The GNR served Washington, Montana, and North Dakota, as well as reaching into Oregon, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Canadians travelled the GNR, crossing at various points from Sumas, Grand Forks, and Gateway in BC; Sweetgrass, Montana; Northgate, ND; and Bannerman, MB. It’s pretty useful to have a visual.

Newspapers

The Winnipeg newspaper archives are digitized and free online to library patrons of the area. In addition, Newspapers.com ($) has holdings of 26 titles as of Apr 2024.

Ancestor Hunt – Manitoba Newspapers

A site for free digitized newspapers in Manitoba. If you know the title, you can search here.

The Moccasin Telegraph photos (1939-81) and magazine (1941-90)

The newspaper of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the “Moccasin Telegraph,” provided news for HBC staff. About 4800 photographs may be consulted at the Archives of Manitoba. See finding aid for the photos here and magazine here.

Newspaper Search – University of Manitoba

The above link will take you directly to the search, however, you may wish to see the overview of the collection before you dig in. This is a free collection of newspapers that include dozens of titles from the Brandon Daily Sun to the intriguingly named Winnipeg Telegram Strike Edition. This is definitely a tool in your toolkit if you are researching Manitoba family roots. As well, if you are new to newspaper searching, or would like a refresher, here are lessons from The Ancestor Hunt which will absolutely improve your search successes.

Newspapers from Peel’s Prairie Provinces (Internet Archive)

Once hosted at the University of Calgary’s Peel’s Prairie Provinces (2003-2009), now moved to the Internet Archive (abt. 2022-).

Thank yous

Thank yous to Bob Allebone, Bruce Popham, Kendra Gaede, and Ginny Braid of the SE & Winnipeg Branch, Manitoba Genealogy Society; and to the members of the FB group Manitoba Genealogy.

References

Ancestry.com, “London, England, Church of England Confirmation Records, 1838-1923,” database with images, “About London, England, Church of England Confirmation Records, 1838-1923,” Ancestry.com, accessed 28 May 2024.

Ancestry.com, “Saskatchewan, Canada, Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1867-1932,” database with images, “About Saskatchewan, Canada, Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1867-1932,” Ancestry.com, accessed 28 May 2024.

Archives of Manitoba, 2024, museums and archives, Government of Manitoba (https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/about/index.html : accessed 7 Apr 2024).

Elizabeth Briggs and Anne Morton, Biographical Resources at the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Volume One, 1st ed., vol. 1, 2 vols. (Winnipeg: Rinella, 1996).

Elizabeth Briggs and Anne Morton, Biographical Resources at the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Volume Two, 1st ed., vol. 2, 2 vols. (Winnipeg: Westgarth, 2003).

David Hey, The Oxford Guide to Family History, 2nd ed., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).