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New Brunswick GenWeb

Victoria County
Genealogy

Canada GenWeb Project




A Quick Word from the Author


History and Geography

Located in the western part of New Brunswick, Victoria County is bordered on the north by Restigouche County, on the east by Northumberland and York Counties, on the south by Carleton County, and on the west by Aroostook County (Maine) and Madawaska County. The genealogist researching records of the land that is now Victoria County should understand the history of this area, and the evolution of its borders.

In 1785 New Brunswick was first established and comprised eight counties; the land that is now Victoria county was originally part of York county. In 1831, the northern part of York County became Carleton County. The parishes (similar to US townships, and used as census sub-districts) of Perth, Madawaska, and Andover were established in 1833. In 1844, Victoria County was erected from the northern parts of Carleton County. The parishes of St Leonard and St Basil were established in 1850; Grand Falls, Gordon, Lorne, and Drummond were established in 1852, 1863, 1871, and 1872 (respectively). In 1873, the western half of Victoria County -- including the parishes of Madawaska, St Leonard, and St Basil -- split off to become Madawaska County. Present-day Victoria County comprises Andover, Drummond, Gordon, Grand Falls, Lorne, and Perth parishes.

Principal Towns in Victoria County

Click here for a list of all of the towns in Victoria county, and town-based links.

Principal Rivers in Victoria County

St. John, Little, Salmon, Tobique

To Find a Place

If you're not sure where a specific town, village, plantation, etc. is located, try:


GenWeb sites of Adjacent Counties

If you can't find what you're researching, try the surrounding counties:

GenWeb sites of Broader Areas

Other Useful GenWeb sites

Maps

History Sites

Principal Towns in Victoria County

Click here for a list of all of the towns in Victoria county, and town-based links.

Church Records in Victoria County

Click here for the Victoria Churches page, a list of all of the churches in Victoria county, including an indication of which have records (mostly birth and marriage records) that have been microfilmed.

Other Victoria County Resources

various links to genealogy sites of local interest

Government Resources

Victoria/Madawaska Census Records

Census records are available on microfilm both at the National Archives of Canada (NAC) in Ottawa and at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick(PANB) in Fredericton. Censuses are conducted every ten years (1871, 1881, etc.). Federal Privacy laws prohibit the release of certain information; the latest publicly-accessible census records are from 1901. The census records are not usually indexed; however, this page provides listings of the parishes (census sub-districts) that may prove helpful to researchers.

Note: Victoria County was established in 1844. Madawaska county was established in 1873, yet its census records are still included under Victoria County in the 1881, 1891, and 1901 censuses.

Land Records

There was a survey undertaken in 1831 of the north and south banks of the upper St. John by representatives of the State of Maine (because of US claims to the area, information on communities in what is now Madawaska Co. is included). This survey is one of land holdings, and gives details on land owners, amount of land, improvements, names of current and past owners, and is also linked to a list of the original land British land grants in the area (1790 and 1794). A transcription of this survey can be reached through: http://www.geocities.com/ithacan.geo/aroostook/deane-kavanagh.htm.

Norm DeMerchant has provided a transcription of the records for Bounty Grain for Raising Bread Corn on New Lands 1817-1821. These records list how much grain was raised, and by whom, and includes many of the names of Victoria and Madawaska residents. The records can be found at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nbcarlet/bountygrain.htm.

Military Records

These sites can help to find names and other information about soldiers:

Immigration Records

Official and unofficial sites:

Victoria County Genealogies, Family Histories, and Diaries

Please click here for the page on Victoria County genealogies. These sites point to collections of data that have been generously supplied. Readers are advised that the information could contain errors.

New Brunswick Records

These sites will help point to available resources that relate to New Brunswick:

Acadian and French Records

The history and geography of Victoria county are such that there is a great influx of French/Acadian genealogy lines. Here are some sites that will help:

Genealogy/History Societies and Organisations

Société Historique de Madawaska
PO Box 474
Edmunston, NB E3V 3L1

Le Centre d'Études Madawaska
165 boul. Herbert
Edmunston, NB E3V 2S8
telephone: 506-735-8804

Le Centre d'Études Acadiennes
L'Université de Moncton
Moncton, NB
telephone: 506-858-4085

Société Historique Acadiennes
PO Box 2263, Substation A
Moncton, NB E1C 8J3

The Acadian Cultural Exchange
RFD #2 Box 99
Madawaska, ME 04756

Acadian Archives / Archives acadiennes
University of Maine at Fort Kent
25 Pleasant Street
Fort Kent ME 04743
telephone: (207) 834-7535
email: acadian@maine.maine.edu

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
PO Box 6000
Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1
(506) 453-2122
(http://www.gov.nb.ca/supply/archives/index.htm)

New Brunswick Genealogy Society
P.O. Box 3235, Station B
Fredericton, N.B.
E3A 5G9
website: http://www.bitheads.ca/nbgs/


Published Resources

Look for these at your local genealogical library

News Groups, Mailing Lists, and On-line Publications


General Genealogy Tools and Links

Here are some more links to more general genealogy sites; they don't exacly fit into any of the previous categories.

Getting Specific Information from other Visitors to this Site

The success of the GenWeb projects stem from volunteer effort, such as taking the time to transcribe records. There is also a page of volunteers who have access to publications and are willing to lookup information.

Additionally, there is a page of queries, where readers can submit specific questions about people, places, etc. These queries can then be read publicly, hopefully by someone with the requested information.

Frequently Asked Questions

There is a list of questions that have been asked by other visitors. These deal with genealogy in general and genealogy specific to Aroostook, Madawaska, and Victoria counties.


Thanks for stopping by.

This page last updated Saturday, 02-Feb-2002 23:42:35 MST.



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