Probate Records Part 5 - Manitoba and Saskatchewan

In this series of blog posts, we are travelling west across Canada looking at probate. This post we're looking at Manitoba and Saskatchewan. If you're just joining in, you an find earlier posts here:

Part 1 gives a short overview of probate
Part 2 looks at Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island
Part 3 looks at Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
Part 4 looks at Quebec and Ontario

Manitoba
The probate process in Manitoba officially started in 1871. It falls under the Probate Court division of the Court of Queen's Bench. There are some earlier probate and wills records before 1871, but they are much fewer. Each regional courthouse is responsible for the keeping on records for their particular area. These are routinely transferred to the Archives of Manitoba under the following criteria:

• Records over 60 years old from the Eastern Judicial District in Winnipeg
• Records over 20 years old from outside of Winnipeg

The Winnipeg Courthouse has a central index. The indexes are divided by year, then alphabetically. A search can be requested, but you will need to provide the deceased's name and date of death. Copies of some of these indexes are also at the Manitoba Archives. The Manitoba Archives' website has a great explanation on the two step process in obtaining probate here.

Some other resources for finding probate and wills are:

1. 1763-1921 Wills of Hudson Bay Company officers are held at the HBC Archives, part of the Provincial Archives

2. Family Search has the searchable online collection Manitoba Probate Files, 1871-1930. They also have several microfilms listed here.

3. Ancestry has the same collection as Family Search, but it is browse only by district.

Saskatchewan

Probate cases go back to 1883. Like Manitoba, probate cases are handled by the Court of Queen's Bench in Saskatchewan. Now, I have read conflicting information on these records. Some sources say that records pre 1930 have been transferred to the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, while others have said that they are all still in the custody of the individual courthouses. If indeed older records have been transferred to the Archives, then they can only be accessed onsite. They does not seem to be an inter library loan program, and I could not find anything on their website suggesting they have been digitized. 

In any case, there is a central index of all the province's probate files located at the Registrar's Office at the Regina Courthouse. By looking at the indexes, you can find out whether your ancestor's estate was probated, and where. The process  for getting a search done, and fee schedule is on the Saskatchewan Law Court's website here.

Some other sources to get probate information:

1. Family Search has the browse only collection Saskatchewan, Judicial District Court Records, 1891-1954. These are the docket books and indexes from the central registry in Regina.

2.Family Search also has a browse only collection called Saskatchewan, Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931. These cover the entire province. Narrow your search first by district, then year, then file number.

Next post we will look at Alberta and British Columbia

Probate Records Part 4: Quebec and Ontario

The past few posts we've been travelling across Canada looking at sources for Probate Records. Part 1 gave a brief overview of the records, Part 2 talked about Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, and in Part 3 we talked about Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This post we're looking at Quebec and Ontario. Both provinces are unique compared to other provinces.

Quebec
Unlike the rest of Canada, Quebec has never strictly followed the rules of English Common Law. Wills and the records you would find in Probate Court files were historically instead done through Notaries.

Notaries played a very important role in the lives of people in Quebec. They were the ones who registered and kept records on all those events that we as genealogists crave. They handled the transactions for:

• marriage contracts
• deeds
• indentures
• wills
• inventories of estates
• guardianship records

Finding Notarial Records can be a little tricky. First you will need to have a good working knowledge of the French language. There were some English notaries, but the majority were French. The second thing you need to find out is what notaries were working in your ancestor's area. This is very important, because these are cataloged as a group of records in the repositories under the Notary's name. There are two books that you will want to get a hold of:

• Laliberte, J.M. Index des greffes des notaries decide, 1645-1948. Quebec, Canada:B. Pontbriand, 1967.
• Qunitin, Robert J. The Notaries of French Canada, 1626-1900: Alphabetical, Chronilogically, by Area Served. Pawtucket, Rhode Island, U.S.A.: R. J. Qintin, 1994.

These books can help you locate which notaries were in practice both in the area and the time period your ancestor lived.

Now, once you have the names of notaries you're interested in, you can now check out these various sources:

1.More recent records are kept by the judicial district office of where your ancestor lived. A list of the offices and contact information can be accessed here. I kept finding conflicting information for both year range and access rules, so your best bet is to contact them directly.

2. Ancestry has 2 collections on Notarial Records: Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637-1935 and Quebec Notarial Records (Drouin Collection), 1647-1942. Both are collections of the indexes to the records. Some will also link to the record it self, but not all.

3. Family Search has a browse only collection called Quebec Notarial Records, 1800-1920. First you narrow down by judicial district, then by notary, then by year range.

4. The Drouin Institute has an index of Notaries here. They also have a collection of notarial records here.

5. The Superior Court of Quebec does and has handled some Probate cases. These are called "Successions". You can see how the process is handled on their webpage.

6. BAnQ has a large collection of notary records. Click here and scroll down to the notaries section.

Ontario
Searching for Probate in Ontario is unique. Unlike some of the other provinces, early Ontario settlers did not care a lot about probate. Unless there were significant assets, large amounts of land and/or minor children involved, a larger percentage of people than normal didn't go through the process. It was often much cheaper for them to register the will at the local land registry to make sure title passed to the heir.

Before 1793, the court only got involved if the deceased had no will. Wills were left with a notary, similar to Quebec. From 1793 to 1858, a central provincial Probate Court handled cases that involved property in more than one district. Those with assets in one district were handled at the County or District level Surrogate Court that the property was located in. After 1858, the Surrogate Courts handled all cases. These are called Estate Files.


Sources for wills and estates:

1. Records are routinely transferred to the Archives of Ontario (AO). They have a great information sheet on everything you need to know about wills and estate files here. This was just updated this month, so the information it contains is completely up to date. The AO also participates in inter library loan, if the file has been microfilmed. Not all of them are. I've used the service for other types of microfilm, and it is usually very quick.

2. Family Search has many microfilms pertaining to Probate. You can see a list of them here. They haven't been digitized yet, but you can order and view them at any Family History Center.

3. If you've determined that the AO does not have your ancestor's files in their possession yet, then you must go through the court house that handled the case. You can find all the contact information for the courthouses here,

4. Various branches of the Ontario Genealogical Society have microfilms and indexes of the AO's records for their particular branch's area. Contacting the branch can give you  a good leg up.



Next post we're going to keep travelling west and look at Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Probate Records Part 3 - Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

This is the third in a series of posts about Probate Records. In Part 1 I gave an quick overview of Probate Records and what information they can give us. In Part 2 we looked at Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. Now we're going to look at Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Nova Scotia
From what I could find, there was or is no law in Nova Scotia requiring the Probate Process. However, if your ancestor had any kind of assets, they could not be distributed or settled legally without going through the courts. The process is done was done through the provincial Supreme Court's Probate Court. A complete overhaul of the Probate Process was done and came into effect on 1 October 2001. You can find the differences in the General Information section on the Supreme Court's web site. According to the rules on public access, Probate files have no restrictions on access once settled, unless ordered by a judge.

Here's where you can access wills and probate records:

1. Nova Scotia Archives has wills and probate records microfilmed and available to view onsite only. Thee records go from the 1700's to the mid twentieth century. From some quick searchs of their holdings, these can be found not only in Court Record sets, but in Family fonds as well. I also saw at least one record collection that belonged to a lawyer, and involved his case files. Talking to Archives staff looks to be the best course of action when you visit. A brief description of what they carry is here.

2. Originals of all proceedings are kept by the Registrar's office of the Probate Court. The Nova Scotia Courts website has an online database of their decisions from 2002 on wards here. This only gives you the final decision of the court, but from there you can get the information you need to find the actual files. There are several Probate Court locations around the province. To locate which courthouse would possibly hold your ancestor's records, use the interactive map here.

3. Family Search has a browse only collection on their website called Nova Scotia Probate Records 1760-1993. They are divided by County, then by year range. It will take some time but it will be worth it.

4. Check out local genealogical and historical societies from your ancestor's area. Many of them have transcribed records. Some are available freely, while some may require a membership. Fees for membership can be well worth your while if you have many ancestors in a particular area.

New Brunswick
Probate was not mandatory in New Brunswick. Like Nova Scotia, there is a special Probate Division of the Supreme Court, and records are held there. You can access contact information of the Probate Courts in the province here.

Other resources for records are the following:

1. The New Brunswick Courts web site has a searchable index. You will need to input a last name, then click on advanced options to narrow it down to probate and the area your ancestor's file will be in. This is a work in progress. All cases from 2010 to now are indexed. They are continually adding earlier years. Clicking on the results will give you a brief description of the particulars, and where to access the complete file.

2. The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick has wills and probate files in their holdings. These are not online. You will need to access the County Guides to see your area of interest's holdings. Some records have been microfilmed, and the PANB participates in inter library loan. Remember that county boundaries were quite fluid for a lot of years. You may have to look at a different County to get the information you need.

3. The PANB also has an online database of brief abstracts for over 2,000 files here. It is indexed several different ways. It is nowhere near as good as having a look at the complete record, but can give you a good starting point on further research.

4. If your ancestor was a New Brunswick Loyalist, check out the UNB's Loyalist Collection. The microfilms can be accessed through inter library loan, and they also do some research for others.

5. As with Nova Scotia, there are many local genealogical and historical societies in the province. Do a Google search to see which ones pertain to your area of interest. You never know if one of their volunteers has put together a collection.



Next post we're going to continue west and look at Quebec and Ontario.

Probate Records Part 2: Newfoundland and PEI

Last post we talked about the information you can get from.a probate file. Most of Canada follows English Common Law's process of probate and administration. The FamilySearch Wiki has a good tutorial of the process here.This post, we're going to look at how to get probate/administration records in Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.

Newfoundland
It was not mandatory that a will go through the probate process in Newfoundland. However, for the heirs to liquidate an estate, then they must have legal right to do so through the courts. If your ancestor was what we would consider middle to upper class, then they would probably have had a probate or administration process after their death. The same would hold true if there were minor children left behind.

Probate and Administration cases are handled by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland. There are 6 locations in the province:

• Corner Brook
• Gander
• Grand Bank
• Grand Falls-Windsor
• Happy Valley-Goosebay
• St. John's

There are several different ways to look for probate files in the province.

1. Registry of Deeds: If your ancestor had property before 1832, you might want to contact the Regsitry of Deeds Office. They have land registry books available to view on site that go back to 1825. If land passed between family members, there might be probate related records there.

2. The Rooms: This Provincial Archive had probate records from 1825- 1900. They are available to view on site. They do handle research requests for those searching at a distance, but they do follow certain guidelines. Your best bet would be to contact them directly to see if they can handle your request.

3. If you are researching from a distance, and have deep Newfoundland roots, you might want to consider a membership to the Family History Society of Newfoundland. Among other records, they have digitized collections of Probate and Administration records from the Supreme Court. These are available in their members only area. Membership is only $42/year.

4. Post 1900 files are still held in custody of the Supreme Court. The link to their information on Wills, Estates and Guardianship is here. About half way down the page is a request for a search form. The search is $20.00 in advance. Photocopies are $0.25 each.

5. If you're not sure where to find a file, check out the indexes at the Newfoundland Grand Banks.

6. FamilySearch has microfilms of various probate record sets. These are not digitized, but can be viewed at a Family History Centre.

Prince Edward Island
According to Family Search, estates in PEI were required by law to be probated. It did not matter if there was a will. The Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island Estates Division handles the probate process. There are 3 locations in the province:

• Charlottetown
• Summerside
• Georgetown

Here are some resources for finding Probate Court Records:

1. FamilySearch has several microfilms on PEI probate. You can access their list here.

2.The Provincial Archives Record Office (PARO) holds the records for the province before 1930. These are not online, but can be viewed onsite. Some of the PARO's holdings are microfilmed and available through inter library loan, but I do not know if the collection of probate and Estate records are part of the microfilms. Scroll to the bottom on this link to find out what's available for researching from a distance.

3. Post 1930 records are held at Estates Section, Sir Louis Henry Davies Law Courts in Charlottetown.

4. The Island Register has a transcription database of early PEI wills. You can view what they have here.

5. Don't forget to contact the provincial Registrar of Deeds if your ancestor owned land. Probate related records could be on file there.

Next post we'll be looking at Nova Scotia and New Bunswick. This post, we're going to look at how to get probate/administration records in Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.