Shout out to the amazing Nova Scotia Archives!
I just wanted to share the text of the certified letter my sibling and I received from the Nova Scotia Archives regarding the lack of a birth certificate for our G0. I hope this is okay with the mods! They went above and beyond what we requested. Can archivists accept gifts (or snacks like pastries)? They must be overburdened with inquiries so we appreciate how thorough they were.
Here is what the certified letter said (with a seal on it).
Regarding the birth registration of ________ , born ______ 1889, at Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia.
_________ was born when the Government of Nova Scotia had no system for the government registration of births. While government birth registration had started in 1864 it stopped in 1877-1922, years before the birth of ________.
When birth registration resumed in 1908 the legislation allowed the voluntary inclusion of birth events that had occurred during the 1877 to 1908 period when there was no registration system. This however was a voluntary system, and many remained unregistered. Additionally, even during periods where the provincial registration system has been in operation, our experience is that it was not fully comprehensive – resulting in some gaps, where no record is available.
The Nova Scotia Archives has made a thorough search for the government birth record of ________ but has been unable to find a provincial birth registration that matches the details provided. Our search included a wider time period than the date of birth as found in the 1901 census. Additionally, we looked at the inclusion and non-inclusion of the middle name and the potential reversal of their order, as well as anyone born in that area within a 15 year period of the ______ 1889 birth date.
While provincial registration is unavailable, we recommend seeking out alternative forms of documentary evidence where possible, such as census returns or local church records. In this instance church records may not be useful in identifying the place of birth as the census indicates the _______s were a Baptist family where the tradition would have been adult baptism.
Please contact if you have any additional questions.
________
Manager
Nova Scotia Archives
Halifax, NS
[email of the manager included]
We also requested a certified marriage certificate of G0's parents and the certified death certificate of G0's father. That along with 3 Canadian census records and 2 manifest records of travel to the US will hopefully work.