Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

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Finding Aids

Links below are made to portions of our website that have indexes to or additional information about the records. There generally are lots of places where you can find these kinds of records on and offline. For a comprehensive index of on and offline Mennonite genealogical sources see our companion website: www.mennonites.ca

Part I. Books, Periodicals & Archival Records of specific help to Family History Research

A. Records to help identify birth details

• Biographies
• Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization Records
• Cemetery Records - date of birth on stone
• Census Records - country/province of birth, date of birth (or age), etc. (link tp
• Church Records - often the only official record of birth
• Family Histories/Genealogies
• GRANDMA
• Local Histories - often towards the back of the book in alphabetical order by surname

B. Records to help identify death details

• Biographies
• Cemetery Records - date of death on stone
• Census Records - if the person appears in a family in one census and then is not in it at a later census (and can't be presumed to have moved away)
• Church Records - may include burial date & burial location
• Family Histories/Genealogies
• GRANDMA
• Local Histories - often towards the back of the book in alphabetical order by surname

C. Records to help identify marriage details

• Biographies
• Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization Records
• Census Records - if the person no longer appears in his/her parents' household and appears in another household
• Church Records - generally identifies if it's a second or later marriage
• Family Histories/Genealogies
• GRANDMA

D. Records to help identify immigration details

• Biographies - lots of Mennonites self-publish their memoirs
• Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization Records
• Census Records - country/province of birth, date of birth (or age), etc.
• Family Histories/Genealogies
• GRANDMA../events/using_grandma_effectively.pdf

E. Records to help identify how they spent their lives

• Biographies
• Census Records - identifies year of immigration
• Conference Histories
• Congregational Histories
• Directories
• Family Histories/Genealogies
• Local Histories
• Property Assessment Rolls
• School Records
• Service Organizations Histories

Part II. Records we have at the Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

A. Biographies

• See BX 8107 Mennonite Encyclopaedia (thumbnail sketches)
• See BX 8141 (short biographies about a collection of people)
• See BX 8143 (full-length book biographies about an individual or couple)
• See Obituaries Indexes and Periodicals for Der Bote, Mennonite Brethren Herald, Gospel Herald, & Mennonite Life - may contain biographical information
• See F 1070 - Local Histories often contain short biographies

B. Cemetery Records

• See Cemetery Indexes (Call No. AI 1)

C. Census Records

• See Census transcriptions (Call No. HA …)
• See BX 8129 (Bergthal Gemeinde Buch for Manitoba Census, 1881)
• See Publication for Sale: 1880 Village Census of the Mennonite West Reserve
• See LDS CD for 1881 Census of Canada

D. Conference Histories

• See BX 8103 or BX 8129

E. Congregational Histories

• See BX 8132

F. Church Records

• See BX 8129 (Bergthal Gemeinde Buch)
• See Publication for Sale: History of Sommerfelder Mennonite Church
• See Chortitza Family Register (CD)
• See Taber Mennonite Church fonds
• See Westheimer (Rosemary/Duchess/Gem/etc) Mennonite Church fonds
• See Neukirche Mennonite Church fonds (Sedalia, Chinook, etc.)

G. Directories

• See BX 8107

H. Genealogies

• See CS 38
• See BX8119 - Henry Schapansky genealogically-focused book on first settler families of Chortitza settlement in Russia
• See Periodical shelf for Mennonite Family History, MHSA newsletter & queries in Mennonite Historian

I. GRANDMA

J. Local Histories

• See F 1070 or F1075

K. Immigration Records/Passenger Lists

• See BX 8129 (Bergthal Gemeinde Buch) - 1874-1880
• See Germans from Russia data disk files from George Dorscher
• See HA … for Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization Records (1923-1930) and Paraguay Immigration Lists (1926)
• See Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization fonds for records regarding settlement of Mennonites in Canada after WW II

L. Property Assessment Rolls

• See publication available for purchase MHSA: 1880 Village Census of the Mennonite West Reserve

M. School Records

• See BX 8107 for School Yearbooks

N. Service Organizations Histories (e.g. MCC, Women in Mission, etc.)

• See BX 8103

Last updated 11 Aug 2007

General Queries/Comments: Contact MHSA