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Genealogy Basics: FamilySearch’s Antigonish Catholic Diocese Records – Revisited
Joe Petrie
BACKGROUND:
Two years ago, I wrote an article about FamilySearch‘s Antigonish Catholic Diocese database
for the Cape Breton Genealogy and Historical Association’s cbgen.org web site. The article is in
Records/Research. The article’s focus was on a database (in a number of databases called
community trees). Because of software changes, the article needs to be revised.
The following chart lists the 43 parishes in the 7 counties that provided records. The database
covers the 1811 to 1905 timeframe. Note that there is at least 1 parish in each of the counties in
the Diocese: Antigonish, Cape Breton, Guysborough, Inverness, Pictou, Richmond and Victoria.
The database contains 164,712 records (including some with blank surnames).The database has
mostly baptism records. There are also lots of marriage records. In addition, there are a few birth
records and death records. The last category (Other) seems to be a mix of everything.
County Parish Number of Register Pages that were Imaged
Date Regristration Started
Antigonish
Baptisms Marriages Deaths Others Births There are Gaps. Antigonish St. Ninian's Cathedral
866 114 1 1069
1833 Arisaig St. Margaret of Scotland
349 67 14 0
1845 Havre Boucher St. Paul
390 95 148 480
1811 Heatherton Immaculate Conception
50 11 5 61
1875 Lochaber St. Patrick's
69 7 0 79
1861 St. Andrews St. Andrew's
176 29 1 131
1833 St. Beans St. Joseph's (St. Beans)
104 30 0 131
1859 St. Joseph St. Joseph's
225 51 24 310
1859
Cape Breton Big Pond St. Mary's
2 3 0 7
1890 Boisdale St. Andrew's
109 3 0 110
1850 Bras D'or St. Joseph's
117 7 0 122
1879 Dominion (Bridgeport) Immaculate Conception
177 2 0 181
1885 Frenchvale St. Mary's
44 15 6 66
1853 Glace Bay St. Anne
355 42 0 156
1873 Glace Bay St. Anthony's
33 19 1 3
1903 Glace Bay St. John the Baptist
45 8 0 13
1903 Grand Mira St. Margaret's
352 47 0 401
1836 Main-à-Dieu Immaculate Conception
305 0 0 13
1846 New Waterford St. Alphonsus (New Victoria)
172 36 6 225
1856 New Waterford St. Joseph's (Lingan)
119 3 3 128
1886 North Sydney St. Joseph's
559 391 4 951
1846 Port Morien St. Mary's & St. Gregory's
104 7 0 112
1873 Reserve Mines St. Joseph's
44 12 0 58
1895 Sydney Sacred Heart
552 166 52 706
1846 Sydney Mines Immaculate Conception
47 33 0 63
1884
Guysborough Mulgrave St. Lawrence
202 67 19 286
1857
Inverness Broad Cove St. Margaret of Scotland
275 44 0 62
1853 Brook Village St. John the Baptist
251 8 0 261
1877 Creignish Stella Maris
96 16 0 105
1870 Judique St. Andrew's
248 55 0 296
1853 Mabou St. Mary's
45 11 0 20
1842 Port Hawkesbury St. Joseph
103 16 0 7 27 1863 Port Hood St. Peter's
198 0 0 244
1868
Pictou Pictou Stella Maris
475 101 23 266
1850 Stellarton Our Lady of Lourdes
64 0 0 89
1876
Richmond Glendale St. Mary the Angel
9 1 1 8
1881 Johnstown Sacred Heart
113 3 1 132
1890 L'Ardoise Holy Guardian Angels
442 79 107 272 1 1823 Lower River Inhabitants St. Frances de Sales
33 0 0 34
1865 River Bourgeois St. John the Baptist
217 39 26 360
1840 St. Peter's St. Peter's
47 6 0 55
1867
Victoria Iona St. Barra (Boisdale)
100 15 1 110
1862 Iona St. Columba
385 35 0 422
1854
Sources: FamilySearch.org and Norm MacDonald. The 5 statistical columns that identify
the number of pages of baptisms, marriages, deaths, births and other were provided by
the FamilySearch software. Norm provided the list of the 43 Parishes. Please note that in
the last column I have updated the start date for each Parish using the actual image of the
Parish Register.
WHY REVISIT THE 2013 ARTICLE?
The software has changed – but the article has never been updated. As I indicated earlier, my
2013 article is out-of-date principally due to software changes. The list of Community Trees
databases has changed; additional software options were added; etc. Because of a policy change
deceased people have been identified as living – their records were not redacted from the
Registers. (That includes records for two of my father’s siblings who were born before 1905 and
who died in the 1930s.) Also, there surname errors which are probably clergy errors. Finally, the
FamilySearch software designers have given the database 3 different looks. For this document,
I’ll describe major points about each version.
This document is an attempt to get users comfortable with the three versions. For simplicity, I’ll
identify the current URL (Uniform Resource Location) for each version as of May 2015.
(Remember that URLs can change in the future.) Please note that I still use 2 of the versions.
Version 1. - UPDATED VERSION OF THE INITIAL COMMUNITY TREES
SOFTWARE
The starting point is the following URL:
https://histfam.familysearch.org/
The resulting screen is shown below.
Because a surname search will search all the Community Trees (over 100 trees), I use the
Advanced Search to select the one of the 8 Canada Community Trees; specifically, Canada,
Nova Scotia, Antigonish Catholic Diocese Community Tree. Remember that I am only covering
the Antigonish Catholic Diocese records.
The Advanced Selection Criteria screen is shown on the following page. In the first field, I use
the drop down list to select only the records for Canada, Nova Scotia, Antigonish Catholic
Diocese.
Lately, I have been using the Find Surname software option because I am certain that there are
Petrie ancestors (and descendants) that I have not collected vital information for (especially
christening information). The option is on the right side of the following Search screen. Please
note that all surnames are sorted and summed for the resulting top 30 graphic. (Please be patient
when using the option because the software takes a long time to execute.)
The following screen print shows how to find the option.
The software retrieves and sorts nearly 165 thousand Antigonish Catholic Diocese records. The
top 30 names are displayed. Again, be patient, it does take time to execute.
Please see the following screen print for a listing of Surnames beginning with a P. There are 270
Surnames beginning with a P. There may be 4 Petrie spellings: Petrie, Peterie, Petre and Petry. In
total there are up to 155 records: 136 Petrie, 11 Peterie, 7 Petre and 1 Petry. (In at least one of the
other versions, the numbers of records are different.)
The following screen print for my grand uncle James Patrick Petrie (son of Richard P Petrie and
Agnes O’Brien) shows both a birth and christening record.
Please note that I originally planned to show the record for my late aunt Hazel Bertha Petrie who
was christened in Immaculate Conception Parish in Bridgeport in 1903. But both she and her
older brother are listed as Living. I used the suggestion software option to send the following
note:
All of the 6 children of my Petrie grandparents (Edmund and Esther - aka as Ester and
Hester) have passed on. Two were born in Bridgeport NS and christened before 1905.
Charles Edward Petrie's vitals are: B 14 Oct 1902; C 17 Oct 1902; D 20 Mar 1936 in
Sydney NS; Bu 22 Mar 1936 in Dominion.
Hazel Bertha Petrie's vitals are: B 1 Dec 1903; C 6 Dec 1903; D 28 Jun 1932 in Boston
MA; Bu in Dominion.
Joe Petrie, Published Author and Member, Association of Professional Genealogists
Using Norm’s table, I found the following is the Parish Register page which contains the
Baptism record for my Uncle Charles Edward Petrie (aka Eddie Petrie). It is the second record
from the top. Please note that the Sponsors were his Boutilier grandmother (Mrs. Mary Ann
Boutilier Neville, Cummings, Rockett) and his step-grandfather Richard Rockett. Mary Ann
(Boutilier) Rockett was twice widowed.
Version 2. – USING FAMILYSEARCH’S “LEARN MORE” SOFTWARE VERSION OF
THE INITIAL COMMUNITY TREES SOFTWARE
Please note that you can learn more about the over 100 Community Trees at the FamilySearch
“learn more” software. The current URL is:
https://histfam.familysearch.org/learnmore.php
I recommend that the users get familiar with the Community Tree databases. The results of a
search should be the same as what you have seen in Version 1 without the Version 1 Home Page.
The advanced search option on Version 1’s home page is an option on the first screen.
The Version 2 software is supposed to replicate at some point the Version 1 software. At some
point, the software defaults to https://histfam.familysearch.org/
The following screen results when I search for the 11 Peterie records.
Surprise! There are 12 records. The last one is a UTAH record that simply does not belong with
Canada, Nova Scotia, Antigonish Catholic Records. I should have stopped there. Including a
Utah record is a software error.
As I indicated previously, there are errors that I attribute to the clergyman. For example, John
Peterie was the son of Richard Petrie and Agnes O’Brien. He was my grandfather’s younger
brother. Richard Peterie was my great grandfather whose second wife was Agnes O’Brien.
Catherine Peterie Hennessey’s maiden surname was Petrie. Catherine was the daughter of James
Petrie and Bridget Carroll. She is included twice; as Catherine Peterie and as Kate Peterie.
Version 3. – ONE FILE ON THE FAMILYSEARCH.ORG/COLLECTIONS/LIST
On May 22, 2015, there were 1995 collections (the number keeps growing). There are 94
Canadian collections. One is Nova Scotia, Antigonish Catholic Diocese. The URL is:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1392507
The designers try to make each collection start page as consistent as possible. The home page for
all of the databases that I use in the Collections List generally look and feel alike.
There are 91,875 records in this version. Registered users can view the image of the original
document. I encourage everyone to register.
I use this software for all of my searches.
There are two Searches that I will document: Any Life Event within the date range of 1785 to
1940 for individuals with the Petrie Surname as well as those with the Peterie surname.
One screen print for the results for the first search (Any Life Event within the date range of 1785
to 1940 for individuals with the Petrie Surname) is on the following page.
There are 1,194 results for the Petrie search. (Note that Version 1, Community Trees, had only
136.) Catherine Peterie Hennessey is displayed as Catherine Petrie on page 1 (first 20 records).
Registered users can click on the hyperlinked name to see the image of the original record.
The following screen print is for the first 20 of the 148 records with the Peterie surname.
WHY DO I PRINCIPALLY USE VERSION 3
About Version 3: For me, more records are better! Because I can view the image, this is the
software of choice.
About Version 2: Because I retired as an software designer (after 35 years of government service
– mostly as a consultant), because I later retired as an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science,
and because I author genealogy articles (including Register Reports), I simply can’t accept
programming errors. I often can’t accept transcription errors. (I can accept clergy errors – my
family records include a bishop, priests and nuns whom I learned early in life were human with a
vocation for the religious life.)
About Version 1: The software and database was special to me. I used it principally to add about
6000 christening records in 2012 and 2013. Now I use it to identify possible misspelled
surnames.
#
Your corrections, comments and suggestions are appreciated. Please Email me at joe-
Joseph F. Petrie, AB (Economics and Business – St. Anselm College)
MA (Economics – Boston College)
Founding Member, Friends of Irish Research (FIR)
Member, Cape Breton Genealogy and Historical Association (CBGHA)
Member, Family History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador (FHSNL)
Member, New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)
Member, Association of Professional Genealogists (APG)
