RS315A SAINT JOHN BURIAL PERMITS ©

INTRODUCTION TO INDEX

Burial permits were issued under an order of the Board of Health for the City of Saint John to enable the Board to determine the cause of death and the possible presence of contagious diseases. Infectious and/or contagious diseases, such as smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, cholera, and typhus could reach epidemic proportions quickly if not detected early. When such cases were reported through the issuance of a death certificate, or a burial permit, an inspector was sent to check the problem. The burial permits were filed with the clerk of the local Board of Health. It seems that this practice was begun in 1889 and discontinued at the end of 1919. Thereafter, the filing of death certificates served the same purpose (see RS141C5).

This index includes the name of the deceased, age, the date of death, place of birth, burial permit reference, and the microfilm F-number whereon the permit may be viewed.

The individual permits themselves include the name of the deceased, date of death, age, marital status, if married woman, husband's name, residence, place of death, occupation, place of birth, name of father, birthplace of father, place of internment, cause of death, and name of undertaker. Researchers should note however that some burial permits do not contain all of the information which is requested on the form. Also, as far as can be determined, these permits are primarily confined to those individuals who died within the city limits of Saint John.

Using the Index:

1) Researchers should note that where a married woman's father's name has been provided on the permit, she is entered twice in the database, both under her married name, as well as under her maiden name. Those are the names which are indicated by an asterisk.

2) In the age field, the entry <1 means simply that the individual was less than 1 year of age at the time of death.

3) In regards to place of birth, if the individual was born in New Brunswick, the community name is entered in the place of birth field, and the county in a separate field. The abbreviations used for the Counties of New Brunswick are listed below. If the individual was born outside of New Brunswick, the place information is all provided in one field and broken down in the following manner: a) United States, the state, and the community; b) for the rest of Canada, the province, and either the community or county; c) outside North America, the country and either the community or county.

New Brunswick County Abbreviations

• AL = Albert
• CA = Carleton
• CH = Charlotte
• GL = Gloucester
• KE = Kent
• KI = Kings
• MA = Madawaska
• NO = Northumberland
• QU = Queens
• RE = Restigouche
• SJ = Saint John
• SU = Sunbury
• VI = Victoria
• WE = Westmorland
• YO = York

4) While using the on-line databases, researchers should remember that many names on the certificates are nearly illegible, and that prior to our 'technological age' modern spelling conventions were not strictly followed. Nonetheless, every attempt has been made to accurately present the information. To cover all bases while searching a name with variant spellings like Kierstead, Keirstead, Kerstead, researchers should search on a common element in the name, in this case 'stead'. Also, some women were registered under their husband's name (eg., Mrs Joseph Smith) without her given name on the certificate. In those cases, the index will show 'Smith, Joseph (Mrs)'.

The entire index is comprised of 33,283 entries.

Viewing the Complete Record:

The complete burial permits are available only on microfilm. The microfilm number is included in the index, along with the reference codes. The films can be viewed at the Provincial Archives in Fredericton, or at a library participating in the inter-library or inter-archives microfilm loan program.

Burial Permit Registers on Microfilm