Using the 'Marriage Notices From the Victoria Daily Times Newspaper, 1835-1953' Database

This invaluable resource of marriage notices that appeared mainly in the Victoria Daily Times newspaper from 1901-1939 and the accompanying index are available as a result of a project carried out in the 1980's by University of Victoria music professor, Dale McIntosh, and his students. There are some 17,500 entries all together.

More than 90 percent of these come from the Daily Times for 1901-1939. However, these have been supplemented with some 1100 entries from various sources for 1835-1900. There are also about 100 entries for 1940-1953.

The alphabetical index, searchable by both groom's and bride's names, offers a convenient way to access the marriage notices that are available at the City of Victoria Archives.

Using the References

The code TIM 1938.05.19,06 indicates that the entry is from the Victoria Daily Times for 19 May 1938 and was found on page 6. Continuing entries are separated by a dash (-). The year and month are not repeated for multiple entries.

The symbol [OS] following an entry indicates that the data is located in an oversize file. i.e. 1901.01.02,09[OS].

In addition to the Victoria Daily Times, the following sources were added to the index:

GO
R.E. Gosnell. A History of British Columbia (1906)
HS
F.W. Howay and E.O.S. Scholefield. British Columbia from the Earliest Times to the Present (1914). [Note: Volumes I and II are historical, Volumes III & IV are biographical. The two biographical volumes are identified as HS:III and HS:IV]
KR
J.B. Kerr.Biographical Dictionary of well-known British Columbians (1890).
REC
Death records of the Reformed Episcopal Church (1874-1906) [Available at the BC Archives].
WW
Maurice S. Carter, ed. Who’s Who in British Columbia (1931 to 1953). The 9 editions are identified as follows:
  • WW:I - 1931 edition
  • WW:II - 1934 edition (titled 1933-34)
  • WW:III - 1939 edition (titled 1937-38-39)
  • WW:IV - 1941 edition (titled 1940-41)
  • WW:V - 1943 edition (titled 1942-43)
  • WW:VI - 1945 edition (titled 1944-45-46)
  • WW:VII - 1948 edition (titled 1947-48)
  • WW:VIII - 1950 edition (titled 1949-50)
  • WW:IX - 1953 edition.

Date

The metric system of dating YYYY.MM.DD is used throughout. Dates reported in the newspaper notices may often be out by a day or two.

Dates can be searched by year, month, and day; by year and month; or by year alone. Type in the year and all entries for that year will be returned. Type in the year followed by a period and then the two-digit month (eg, 1902.01 for January 1910), and allentries for that month and year will be returned. The same pattern is used for searching a specific day (eg, 1902.01.29 for 29 January 1902). The lists that are returned are in alphabetical order for the date specified.

Misspelled Names

Publications of all kinds invariably misspell last names (surnames), and families often use variants in the spelling of both last (surname) and first (Christian) names. This is particularly true with "Mc" and "Mac" names, Clark and Clarke, Peterson, Paterson, Patterson etc. Users of this document are advised to consider exploring all possible variants in spelling before concluding that the information they seek is not found in this database.

Errors

Apart from misspelled names, other errors and discrepancies sometimes occur. Every effort has been made to make this database as accurate as possible. If you do find errors and have proof (i.e. marriage certificate) that an error has been made, please contact the City of Victoria Archives and we will be happy to make any corrections.

Abbreviations and Forms Used

aka
Also Known As
b
born
c
circa
m
married
m.1
1st marriage
m.2
2nd marriage
//
age unknown
?
date unknown
nee
maiden name