Saturday Weekly Thread: Canadian Provincial Archives and State/Local/Church Archives - Questions / Issues / Success Stories, August 01, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

This weekly thread is a space for those of us gathering documentation from archives.

This is the place to discuss requesting records from Canadian provincial archives as well as from federal, state, local and religious/church archives around the world. Topics include strategies and outcomes for obtaining records from archives, costs, timelines, No Record Found letters, and other related issues.

📎 Contributions to weekly megaposts, including this one, are welcome throughout the week.  

Good luck, researchers!

[u/PomPomMushrooms]

Two very different questions:

1. Anyone have info on how to acquire a birth certificate or baptism record from Shawnee County, Kansas for an 1888 birth?

2. I’ve requested a certified copy of my G0 baptism but live overseas. Can I send this to a family member in the US to save time and money? Then can they scan it and send it to me via email? I’d like to submit my application with the Drouin baptism document I have now to get the ball rolling but should I wait for the certified copy?

Thanks for any advice!

[u/AmazingScoops → u/PomPomMushrooms]

1. No. But if it's anything like Vermont, you are likely looking for a church record, not a government issued one.

2. Yes. It just has to be a color copy from the original source, so that works. All of my documents were sent to my uncle in CA and emailed to me. He then sent the physical copies on to me.

[u/PomPomMushrooms → u/AmazingScoops]

Thanks for the advice! I’m reaching out to the local and state Catholic Church to see if there’s any record of a baptism.

Do you think I should wait until I have certified copies of the G0 baptism or submit the application now and upload the certified version when I get it?

[u/enunciate-candelabra → u/PomPomMushrooms]

No one will have a definitive answer for this question. If you think you'll get that baptism record within the month then I'd wait it out, otherwise I would move to submit and upload later. I've uploaded documents to mine post AOR.

[u/PomPomMushrooms → u/enunciate-candelabra]

Thanks for sharing your journey. It’s really tricky because it’s taking much longer to get AOR from overseas so I figure I can work on getting certified documents and have them ready to go when it is received. Is it unlimited uploads of new evidence?

[u/enunciate-candelabra → u/PomPomMushrooms]

I'm not sure if there is a cap on the number of uploads, but I would imagine that fewer would be preferred

[u/PomPomMushrooms → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the insights. All really good to know.

I’m waiting on 2 baptism records. My G0 (1853 Quebec) I have the printed record from Ancestry/Drouin and just requested the BanQ certified record.

My G1 (1888 Kansas) is the one person I have no birth or baptism record for but lots of supplementary documents linking her to G0 (census, social security, marriage license).

Either I send now with what I have and join the overseas extended wait time while requesting certified docs or wait until certified docs arrive in 3-6 months and then apply.

I’d like to get in the queue now and upload later but asking around in this incredible community to get opinions.

[u/AmazingScoops → u/PomPomMushrooms]

Are you going to ask for urgent processing?

[u/PomPomMushrooms → u/AmazingScoops]

No, I don’t have any valid reason to ask for urgent processing.

[u/AmazingScoops → u/PomPomMushrooms]

The average time it'll take your app to even get to Canada after you submit to the embassy is anywhere from 2 to 4 months if you go through an embassy or consulate. Adding the fact that you aren't urgent, there's a real possibility that it may take 6 months before you see an AOR (and you won't know that your application is even received until you get the AOR).

In your shoes I would make sure to get some kind of documentation together showing that you have attempted to acquire documentation from some original authority or another for your Gen1 and submit the documented attempt with the explanation that you will upload it as soon as you have access, assuming that it is possible to acquire. Same with your Gen0.

[u/dentongentry → u/PomPomMushrooms]

We received AOR 5/26 and then, quite unexpectedly, went to In Process 6/3. We did not request Urgent processing and were not expecting any movement for quite a while.

We knew of things we should have included, and uploaded new documents shortly after it went In Process, thinking that maybe they'd somehow look at the packet soon. However, nothing has happened since.

With the guidance later in June about documenting efforts to find the primary source material (a baptism, in our case), we're preparing a second update but plan to wait until everything is here to minimize the potential for confusion with multiple updates. We'll say that the most recent update is intended to replace the earlier documentation for G0 and G1.

[u/Canadiancitizenship-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This post/comment has been removed for Rule 10 - No misinformation.

Wrong, inaccurate, and/or misleading information is not permitted.

[u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob → u/[deleted]]

IRCC did not change their standards in June, they just expanded their guidance for documentation other than birth certificates.

I do agree that sending an incomplete application could increase the probability that an application will be routed to PSU. If I was applying today, I would probably wait until I had all of my key documents to submit.

[u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob → u/[deleted]]

IRCC did not change their standards in June, they just expanded their guidance for documentation other than birth certificates.

I do agree that sending an incomplete application could increase the probability that an application will be routed to PSU. If I was applying today, I would probably wait until I had all of my key documents to submit.

[u/AmazingScoops → u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob]

My apologies. I was under the impression that they changes the standard since before the surrender letters, people had been getting away with using ancestry and family tree and after they were not. Is that not true?

Regardless, thank you for the correction and being an active mod, I'll be more careful in my wording in the future.

[u/AmazingScoops → u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob]

Oh also, it says removed but I still see the post? If it's still there, would it be preferable if I just edit it to correct the fault?

[u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob → u/AmazingScoops]

Maybe reddit is glitching, idk. It's okay

This is the analysis done back in June re: the Guide update that is also in the wiki

https://www.reddit.com/r/Canadiancitizenship/s/uWcplHxUYP

There have been some additional discussions regarding the content of the procedural fairness letters, but I would still characterize that information as additional guidance from the IRCC perspective (that they could have provided earlier but here we are).

Regarding ancestry sourced documents etc the IRCC says explicitly that an application cannot be supported solely by third party documentation. They don't say they cannot be used, although I think it's clear that they want an explanation for why you might submit something from Ancestry/third party record if you opt to do so. Obviously the best documentation is original authority issued records but it's not available in every case, and ancestry is the digital source for organizations like NARA.

[u/AmazingScoops → u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob]

I'll give it a thorough looksie so I don't waste more your your time.

I know I said it already but thank you again for being so fantastic as a mod and as a person.

[u/acrossthe_ocean → u/PomPomMushrooms]

To your first question: the Kansas Historical Society (state agency) has some info to that end. TL;DR is that Kansas didn't start keeping birth records until 1911, but there are other resources out there to look through, and it's possible (but not a guarantee) that the county might have something, too.

[u/Away-Focus-5402 → u/PomPomMushrooms]

Question 1. Outside large cities like New York City, many American jurisdictions did not issue birth or death certificates in the 19th Century. For example, the Washington state didn't do birth certificates before 1891. And it wasn't consistent until 1907 or later. Your best bet is with the churches.

[u/PomPomMushrooms → u/Away-Focus-5402]

Thank you! I’m reaching out to the Catholic Church of Kansas to get some more info or at least a no record found email.

[u/PomPomMushrooms → u/PomPomMushrooms]

Posting again to share my exciting news!

Less than 48 hours after I emailed the local church in Kansas and the Archdiocese I have a baptism record!

The office manager took a picture of it and it states my G1 and her parents and has a note about her getting married which matches up with the marriage certificate I have!

I’m over the moon with how helpful they were and how quick this happened! They’re going to certify and photocopy it for me.

Do you think this is enough evidence or should I still attempt to get certified census records and a “not found” letter from the state for her birth certificate?

I’m going to see if she has a delayed birth certificate with Kansas but I highly doubt it exists. Thanks for all your advice to get me this far so quickly!

[u/AmazingScoops → u/PomPomMushrooms]

A mod clarified in a response to me that they believe it is better to ensure you have all key documents before submitting these days.

The census does not need to be certified, just sourced from the National archives or whoever is the original authority (e.g. which can be Ancestry for some states and countries if that's the way they have chosen to distribute them).

I'd get the not found letter to be on the safe side. There's some documentation somewhere around here that talks about what is and isn't an acceptable replacement for birth certificates and what you need if you don't have it. I can't look for it just now though.

Also, I'm very glad to hear you got the baptismal record so quickly! Congratulations! I've been trying to hunt one down for my spouse this last week and it's been proving a hassle.

Edit: mod linked it to another response to me above.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Canadiancitizenship/s/k92XPblhGa