Parksville

Parksville / Qualicum Beach Family History Information

Data and links for Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Errington, Bowser and the Nanoose areas are all included on this page. These communities are located near to each other on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

The Vancouver Island area Location map provides an overview of these communities.

The links below are to pages or websites of interest to researchers who wish to trace families who have made this area home at some point in time during the last one hundred and thirty years.

Qualicum Beach

The current population of Qualicum Beach is approximately 8,943 (2016 census).

An excellent reference to the history of settlement and development is given in Qualicum Beach; A History of Vancouver Island’s Best Kept Secrets written by Brad Wylie and published by the Qualicum Beach Historical & Museum Society. For a short history of Qualicum Beach visit the town’s website and Qualicum Beach Museum.

For more information about the history of Qualicum Beach, its pioneers, societies and businesses visit the Qualicum Beach Archives.

The current population of Parksville is approximately 23,574 (2016 census). For more information about the history of Parksville and its pioneers visit the Craig Heritage Park Museum and Archives. For a listing of the holdings of the Archives click here.

The remainder of the area falling within Qualicum School District 69 has a population of approximately 26,597 (2011 census). This includes the communities of Nanoose, French Creek, Errington, Coombs, Hilliers, Whiskey Creek, Qualicum Bay, Bowser, Deep Bay and Lasqueti Island.

In addition, notices of births, engagements, marriages, deaths and other social events appeared in the newspapers of the Comox Valley. The Comox Valley Genealogy Group has indexed these from 1895 to 1959, and provides searchable PDF files of these indexes.

British Columbia Cemetery Finding Aid when available included Qualicum Beach (1511 entries), St. Anne’s Anglican/French Creek (668 entries), St. Mary’s Anglican, Errington (136 entries), and Knox United Parksville (226 entries) cemeteries. FamilySearch has many cemetery listings. The Society has been working with Canadian Headstones to enter information from local cemeteries and churches and more complete photographs and transcriptions can be found there. See below for links to those pages.

The Town of Qualicum Beach is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Qualicum Beach Municipal Cemetery. Data including information for plots where there is no marker are on the Canadian Headstones site up to 1992. The Town Hall is located at #201 – 660 Primrose Street and can be reached by post at Box 130, Qualicum Beach, B.C., Canada V9K 1S7. For further information or general inquiries please call (250) 752-6921. Town of Qualicum Beach

St. Mark’s Anglican Church has a Garden of Remembrance in which are buried the cremated remains of church members and relatives. A list of those whose cremains have been interred or scattered there, with birth and death years, is recorded in the church and all the plaques photographed on Canadian Headstones site. See below for contact information.

Parksville Cemeteries

Church Cemeteries (please see Churches below for addresses and contact information). Click to go to photographs of memorial inscriptions.

St. Anne’s Church, Parksville (Anglican)
St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Errington
Knox United Church, Parksville
St. Columba’s Presbyterian Church, Parksville has plaques recording the deaths of “those we knew and died” since 1989. These are now transcribed into the Canadian Headstones site.
Yates Funeral Service and Crematorium – The cemetery at Parksville’s Yates Funeral Service is divided into a series of subdivisions which fall under different labels. The subdivisions are the Field of Peace (General), Little Mountain, Sacred Garden (Roman Catholic), Children’, Serenity Gardens (Cremation), and Garden of Honor (Legion). The cemetery is located at 1000 Allsbrook Road, Parksville, V9P 2A9 and can be reached by calling (250) 248-5859. The web site contains obituary notices (where they exist) for funerals from 2010. Headstones and memorials are now available for viewing on Canadian Headstones.

Census

Anglican

St. Anne’s & St. Edmund’s Anglican Church, 407 Wembley Rd., Parksville, B.C. (250) 248-3114
St. Mark’s Anglican Church, 138 Hoylake W., Qualicum Beach, B.C. (250) 752-5414
St. Mary’s Anglican Church, 2600 Powder Pt., Nanoose Bay, B.C. (250) 468-5684

Parish records for St. Anne’s Parish (1887-1973), St. Mary’s Errington (1919-1989), St. Mary’s Nanoose Bay (1982-1996) and Nanoose Bay Mission (1984); St. Mark’s, Qualicum Beach (1927-1998) and the Parish of Parksville (1887-1994) can be found in the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia Archives in Victoria.

Baptist

Parksville Fellowship Baptist Church, 550 N. Pym, Parksville, B.C. (250) 248-6322
Qualicum Community Baptist Church, 600 Beach Rd., Qualicum Beach, B.C. (250) 752-9123

Catholic

Catholic Church of the Ascension, 887 Wembley Rd., Parksville, B.C. (250) 248-3747

Lutheran

Our Saviour Lutheran Church, 795 W Island Highway, Parksville, BC (250) 248-4622

Presbyterian

St. Columba Presbyterian Church, 921 Wembley, Parksville, B.C. (250) 248-2348

United Church of Canada

Knox United Church, 345 Pym, Parksville, B.C. (250) 248-3927
St. Stephen’s United Church, 150 Village Way, Qualicum Beach, B.C. (250) 752-9831

Parish records for Knox United Church, Parksville (1914-1997); St. Stephen’s United Church, Qualicum Beach (1915-1997); Grace United Church, Coombs and Qualicum Beach Presbyterian Church (1913-1941) can be found in the United Church of Canada British Columbia Conference Archives in Vancouver.

Directories

Military Service

The following links will take you to the contents of the honour rolls, plaques and cenotaph. The Royal Canadian Legion, BC/Yukon Command publish an annual military service recognition book containing histories and photos of Canadian veterans.

Volunteers have researched the names of those listed as having served in both World War 1 and World War 2 and compiled a list of those who died in service or from their wounds. For each one of these men, we have attempted to find additional information. Read the lists of the men from both World War 1 and World War 2. Very few of these men have a birth or marriage record in B.C. and less than one quarter can be found in the 1911 census for the Province.

Newspapers

Victoria Newspapers 1858 to 1926

For a complete listing of BC Newspapers on microfilm, including those covering our area go to: BC Archives – Newspapers and check entries for Parksville.

Pioneers

As part of Canada’s 1967 Centennial celebrations, commemorative medallions were presented to B.C. residents who were either born in Canada or who were living in the country prior to 1 January 1892. An index to the names of those pioneers in the Parksville, Qualicum Beach and surrounding communities can be found here. The forms are found at BC Archives, record series GR-1489.

In 1971, the Province of British Columbia presented similar medallions to celebrate the centenary of its entry into confederation. These residents of B.C. had to have been born in Canada or have been living in Canada prior to 1 January 1897. An index to these pioneers in our communities can be found here. The forms are found at BC Archives, record series GR-1490.

The full application forms for these people have been digitized by BC Archives and can be accessed by the links in our Pioneer Medallions indexes. The forms contain Name of Applicant; DOB; Place of Birth; Maiden Name of Applicant if married; Husband’s given names; Wife’s full maiden name; Occupation before retirement; Information about immigration to Canada or place of abode prior to coming to B.C.; full names of parents, including maiden name of mother; given names of siblings; remarks about family background or experiences.

Voters Lists

MemoryBC – The British Columbia Archival Information Index
Vancouver Island history site (including a name search capability for searching census, directory, tax assessment rolls etc.)
Victoria’s Victoria

The Society will be pleased to learn about any other sources of information for those researching the Mid-Island area.