Wills, Probate and Divorce Records

With all records, it is unknown what you may find as it varies so much but is worth the effort as you may be surprised. In the pioneer era, it was not as common to have an obituary, funeral home records, or even a will. Also, what they listed for example, place of birth can change over time, Austria then Poland or district vs village.

Image by Richard Mcall from Pixabay
Copyright Free

Wills

The Court of King’s Bench of Alberta generally has Letters of Administration and Probated Wills of persons who have died in Alberta. They are some of the oldest records often pre-dating civil registration. They often list the heirs and executors. Anyone can request copies for a fee. This research might assist you in locating the date of death for an ancestor or relative.

If the person died with a valid Will, they are “testate”. Without a Will, they are “intestate”. If the deceased is intestate, the court takes over the assets and see that they are justly distributed through a Public Trustee. The Executor is the person to manage the property until its final distribution. The Executor is usually named by the maker of the will.

There are three courts in Alberta: Court of Appeal of Alberta, Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, and the Alberta Court of Justice.


Probate Records

Provincial Archives of Alberta
“The Provincial Archives holds probate records (which includes wills) for several judicial districts from around the province (ca. 1884-ca.1975). Indices are available for many of the records. Files less than 30 years old will still be in the custody of the Court. To locate a particular file, it is extremely helpful to know where in Alberta someone was living at the time of his or her death. Court contacts and maps of the current judicial districts can be found at the Alberta Courts Court of Queens Bench website.”
https://provincialarchives.alberta.ca/how-to/search-your-genealogy

Divorce Records

Provincial Archives of Alberta
“The Provincial Archives holds divorce records for several judicial districts from around the province (ca. 1918 - ca. 1975). Indices are available for many of the records in the Reading Room. To locate a particular file, it is extremely helpful to know which judicial districts in Alberta someone was divorced. Court contacts and maps of the current judicial districts can be found at the Alberta Courts Court of Queens Bench website.”
https://provincialarchives.alberta.ca/how-to/search-your-genealogy

Court of King’s Bench of Alberta (note the change from Queen to King)
https://www.albertacourts.ca/kb/home
https://www.albertacourts.ca/kb/areas-of-law/wills-estates-trusteeships

Deceased persons’ estates - Government of Alberta
https://www.alberta.ca/deceased-persons-estates

Will and Testament - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_and_testament

The Canadian Genealogical Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Finding Your Ancestors in Canada, Eric Jonasson, 1978
Gives an excellent description of all the procedures involved regarding the different types of wills and their administration. (However note the year of publishing).
https://archive.org/details/canadiangenealog0000jona
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4489696M/The_Canadian_genealogical_handbook

Researching Canadian Wills & Estates, Ronnie MacCarl, Heritage Productions, 1998
Edmonton Public Library, 929.1072 MACC

Image by Loyloy Thal from Pixabay, Copyright Free 

Church Records and Cemeteries

If your ancestor or relatives belonged to a church then there might be church records for when they died, got married, were baptized, or attended church meetings/events.

In the early days especially in the rural communities a traveling priest might have only arrived every few months to perform services and marry couples. An overheated wood stove in winter could destroy both the church and documents. This is what happened at the St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church, Limestone Lake, AB in the late 1930’s. This church is across the road from my great grandfather, Elko Kalynchuk’s homestead.

https://prairiechurches.ca/index.php/churches/ukr-cath-list/limestone-lake-ucc

English plaque in front

Few of the early immigrants would have called themselves "Ukrainian", but rather identified as Galicians, Ruthenians, Hutsuls, Lemkos or Bukovynians. Most from Galicia were generally Greek Catholic or Uniate while those from Bukovyna/Bukovina were Greek Orthodox. Other churches may include Orthodox Churches in America, Russian Orthodox (Russo-Greek), Romanian Orthodox and Roman Catholic.

My great grandmother, Anastasia Stetsko-Kalynchuk was Ukrainian Catholic however her husband, Elko Kalynchuk and some of their descendants were/are Ukrainian Orthodox. This is why I have family buried at the Church of St. John the Baptist (Ukrainian Catholic), Northern Valley cemetery and at the Willow Range Ukrainian Orthodox cemetery. This family branch was from Galicia.

On my Baba’s branch they are buried at The Nativity of the Holy Virgin Orthodox Church of Kysylew (which is under the Orthodox Churches of America) and the St. Elias Russo Greek Orthodox Parish, Pakan cemeteries. This family branch was from Bukovina.

Some church cemeteries have maps, so it is good to ask. Also, I have a membership to the Northern Valley Ukrainian Catholic church near Elk Point and attend their annual praying on the graves and community feast. Last year I attended the same event at the Kysylew Orthodox church, and it was really interesting how different the event was. I have been taking cousins out to the cemeteries for tours of the graves and we have been using our cell phones with Google Translate in camera mode to translate the Ukrainian on the headstones. Many of my cousins did not know that we have great and great-great grandparents buried in cemeteries “back home” especially with the headstones in Ukrainian.

Ukrainian Catholic:

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton
https://eeparchy.com/

Basilian Fathers Museum, Mundare AB
https://basilianmuseum.ca/


Ukrainian Orthodox:

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada Western Eparchy
https://uocc-we.ca/

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (Winnipeg Manitoba)
https://www.uocc.ca/

List of parishes in Alberta, Canada of Orthodox churches
https://orthodoxwiki.org/List_of_parishes_in_Alberta_(Canada)

Orthodox Churches in America (OCA)
https://www.archdiocese.ca/


Projects:

Many genealogical societies and genealogists in Canada have undertaken projects to copy the information from tombstones in cemeteries. The tombstone inscriptions are transcribed and compiled in indexed publications or in databases.

Alberta-Ukraine Genealogical Project
Documentation of Church Properties in Rural Communities of Alberta
https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ukrville/Family_History_Portal/fhp.htm

Pioneer Churches on the Prairies
https://pioneerchurches.ca/
https://pioneerchurches.ca/index.php/resources/links

Prairie Souls.com
You can search by surname or complete name then click on the cemetery to get a list of everyone in that cemetery. Cemetery listings from numerous counties in Alberta and Saskatchewan. With the cemetery listing, you can go through it and identify your relatives in advance and look at their headstones before visiting the cemetery.
https://www.prairiesouls.com/
https://www.prairiesouls.com/counties.php

Ukrainian Churches in Canada
http://www.ukrainianchurchesofcanada.ca/

The Sanctuary Project, University of Alberta
https://livingcultures.ualberta.ca/sanctuary/
Sanctuary Project Interviews - https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1784

Canadian Orthodox History Project
For example, Kysylew AB Nativity of the Holy Virgin Russo Orthodox Church 1898
https://orthodoxcanada.ca/Kysylew_AB_Nativity_of_the_Holy_Virgin_Russo_Orthodox_Church_1898
https://orthodoxcanada.ca/Main_Page

Alberta Genealogical Society
Various projects including the Alberta Newspapers & Obituaries, Alberta Records Name Index (ARNI) Database, and Branch databases.
https://www.abgenealogy.ca/alberta-databases

Canada’s Historic Places
For example, St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Michael and Bell Tower, near St. Michael, Alberta, Canada https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=7920
https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/home-accueil.aspx


General Information including Tours:

Self-Driving Church Tours, Lamont County, Alberta
Click on the + to see the additional information under the “Churches in Lamont County”.
https://www.lamontcounty.ca/visitors/church-tour

Find a Grave
You can click on a cemetery and get the list of everyone on this website, buried at this cemetery.
https://www.findagrave.com/

Newspapers.com
Obituaries and other announcements
https://www.newspapers.com/

Provincial Archives of Alberta
Hundreds of newspapers from communities, both large and small, in Alberta are stored on microfilm in the Reading Room at the Provincial Archives of Alberta in Edmonton.
https://provincialarchives.alberta.ca/how-to/explore-paa-research-resources/newspapers

You can also do a google search with the name of your relative plus obituary.


Books:

Ukrainian Genealogy, by John D. Pihach, Church Records in Canada, pages 43 – 53.
(Really good article in this book)

Finding your Ukrainian Ancestors… 4th Edition by Muryl Andrejciw Geary, Church Records and Cemetery Records, pages 63 – 70

Sources for Researching Ukrainian Family History, by John-Paul Himka and Frances A. Swyripa, Church Records, pages 27 – 30.

The Nativity of the Holy Virgin Orthodox Church of Kysylew 
Photo: Mikhail and Ekaterina / Aerialphoto.ru

Ukrainian Day at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village - Display Table

I had a “Trace Your Roots – Ukrainian Canadian Genealogy” display table at this event on Sunday, August 20, 2023, in rural Alberta.

The Alberta-Ukraine Genealogy Project (AUGP) was launched on August 13, 2006, and ended in 2018. This project operated out of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. Some of their work is on the Family History Portal – University of Alberta. And the AUGP documents have been sent to the Basilian Fathers Museum in Mundare, Alberta. I have a binder of the AUGP Family History Index which was a very popular look ups at my display table (it is online at their portal). Many people found the community history books that their ancestors have a family history story.

https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ukrville/Family_History_Portal/fhp.htm

https://basilianmuseum.ca/

Numerous people approached my table from the first wave of Ukrainian settlers (1892-1915) to Ukrainian newcomers. I even had a couple Ukrainian University of Alberta students talk to me about Ukraine’s history in the 1700-1800’s. One lady spoke about how doing genealogy is like detective work as she encouraged her son to get more involved. If you are also organized and have a good memory, this is a bonus. Lots of people also commented about having someone in their family who is or has done their family history. This is good to hear.

Some spoke about how their grandparents did not want to talk about the “old country” nor about the first years in Canada. Our sense was that it was very difficult. We also chatted about how time heals and that some details years ago that were an issue, today are part of life. I remember after publishing my Kalynchuk Family History book in 1993, one of my cousins commented about people only writing what was good and not the full story. And I remember my Aunties telling me to put down my pen and they will tell me some real good stories. When I got home or in my car, I took notes and am very grateful for this.



A couple of people told me that they have Igor Voronchak or Andriy Dorosh doing their genealogy research in Western Ukraine, and this made me very happy as I know the professional level of work that these two gentlemen do.

Igor Voronchak can be reached at voronchak@ukr.net

Andriy Dorosh can be reached at andriy@doroshheritagetours.com or through https://doroshheritagetours.com/

Anthony Hrabok and Henriette Chomiak are the Coordinators of the Folk Arts venue at the Vegreville Pysanka Festival and share the love of doing genealogy and family research with me. They came and assisted at our display table. Also, Anthony knew how to set up and take down the tent. I pulled up Henriette’s grandfather, Wasyl’s profile on Ancestry and she was excited to find out that 15 people have family trees on him, on Ancestry.ca. I really appreciate their assistance and friendship.

Henriette, Anthony, Nathan and Elaine

I also met up with a few people who I had volunteered with in the past on other projects, and one highlight was seeing Nathan Ip. He is the MLA for Edmonton South-West. We volunteered together on Gary Mar and Dave Hancock’s political campaigns. Nathan was born in Taiwan.

I brought all of the same information that I had at the Vegreville Pysanka Festival but adapted to having only one 6-foot table. A lesson learned is to go through my books in advance and pull out the most important ones. I had my car parked behind the table, but it would be easier if I had only one box to carry out instead of looking through four boxes and a few recycle bags!

We were near the Band Shell and it was wonderful to hear the music. As we were packing up the song, Kalyna was playing. This is the root of my surname and the original singer Sofia Rotaru, from the Chernitsi region.

I am grateful to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Alberta Provincial Council for organizing and hosting this event. The program that they put together was impressive and the number of volunteers especially Ukrainian newcomers was wonderful to see. The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is a worthwhile place to visit anytime during the summer months. On the weekends, they have special events.

They also have an exhibit gallery to provide a closer understanding of early Ukrainian settlement in east central Alberta.  https://ukrainianvillage.ca/

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress - Alberta Provinicial Council also has a link to the "Community Events in Alberta". At the bottom of the event page is "Subscribe to calendar" and I receive their e-newsletter via Outlook. https://www.uccab.ca/