Shelburne County Archives & Genealogical Society

08/12/2025

UPDATE: We are still in the process of moving. There is SOOOO much to pack, move and unpack. We are working with Samuel Wood Historical Society (Museum) on this fundraiser for the building that we will be located in. Here is the information for the fundraiser.

"GIFT CARD SURVIVOR" - all proceeds will go to Samuel Wood Historical Society! Tentative start date September 1, 2025
Entry fee donation is - $10. plus a $20. gift card (i.e. McDonald's, Winners, etc.) If you wish to enter, please let me know and we can make arrangements to meet, drop off, or you can etransfer $30. and I will pick up the gift card for you.
Your name goes in the draw once for each entry, but feel free to enter as many times as you wish!
Each day, 8 people will be eliminated. Once eliminated, you do have the option (ONLY ONE TIME) to pay $5. and have your name put back in the draw. You can pay the $5. upfront, if you wish, and be reimbursed if it's not needed.
Once we start, I will post a video each night showing the names as they are drawn out. There will be a first, second, and third place winner. The amount of the prizes depends on the number of entries. When there are 3 names left, those will be the winners... the first of the remaining 3 drawn out will be the 3rd place winner, the second of the remaining 3 drawn out will be the second place winner, and the third of the remaining 3 drawn out will be the first place winner.
E-transfer is society@shelburnecountyarchvies.ca

Send a message to learn more

04/20/2025

We would like to inform you that, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are currently in the process of relocating to the Samuel Wood Museum in Woods Harbour. We appreciate your patience during this transition.

While the new location may be somewhat less convenient than our current one, we are pleased to announce that this will be our first ground-floor, wheelchair-accessible facility. As we are still in the packing process, we will be closed until further notice.

Once we are fully moved and operational, we will provide an updated phone number and address. We sincerely appreciate your understanding and support during this significant undertaking.

As you can see below we have been busy but we have much, much more to pack!

01/02/2025

ATTENTION: Our office will be temporarily closed until further notice, due to some ongoing construction work.
We can still be contacted via email for any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your patience!

12/05/2024

We will be closed today, so very sorry for late notice.

10/17/2024

Due to volunteer availability, we will be closed today, Thursday October 17th. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

08/17/2024

We would like to thank everyone who took the time to come out to the archives for Perry week! We met so many lovely people from this family!

We would also like to thank everyone who took the time to visit the archives over the course of our 4 Family Name weeks! It should come as a surprise to none that Nickerson week was our busiest, with an average of 6 new Nickersons in the door every day! We saw new faces from all over North America, including Florida and California, and we appreciate everyone near and far who took the time to travel to our archive!

A reminder to all that this coming week (August 19th-23rd) will be our last week of our regular Summer hours. After August 23rd, our facilities will be open by appointment only. To make an appointment, please email us at: society@shelburnecountyarchives.ca. We hope to see you before the end of Summer!

08/16/2024

Meet Herman Perry! Known as Tim, he was a veteran of the second World War. After his service in the war he married his wife, Clytie Hartman, and worked for CFB Barrington until he retired. Later, he was a member of Leisure Hour Senior Citizens and was an active member of the Ingomar Roseway Volunteer Fire Department.

We have many other Perry veterans as well as other families in our Veterans of Shelburne County books, which are for sale in person or on our online store!

08/15/2024

Our newspapers are full of interesting stories, including many relating to the Perry family! Here, Alan Perry showcases expert tree climbing skills by winning the Intermediate Speed Climb in Vancouver, becoming the first Canadian east of the Rocky Mountains to win the title.

08/14/2024

We have so many Perrys on our wall!

Elson Perry (1830-1895) was the first lighthouse keeper at Medway Head. His portrait is one of the biggest in our collection, being just under 2 ft tall.

Jane (Perry) Swaine (1813-1882) is another large portrait. Her grandfather was Samuel Perry.

Thomas Samuel Perry (1817-1879) is featured alongside his first wife, Martha Richards and their child.

Come take a look and learn their stories, or add some more Perrys to our wall!

08/13/2024

It wouldn't be Perry Week without mentioning the famous Hattie Perry!

Hattie Perry was a local teacher, archivist and genealogist. She was extremely knowledgeable about Barrington, Nova Scotia and its history. Over the course of her life, Hattie wrote a total of 16 books, many of which are in our library (see below). She also won many awards over the course of her career. Most local genealogists know her works well. What you may not know is that we have copies of Hattie's personal works on file for all in person researchers to view. These red binders are full of thousands of documents, including photos of many local families.

Stop in to the archives to honour Hattie's life's work and maybe learn something about your own family roots!

08/12/2024

Dissecting Perry family crest:

This crest is very eye-catching, with its bright red and gold. This is in stark contrast to the blue lions featured on the diagonal stripe on its shield. For fans of Game of Thrones, the Perry crest represents much of that of the Lannister family crest, as both are red and gold and feature lions.

The red represents strength, typically in the sense of having a very prominent military presence. The gold, represents wealth and generosity with their allies. The diagonal stripe on the shield (known as a bend) represents defense or protection, and was likely earned through services that required them to stand on guard for another, higher-ranked family. The 3 blue lions that are placed along the bend are meant to represent courage, truth and loyalty.

While the Perrys were likely wanted allies, they were not to be crossed. Unlike the other crests we have dissected, the Perry family crest does have some aspects of intimidation. The strong colours would have been recognizable to most, while their earned stripe and lions would have told their enemies that they were no joking matter on the battlefield. They had a strong military and they knew it!

(For a brief history on family crests and their origins, scroll down to our look into the Bower family crest!)

08/12/2024

Today marks the official start of Perry week! This will be the last of our Family Name week series for Summer 2024! Again, you are encouraged to bring in or send information/photos of Shelburne County Perrys so that we can add it to our archives. We hope to see faces new and old this week!