Parksville – Qualicum Beach and area Resources
Original page created by The Qualicum Beach Family History Society.
(Preserved by the BCGS Website Team - February 2025)
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 population of Qualicum Beach was approximately 9,303 as of the 2021 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.
Parksville
The population of Parksville was approximately 13, 642 as of the 2021 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 includes the communities of Nanoose, French Creek, Errington, Coombs, Hilliers, Whiskey Creek, Qualicum Bay, Bowser, Deep Bay and Lasqueti Island.
Births, Marriages and Deaths
In addition, notices of births, engagements, marriages, deaths and other social events appeared in the newspapers of the Comox Valley. The Campbell River Genealogy Society has indexed these from 1895 to 1959, and provides searchable PDF files of these indexes.
Cemeteries / Monumental Inscriptions
The Qualicum Beach Family History Society worked with the British Columbia Cemetery Finding Aid and Canadian Headstones to record local cemetery data: 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). Those sites are no longer available, but FamilySearch has links to many British Columbia cemetery resources . Both FindAGrave and BillionGraves have pages dedicated to cemeteries in British Columbia, searchable by cemetery name.
Qualicum Beach Cemeteries
The Town of Qualicum Beach is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Qualicum Beach Municipal Cemetery. 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. 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. 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
Churches
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. 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. 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 index. 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
Other Island Links
Vancouver Island history site (including a name search capability for searching census, directory, tax assessment rolls etc.)