Books on Family Genealogy in Québec : 3 Essentials to Discover

Genealogy is a subject that attracts a great deal of interest in Québec, especially because of the particular status of the culture and history of its population. This topic has therefore been the subject of many works, adopting several angles, including the founding families, the origins of family names, the creation of the cities and villages of the province, and the role of the church in the development of the province. So there’s something for all tastes and all needs regarding genealogical research. Here are 3 books on family genealogy in Québec to add to your reading list.

Les grandes familles du Québec, by Louis-Guy Lemieux (Septentrion)

This work brings together thirty chronicles published by the journalist Louis-Guy Lemieux in Le Soleil between 2003 and 2005. Lemieux is passionate about history and genealogy, which is reflected in the text. While preparing and publishing the book, the chronicles were expanded with some additional information to present very comprehensive content.

The text addresses the most common surnames in the regions of Québec, Chaudière-Appalaches, Côte-Nord, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Charlevoix, and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Several aspects are studied, including the evolution of the names and the history of the families and their descendants. The book is also particularly interesting because it features photos of the families and places cited in the text, making the reading even more informative and enjoyable.

Retracez vos ancêtres, by Marcel Fournier (Éditions de l’Homme)

This is a book that’s intended as a guide to accompany people in their genealogical searches for their ancestors, more specifically in Québec, North America, and Europe. The book presents working methods, tools, and sources to consult to make the search successful. It also presents a great deal of information regarding relations between Québec and France, which are important factors in the evolution of the local population, the ancestors, and their descendants.

Votre nom et son histoire: les noms de famille au Québec, by Roland Jacob (Éditions de l’Homme)

The study of surnames very often turns out to be a key element in genealogical research. It also says a lot about the history of a family and/or a specific place. In Québec, family names are quite varied, as are their respective etymologies. Some are evolved forms of the names of ancestors, while others come from the names of the cities and villages of origin (most often located in France).

Roland Jacob’s book, published in 2015, is therefore a very interesting tool for better understanding the origin of names and the different possible interpretations that make it possible to trace their evolution. At over 430 pages, this work fascinatingly discusses the roots and alterations of over 10,000 names.

Some other works to discover about genealogy in Québec :

La Diaspora Québécoise, by Jacques Noël (Éditions GID)

Although they don’t want to admit it, many people hope to see a famous name appear in their family tree. Who wouldn’t like to boast about having Liza Minnelli, Madonna, or Camilla Parker Bowles as a cousin? This book describes the Québécois roots that have wound up in the upper echelons of society while addressing the origins and vocations of several Québec families in the first centuries following colonization.

Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec: des origines à 1730, by René Jetté

(Morin et associés)

This is an extremely detailed book that identifies the 16,400 families who lived in Québec between the early days of colonization and 1730. The book totals over 1200 pages and is presented in the form of a dictionary.

Where to Find Books About Québec Genealogy

To find or consult these books, we recommend seeing if they’re available to check out from libraries or genealogical societies. In Montréal, many books about genealogy are available to borrow or consult on site at the Grande Bibliothèque. Of course, it’s also possible to order them at a bookstore or to buy them online. Finally, thousands of works related to genealogy are available at the Drouin Genealogical Institute’s online shop at this address.

Genealogy Outside of Québec : How to Find Your Québécois Ancestors

When leaving the borders of Québec, especially to visit New England, it’s not uncommon to find French-sounding family names. So you might imagine that this person’s ancestors left the Francophone province to settle elsewhere, keeping traces of these origins with them. Between 1840 and 1930, over a million Quebecers left the territory to look for work. Many of them settled in the northeastern United States, which explains the strong presence of Francophone roots in this region.Some families were separated during this time, so many Quebecers have ancestors who settled elsewhere and established their own family line there. To better understand genealogy and find these Quebeckers ancestors, here’s some crucial information to know how to track down ancestors who settled outside Québec:

Quebecers in the United States

According to certain studies, around 30 million Americans are descendants of Quebecers ancestors. The family ties are therefore numerous, and given that genealogy is a very popular activity in the United States, the resources for finding information are abundant.

How to Find a Québécois Ancestor in the United States

To carry out such research, it’s possible, among other options, to use resources from Québec and to collect information from genealogical societies located in the most relevant American regions. In the United States, several groups specialize in searching for French-Canadian ancestors.

For example, the American-Canadian Genealogical Society, based in Manchester, New Hampshire, is a centre dedicated to the genealogical research of Canadian and/or Francophone roots. Their collection brings together documents from – among other sources – the Drouin Collection, several Canadian Protestant churches, and archives from various American states.

The American-Canadian Genealogical Society is far from the only organization of this type. Several states, cities, and villages in the region offer this type of service, including the American-French Genealogical Society in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and the French-Canadian Genealogical Society of Connecticut. It’s therefore possible to contact these organizations or to visit them in person.

The Drouin Collection

Over 25 million civil status documents make up the Drouin Collection. This collection consists of documents that come from Québec, as well as Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the United States. Indeed, it’s possible to search baptismal records, marriage licences, death certificates, and other official documents, including some from the New England region. It’s therefore a very rich resource to complete research. In addition, the Drouin Collection is easy to access and relatively simple to peruse.

Books and Periodicals About Québécois Ancestors Living in the United States

Was one of the most famous American authors actually Québécois? Jean-Louis “Jack” Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts to Québécois parents. For that reason, Kerouac’s first language was Joual. Kerouac’s mother was also the first cousin of none other than René Lévesque. In addition to this amusing anecdote, books about emigration from Québec to the United States provide very useful information within the context of research, because they can give us hints and clues.

Here are a few interesting and relevant books and periodicals on this subject, which can be found in a library or digitized on the internet:

  • La ruée vers le sud: migrations du Canada vers les États-Unis, 1840 à 1930 (Bruno Ramirez)
  • Histoire d’un rêve brisé? Les Canadiens français aux États-Unis (Yves Roby)
  • L’émigration des Québécois aux États-Unis de 1840 à 1930 (Yolande Lavoie)
  • The French Canadians in New England (Prosper Bender)
  • Les Canadiens français de la Nouvelle-Angleterre (Édouard Hamon)

Finding a Québécois ancestor in the rest of Canada

Besides the Drouin Collection, which was mentioned previously, other resources make it possible to research Québécois ancestors living outside the province. For example, it’s possible to contact various local genealogical societies, some of which specialize in searching for data on ancestors of Francophone origin. This is particularly true in Canadian provinces where the Francophone community is still highly developed, including Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and the Maritime provinces. Specialists know how to guide people towards the right resources while accompanying them in their research.

This is the key to starting the investigation off right and successfully finding specific information about Québécois ancestors who decided to emigrate to other places.

The 1621-1967 Drouin Collection : Differentiating Religious and Civil Genealogy

Founded at the end of the 19th century, the Drouin Genealogical Institute was given the mission of collecting and categorizing a multitude of notarized documents of genealogical interest and making them accessible to the population. The 1621-1967 Drouin Collection is thus invaluable for tracing the history of families in Quebec. It includes a significant number of official documents, mainly marriage, baptism and burial certificates. There are also other types of notarized documents, including contracts, wills and other legal documents.Parish Registers and Civil Status

Due to its very religious past, in this province, parish registers long served to collect all official documents related to the population and its civil status. This practice was particularly suitable because all the important moments in a person’s life were noted in churches, from baptisms to weddings and funerals.

Very early in the history of the province, Quebec also began to deliver and archive documents in order to keep track of the inhabitants by collecting a copy of the parish acts registered by the Church. This is how notarized religious documents came to be housed in courthouses. For a long time, information was collected by religious institutions, which then sent it to the courthouses. The documents were thus duplicated.

Gradually, the government’s mandate of storing and preparing these documents gained more and more importance, and in 1994, the Registrar of Civil Status obtained the full mandate.

Archiving Done by the Drouin Institute

In the 1940s, the Drouin Institute made microfilms of the civil registers of the Quebec courthouses. These documents were gathered to create the Drouin Collection. These documents thus come from both religious institutions and the Government of Quebec. In some areas, the microfilming process continued until 1968, so the Drouin Collection covers the period from 1621 to 1967.

Religious Genealogy Versus Civil Genealogy

During a genealogical search, researchers often find themselves facing documents that were collected by the Church or the government. To better understand the source and nature of the documents they consult, it is important to distinguish religious genealogy and civil genealogy. In the 1621-1967 Drouin Collection, most documents come from the Church.

Religious Genealogy

Certificates from parish registers were created, validated and issued by religious institutions. Most of the documents that are in the collection came from the Catholic Church, but you can find certificates issued by other Christian denominations and other religions, including Seventh Day Adventist, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Protestant, Baptist, Orthodox, Methodist and Jewish. To find specific genealogical information—especially that dating back from before the 20th century—you must look at the certificates issued by these institutions. These documents contain information about the people and are often annotated with information that was considered relevant by those responsible for archiving (often parish priests).

Civil Genealogy

After the early 20th century, material gathered by the Church began to be used by the state to produce statistics about the population of Quebec. These documents produced by the State are those available in the 1926-1997 Marriages and Deaths tool. These are based on the original certificates produced by the Church and available in the Drouin Collection.

The Differences Between Documents

The copies of certain documents contain differences. The same certificate may in fact present some discrepancies when one of the two documents is incomplete or damaged, for example. This decision to establish a duplicate recording enabled Quebec to have one of the most comprehensive civil status systems in the world, to the delight of genealogy enthusiasts.

Quebec Marriage Records Search : Key to Tracing Your Genealogy

In Quebec, amateur and professional genealogists alike have access to a rich collection of documents to trace their family roots and draw family trees. Since the days of New France, documentation of birth, death and marriage certificates was advocated by the Catholic Church to keep track of the families that established in these territories.

The collection of this data has continued over time, so that today, it can be used to perform extensive genealogical research. The documents are filed among several registers and collections, including the Drouin Collection, which contains Quebec’s marriage records. The latter includes several elements of documentation about weddings that took place within the province, including copies of marriage records. These documents have been indexed and meticulously categorized by specialists. It is possible to consult them by becoming a member of Genealogy Quebec through the Drouin Collection Records or the LAFRANCE.

Search Tools for Exploring the Register of Marriages in Quebec

Given the incredible number of documents collected and indexed in the records through the years, it was important to develop sophisticated search engines to better navigate through these informations. These tools allow to search precisely and trace relationships among individuals.

The 1926-1997 marriages and deaths tool is part of the range of tools for exploring the available documents. The vast majority of marriages and deaths that occurred during those years were documented with this tool, itself equipped with a search engine. Thus, anyone who is doing genealogical research and knows that the parental relations they want to discover or confirm took place at that time will probably find useful documents.

Other research tools are suitable for other periods. Therefore, it is possible to find marriage certificates having taken place in Quebec during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries by using LAFRANCE. By doing so, genealogical portraits and related research are relatively easy to implement and support with several documents. This is a richness that is not available for all, because for many centuries, Quebec was particularly disciplined in keeping these kinds of records.

How to Use Marriage Records Search Engines

One must know that certain practices can complicate searching in these databases, including the spelling of names that may have changed over time. During research, it is advisable to first search more generally, limiting oneself to a family name and a date, if they are available. Then, if necessary, it will be possible to add parameters to refine your search. This technique increases the chances of finding relevant documents.

If the results are inconclusive, the family name might have been written in other ways. The person conducting the research will then expand his or her search fields, for example using the character % as a result of the common root of the name (ex: Beau% to search for Beauregard, Beaulieu, Beaudoin, Beaudry, etc.). This form of research is broader and therefore slower, but it allows one to find documents that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Why Use a Register of Marriages for Genealogical Research?

Talk to any genealogy experts and they will tell you that registers are inexhaustible resources for tracing family ties to discover or confirm already known elements. The information found in these registers is usually very reliable. It has always been in the interest of religious and governmental authorities to collect very specific data about the province’s population. Today, genealogists continue to develop and improve these research tools, including those associated with the Quebec marriage records.

Establishing your ancestry and finding your ancestors using Genealogy Quebec

In this guide, you will learn how to trace your ancestry using your subscription to Genealogy Quebec.

Defining ancestry

Your ancestry denotes all of your ancestors as far back as they are traceable, starting with your parents. With each generation, the amount of ancestors you have doubles: 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, etc. An ancestry can be total, or can be limited to a subset of ancestors:

  • Paternal ancestry (all the ancestors on the paternal side of your ancestry) or maternal ancestry (all the ancestors on the maternal side of your ancestry)
  • Patrilineal (father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc.) or matrilineal (mother, grandmother, great grandmother, etc.) An ancestry can be unlimited, going as far back as the genealogical sources allow, or limited to a certain amount of generations.

The key to tracing a line in genealogy is the marriage record, as it contains, in most cases, the names of the parents of the spouses. With these names, you should be able to find the marriage of the parents in question and go back a generation.

Tools

Genealogy Quebec offers multiple tools allowing you to find all kinds of documents and information about your ancestors. However, the LAFRANCE will be your main tool to trace your lineages on the website. It contains the majority of marriages, births and deaths available on Genealogy Quebec and covers a period stretching from the beginnings of the French colony to today.
The process begins with finding a marriage that belongs to a couple of the lineage you are tracing, such as your parents or your grandparents’ marriage, and using the information contained in the record to jump back from generation to generation.

Tracing a line on Genealogy Quebec

Step one – Gathering information

To trace your ancestry using Genealogy Quebec, you must begin by writing down as much as you know about your ancestors, such as names, dates, and locations. It is always a good idea to ask parents, grandparents and other family members for clues and information regarding the family. The more information you start with, the easier your research will be. Make sure to have all this information readily available when starting your research.


Example case, click to expand

Bertrand Desjardins, born on the 24th of November 1948 in Montreal, is attempting to trace his patrilineal ancestry – the Desjardins side – using Genealogy Quebec.
Here is the information gathered by Bertrand before the start of his research.

Subject:

  • Bertrand Desjardins, born on the 24th of November 1948 in Montreal

Parents:

  • François-Joseph Desjardins born in 1908, died on the 1st of September 1963
  • Suzanne Bertrand, born in 1919, died on December 31st 2014,
  • The couple married in 1943 in Montreal

Grandparents:

  • François-Joseph Desjardins’ father is François Desjardins, who died in July 1955
  • François-Joseph Desjardins’ mother is Anna Jacques, who died on September 1st 1975

Additional information:

  • François-Joseph Desjardins is the eldest child of his family
  • François-Joseph Desjardins’ grandfather is named Charles Desjardins

Step two – Using this information to find a marriage from the lineage

We now have to use the information gathered in the first step to find a marriage from the lineage which will serve as a starting point. To do so, go to the LAFRANCE.

When searching for a record on the LAFRANCE, it is important to stick to the following principles:

  • Do not fill in too many fields on your initial search. Your first search should only include the surnames of the spouses. By doing so, you limit the risk of the record being excluded from the results of your search, which can occur when one of the search queries does not exactly match the information contained in the document.
Showing the recommended way to search on the LAFRANCE, here looking for the marriage of Augustin Desjardins and Rosalie Lavoie
  • Try different variations of your search. If your initial search does not allow you to find the document you are looking for, this does not necessarily mean that the document is not available on the LAFRANCE. It is likely that the document is there, but that one of the parameters of your search did not exactly match the information contained in the document, which excluded it from the results.
    To overcome this problem, you can try different variations of your search. For example, your initial search might contain the spouses’ surnames only. Your second search would be limited to the husband’s first and last name, without including the wife in the query. Your third search would use the husband’s last name and wife’s first name, and so on. Eventually, if the record is available on the LAFRANCE, one of the variations of your search should allow you to find it.

Finally, it is important to know how to interpret the list of results produced by a search on the LAFRANCE. When you carry out a search by Couple, the results will list every record in which the couple is mentioned, regardless of their role in the record. These can be baptism, marriage or burial records, and the couple can play the role of subjects (the spouses) or parents (parents of the spouses, parents of the newborn child or parents of the deceased person).

List of results of a search in the LAFRANCE. The marriage records (m) in which the couple we searched for has the role of subjects (S-S) are the ones we will use to trace a lineage

In the list of results obtained from a search on the LAFRANCE, the Type column indicates the type of record in question:

  • b: baptism
  • m: marriage
  • s: burial

The Roles column indicates the role held by the couple in the record:

  • S-S: Subject-Subject, the spouses
  • P-M: Father-Mother, the parents
  • S-C: Subject-Spouse, used when one of the spouses is widowed and the previous spouse is mentioned in the record

As such, in the image above:

  • The records highlighted in green are baptisms and burials in which the searched couple are the parents
  • The record highlighted in red is a marriage record in which the searched couple are the parents of one of the spouses
  • The records highlighted in yellow are marriage records in which the searched couples are the spouses

It is with marriages (m) in which the searched couple are the subjects (S-S) that we will be tracing lineages.


Example case, click to expand

Equipped with the information gathered during the first step, Bertrand is now ready to find the marriage that will serve as the starting point for his research.

Bertrand initially decides to begin his research with the marriage of his parents François-Joseph Desjardins and Suzanne Bertrand. Unfortunately, despite multiple attempts, the marriage does not seem available on the LAFRANCE.

Therefore, Bertrand turns to the marriage of his grandparents, François Eugène Desjardins and Anna Jacques.

Search parameters entered by Bertrand to find the marriage of his grandparents François Eugène Desjardins and Anna Jacques
Results of the previous search with the desired marriage framed in yellow
François Eugène Desjardins and Anna Jacques’ marriage as found on the LAFRANCE

His search successful, Bertrand now has the information required to go back a generation in his paternal line. To do so, he will have to find the marriage of the parents of François Eugène Desjardins: Charles Eugène Desjardins and Marie Malvina Fortin.


Third step – Going back one generation at a time

With a marriage from your lineage in hand, you are now in a position to find your ancestors. To do so, you will have to find the husband’s (or wife’s) parents marriage, which will allow you to go back a generation.

A simple LAFRANCE search using their names should allow you to do so.

The names of the groom’s parents are listed in the marriage on the left. Searching for them in the LAFRANCE allows us to find their marriage. By repeating the process, we can go back to the first immigrant of a line in Quebec territory.

This process is repeated until you reach the first generation of your line to have set foot in Quebec, often in the 18th or even the 17th century. Depending on your family, you may have more than a dozen generations to trace back before you get to the first immigrant.


Example case, click to expand

Thanks to the marriage of his grandparents found earlier, Bertrand knows that his paternal great-grandparents are Charles Eugène Desjardins and Marie Malvina Fortin. He must now find their marriage using the LAFRANCE.

Recommended search for Charles Eugène Desjardins and Marie Malvina Fortin’s marriage in the LAFRANCE
Charles Eugène Desjardins and Marie Malvina Fortin’s marriage highlighted in the results list
Charles Eugène Desjardins and Marie Malvina Fortin’s marriage. Bertrand’s great-grandparents.

Charles Eugène Desjardins’ marriage indicates that his parents are Alexandre Roy Desjardins and Léocadie Gagnon. Bertrand must now find their marriage and repeat the process again and again, until he reaches the first immigrant of his paternal line.

Six generations later, Bertrand finds the marriage of the first immigrant of his line, Alexandre Roy dit Desjardins, who married Marie Major on September 11, 1668 in Quebec.

Antoine Roy (dit Desjardins) and Marie Major’s marriage, the first couple in Bertrand’s paternal lineage to marry in Quebec

Thanks to the LAFRANCE, Bertrand was able to trace his paternal line as far back as the 17th century in minutes.


If you cannot find a marriage in the LAFRANCE

The LAFRANCE contains all Catholic marriages recorded in Quebec prior to 1919, but coverage from 1919 to the present day is not exhaustive. Because of this, you may not be able to find a marriage of your lineage if the information gathered in the first step of your research does not allow you to go back to 1919 or prior.

If this is the case, we suggest that you carry out a search in the LAFRANCE for a death record relating to an individual of the lineage you are researching, since these can also be used as a starting point for your research.

Indeed, death records usually mention the names of the parents of the deceased person. As a result, you could search for the death record of your most distant known paternal ancestor, and obtain the names of his parents from the record, thus allowing you to go back one generation. The next step is to find the marriage of the parents in question, and follow the procedure explained in step two.


Example case, click to expand

Thanks to the information gathered by Bertrand at the start of his research, it was easy for him to find the marriage of his grandparents in the LAFRANCE.

Now imagine a scenario in which Bertrand was unable to gather basic information such as the names of his grandparents. Essentially, Bertrand’s starting point is the names of his parents, their date of marriage, their year of birth and the date of death of his father.

  • François-Joseph Desjardins, born in 1908, died on September 1st 1963
  • Suzanne Bertrand, born in 1919, died on December 31st 2014
  • Married in 1943 in Montreal

The marriage of Bertrand’s parents can be found in the LAFRANCE, but it does not contain the names of his grandparents; it’s a dead end.

Therefore, Bertrand turns to death records. A LAFRANCE search for a Desjardins who died in 1963 allows Bertrand to find his father’s death record.

François Desjardins’ death record found in the LAFRANCE

The record indicates that the names of François-Joseph Desjardins’s parents are F. Desjardins and A. Jacques. A search for a Desjardins/Jacques couple in the LAFRANCE leads to their marriage, which will serve as Bertrand’s starting point in his attempt to trace his paternal line.


Do not hesitate to contact us at contact @ institutdrouin.com if you have any questions regarding this guide or the process of retracing your ancestors.

New Content and LAFRANCE Update on Genealogy Quebec – Now Over 44 Million Images and Files!

In this edition of our newsletter, we will cover the new content and features that have been added to Genealogy Quebec over the past month.

Great Collections restructure

The Great Collections have been separated in 3 distinct sections in order to make them more accessible and user friendly.

Online credit card payment

We have revamped our subscription page and now offer a new, more efficient way to subscribe using a credit card. There are now 3 ways to subscribe to GenealogyQuebec.com:

  1. Paypal (With or without a credit card)
  2. Credit card online
  3. Credit card by phone by calling us at 514-400-3961 – Mon-Fri 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM EST
    Please note that we are currently unable to take your calls. Please leave a message and we will call you back within 24 hours.

For the first two options, the payment method is selected during the checkout process. Credit card subscriptions are now activated automatically and instantly.

New FAQ

Our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page has been reworked to make it more relevant and simple to use. We will be adding to it as we receive inquiries from our users.

Search Tools page revamped

We have separated the 15 tools offered on GenealogyQuebec.com in 3 categories, in an attempt to make the website more beginner friendly.

  • Primary research tools
    These are the most comprehensive and detailed tools available on the website. For most of our subscribers, these 3 tools will be sufficient to find their ancestors and retrace their lineage. All of these tools are equipped with a search engine.
  • Secondary research tools
    These are our complimentary research tools. They are used to address potential gaps in searches made using our primary research tools, or to add additional sources and content to these searches. All of these tools are equipped with a search engine.
  • Archival fonds and databases
    These tools use a file tree structure. They are not equipped with a search engine and must be browsed manually.

You may also notice that we have added documentation to the Search tools page. You can access it by clicking on More information next to the tool’s description. This documentation contains information about the type of documents, the region and the period covered by the tool, as well as a short tutorial.

Planète Généalogie additions to GenealogyQuebec.com

In our previous newsletter, we announced the acquisition of Planète Généalogie by the Drouin Institute, and the gradual addition of numerous collections to Genealogy Quebec resulting from this acquisition.

Here are the additions that have been made since the release of that newsletter:

  • Archives municipales (Municipal archives) (38 949 new images)

Can be browsed in the Drouin Institute’s miscellaneous collections tool, under 16 – Archives municipales.
Documents from the counties of Berthier, Joliette and Arthabaska. Directories and indexes of mayors and municipalities.

  • Union des Cantons de l’Est (1867 à 2008) (85 508 new images)

Can be browsed in the Drouin Institute’s miscellaneous collections tool, under 23 – Journaux anciens.

  • Cardex Arthabaska (112 624 new images)

Can be browsed in the Kardex tool, under 01_Fiches BMS.
These are files containing information (names, dates, locations) pertaining to various individuals who lived on the south shore of the St-Lawrence river.

With these additions, we have officially reached over 44 million images and files on GenealogyQuebec.com! This is another important milestone in our efforts to preserve and share the genealogical heritage of Quebec and New France, which wouldn’t be possible without our subscribers. Thank you!

New articles on the Drouin Institute blog

Quebec mortality rate under the French Regime, by Bertrand and François Desjardins

Founding Families of Québec : A History Lesson on the Origins of Our Ancestors

LAFRANCE update figures

Catholic baptisms 1850-1861 : 18 301 added records

Catholic burials 1850-1861 : 9183 added records

In addition, the corrections sent by our users over the past 2 months have been applied. You will find a list of the the parishes that have been updated at this address.

About the LAFRANCE

The LAFRANCE, one of 15 tools available to GenealogyQuebec.com subscribers, is a detailed index with link to the original document of ALL Catholic marriages celebrated in Quebec between 1621 and 1916, ALL Catholic baptisms and burials celebrated in Quebec between 1621 and 1849 as well as ALL Protestant marriages celebrated in Quebec between 1760 and 1849. Baptisms and burials of the 1850-1861 period are added gradually through our bimonthly updates.

Free obituaries

Over 20 000 death notices have been added to our free obituary section since our last update.
This section contains Canadian obituaries ranging from 1999 to this day. You can browse the collection free of charge here.

To conclude, the Drouin Institute team would like to wish you a happy holiday season as well as a new year filled with genealogical discoveries!

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

The Drouin Institute’s Family Genealogies

The Drouin Institute’s Family Genealogies section contains 660 family genealogies produced by the Drouin genealogical Institute over the course of the 20th century. These 660 genealogies total for over 230 000 pages. 203 genealogies are indexed by couple.

This section is separated in 2 categories.

Marriage search in the Family Genealogies

The marriages included in the Family Genealogies have been indexed and can be searched by the name of the spouses, the date of the marriage, or the name of the family for which the genealogy was produced.

Family Genealogies

The entire content of the Family Genealogies is presented in a file tree. The different sections are organized via separated folders.

You can browse the Drouin Institute’s Family Genealogies with a subscription to Genealogy Quebec at this address.

The Drouin Institute’s Miscellaneous Collections

The Drouin Institute’s Miscellaneous Collections, one of 15 tools available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers, contain a mix of images, documents, books, pictures and directories of historical and genealogical significance.

This section is presented in a file tree structure. The names of the folders housing the documents are used to identify and describe their contents.

Fonds d’archive (Archival fonds)

This folder contains archival fonds obtained from various sources and authors. In many cases, these are the personal archives of genealogists and history enthusiasts, digitized by the Drouin Institute.

The Fonds include photos, genealogies and family records, parish archives, books, postcards, notarial contracts, letters, biographies, parish records and much more.

Archives municipales (Municipal archives)

This folder contains the archives of multiple cities, towns and municipalities of Quebec.

Here is the list of locations available:

Acton Vale, Ville d’Acton, Canton d’
Arthabaska, comté deBerthier, comté de
Brandon, comté deBrome, Canton de
Châteauguay – La Prairie_1941Cowansville, Ville de
DelsonFoster, Village de
Granby, Canton deGranby, Ville de
Henryville (Notre-Dame-des-Anges)Joliette, comté de
La PrairieLac Brome (Knowlton), Ville
Lawrenceville, Village deMaricourt, Village de
Milton, canton (township) deNapierville (Village)
Roxton Falls, Village deRoxton, Canton de
Shefford, Canton deShefford, Comté de
South Stukely, Canton deSt-Alphonse, Village de
Stanbridge East, Village deSt-Césaire, Village de
St-ConstantSt-Cyprien-de-Napierville
Ste-Catherine-d’AlexandrieSte-Cécile de Milton, Village
St-Édouard (Village)Ste-Pudentienne, Paroisse
St-Georges de Clarenceville (paroisse)St-Isidore
St-Jacques-Le-MineurSt-Louis-de-Blandford
St-MathieuSt-Michel-Archange
St-Patrice-de-SherringtonSt-Paul d’Abbotsford, Village
St-Paul-de-ChesterSt-Philippe
St-Rémi (Paroisse)St-Rémi (Village)
St-Thomas (paroisse)Stukely Nord (Bonsecours), Village
Stukely Sud, Village deSt-Valérien de Milton, Canton
St-Valérien de Milton, VillageSutton, Canton de
Sutton, Ville deSweetsburg, Village de
Valcourt, Ville deVictoriaville
Warden, Village deWaterloo, Ville de
West Bolton, Village de

The municipal archives also contain a list of various directories and indexes, always in connection with Quebec municipalities.

Lignes de vie (Life lines)

This folder contains the life lines of several individuals who lived in Quebec. A life line lists the information available on an individual’s life, generally via baptismal, marriage and burial records. They also contain the list of the individual’s children and their spouses.

The life lines are sorted under the family name of the individual to whom the line relates.

Autres documents (Other documents)

This folder contains various archives and documents of historical and genealogical significance, such as yearbooks, stamps, parish records, photo albums, various archives, genealogies, books, biographies, postcards, contracts, cadastres, magazines, calendars, newspapers, lineages , directories, and much more.

Dictionnaire Jetté

This folder contains a digitized version of the Dictionnaire Jetté, a genealogical dictionary published in 1983. It covers the population of French origin established in Quebec since the 1600s up until 1730.

The dictionary pages are indexed by the names mentioned on each page, making it easy to use.

PRDH

This folder contains the original 47 PRDH volumes, which list all of Quebec’s Catholic baptisms, marriages and burials from 1621 up until 1765, which amounts to 300,000 records in total.

A much more complete, detailed and revised version of the PRDH is now available online on PRDH-IGD.com.

Journaux anciens (Old newspapers)

This file contains old digitized newspapers from various regions of Quebec dating from the last 200 years.

It contains the following publications:

Commercial Gazette (Montréal)Daily Witness (Montréal)
La Chronique de la Vallée du St-MauriceLa Minerve
La Semaine (Québec)La Tribune canadienne (Montréal)
La Vie illustrée (Montréal)La Voix du peuple (St-Jean)
L’Action canadienneL’Alliance (St-Jean)
L’Avant-GardeL’Avenir de Quebec
Le Canada-FrançaisLe Carillon (Québec)
Le Castor (Québec)Le Charivari (Québec)
Le Courrier (St-Jean)Le National (Montréal)
Le Progrès du GolfeLe Protectionniste (St-Jean)
Le Semeur canadien (Montréal)Le Trésor des familles (Québec)
L’Écho d’IbervilleL’Essor (St-Jean)
L’Obligation (Montréal)L’Opinion publique (Montréal)
L’Union de WoonsocketL’Union des Cantons de l’Est (Arthabaskaville)
Midi-Presse (Montreal)Paris-Canada (Montréal)
The AdvertiserThe Canadian Jewish Review
The Dominion Illustrated News (Montréal)The Inquirer (Trois-Rivières)
The Quebec Gazette

Lignées généalogiques (Genealogical charts)

This folder contains 2358 genealogical charts from the Planète Généalogie website.

These lineages are organized under folders by the surname of the subject.

Statuts de la province de Québec (Statutes of the Province of Quebec)

This folder contains a variety of legal documents pertaining to adoptions, name changes and inheritances. The documents are available in both French and English.

The documents are sorted under folders by the subject’s surname.

Contrats notariés de l’Ontario (Notarised documents from Ontario):

This folder contains 2673 images of notarised documents from the Cornwall region of Ontario, dated from between 1860 and 1990.

The contracts are sorted under the subject’s surname.

Trois-Rivières (Juridiction)

This folder contains 3909 images of judicial documents (juridiction royale et seigneuriale) from the city of Trois-Rivières dating from the New France era, more precisely between 1655 and 1764.

Cadastres abrégés (Abbreviated land records)

This folder contains an abridged version of the cadastres (registers establishing the state of land ownership of a territory) of the Montreal region dating from 1863.

The cadastres are sorted by seigneurie.

Useful links

Drouin Institute’s miscellaneous Collections

Subscribe to Genealogy Quebec

What is Genealogy Quebec?

The Drouin Institute’s Great collections

The Drouin Institute’s Great Collections, one of 15 tools available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers, contains a digitized version of the Great Collections published and edited by the Drouin Institute over the course of its existence.

  • Masculine (Men series): Alphabetical directory of all French-Canadian marriages from Quebec between 1760 and 1935, sorted by the groom’s surname.
  • Féminine (Woman series): Alphabetical directory of all French-Canadian marriages from Quebec between 1760 and 1935, sorted by the bride’s surname.
  • Histor: Directory of marriages files, including the origin of the subjects as well as a marriage contract. This collection covers all the Catholic and Protestant marriages celebrated in Quebec between 1730 and 1825, as well as marriages celebrated in Western French forts such as Détroit. Also contains Acadian marriages.
  • Fiches Acadiennes (Acadian cards): This series contains 50 000 birth, marriage and death cards pertaining to Acadian individuals.
  • Dossiers généalogiques Drouin: Contains the data collected before 1960 by Joseph and Gabriel Drouin in order to create their family genealogies.
  • Affinités généalogiques Drouin: Complement to the Dossiers généalogiques Drouin, contains various genealogical and historical documents.
  • Petit Drouin: Directory of all of Quebec’s Catholic marriages from 1760 to 1825.
  • Kardex Noir: The Kardex Noir was the predecessor to La Masculine (Men Series). Its content is similar.
  • Prévôté de Québec: Contains transcriptions of Prévôté de Québec hearings.
  • DNCF: Contains the 4th book of the Dictionnaire national des Canadiens francais (Red Drouin)
  • Patrimoine familial: This series presents the lives and genealogies of some famous or significant Quebec historical figures.
  • Patrimoine national: Contains baptism, marriage and burial directories as well as some Quebec cemeteries, produced by various authors.
  • Fiches franco-américaines (Franco-american cards): These cards contain an index of individuals who have been mentioned in the Guide Officiel Franco-Américain. The Guide Officiel Franco-Américain (GOFA) was a guide published annually in the United States that pertained to French-Americans. It contained short biographies of individuals with French roots living in the United States.

This tool can be browsed in two different ways.

Search by family in the Great Collections

The search by family in the Great Collections allows you to search for a surname in one or many of the following collections:

  • La Masculine (Men Series)
  • La Féminine (Women Series)
  • Le Fichier Histor
  • Dossiers généalogiques Drouin
  • Fiches Acadiennes (Acadian cards)
  • Petit Drouin

After searching for a surname, you will obtain a list of results that includes every page where this family name is mentioned in the above collections.

The results are presented in the same alphabetical order in which they appeared when the Great Collections were published as books, meaning that an individual whose first name begins with A will appear on the first few pages, while an individual named Zenophile should be found on the last pages.

Great Collections by folders

In this tab, the collections are organized within a file tree structure.

The collections can be browsed by navigating through the folders.

Some of the documents contained in these collections, namely the Men and Women series, aren’t particularly intuitive for a novice user.

Here is a schema explaining how to interpret the documents from these two collections:

Buying a physical copy of the Drouin Great Collections

Physical book versions of the Great Collections can still be purchased to this day. They are mainly intended for genealogical societies and libraries but are also available to private individuals.

Please note that we are now offering significant discounts on the Great Collection books. To inquire about the discounts, please write to us at contact@institutdrouin.com.

Finding the original church records referenced in the Men and Women series

Your subscription to Genealogy Quebec gives you access to the Drouin Collection Records, which contain all of Quebec’s parish registers from 1621 to the 1940s as well as many parish registers from Ontario, Acadia and the Northeast of the United States.

Every marriage referenced in the Men and Women series refers to an original parish document; it is therefore possible, in most cases, to find the original document from the information contained in the Men and Women Series.

To illustrate the process of finding an original document, we will use Ferdinand Gallichant and Marie-Anne Brochu’s marriage.

  1. galichaut – Groom’s last name
  2. joseph-ferdinand – Groom’s first name
  3. brochu – Bride’s last name
  4. m.-anne – Bride’s first name
  5. n.-d.-québec – Parish where the marriage was recorded
  6. 3 avril 1929 – Date of marriage

The Men Series entry for this marriage indicates that it was celebrated on the 3rd of April 1929 in the Notre-Dame de Québec parish.

To browse this register, we must first make our way to the Drouin Collection Records.

Once in the Drouin Collection Records, you will notice that the various registers are organized in a file tree structure. We begin by opening the Quebec folder, as the marriage we are interested in was recorded in that province.

It is under the Fonds Drouin folder that you will find all of Quebec’s parish registers from 1621 to 1940, sorted by alphabetical order.

We must now find the Notre-Dame-de-Québec register folder.

Some parishes are listed under the name of the city they are in, while others will be listed under the name of the parish itself. All of Quebec City’s parishes can be found under the “QC” folder, listed according to their religious denomination.

As Notre-Dame-de-Québec is a Catholic parish, it will be found under the “catholique” folder.

Once inside the folder, we must navigate to the correct year, which will give us access to all the images associated with the register for that specific year. It is important to know that in general, the images are listed in chronological order within a folder.

This means that the first image in the folder will contain the first events recorded during that year, which are usually the ones from January. Similarly, the last few images in the folder will hold the records from the end of the year.

As Ferdinand Gallichant and Marie-Anne Brochu’s marriage was celebrated in April, the 4th month of the year, our consultation of the register should begin within the first third of the list of images.

And so, we were able to find the original document pertaining to a Men Series entry using the tools available on GenealogyQuebec.com.

Useful links

Drouin Great Collections

Drouin Collection Records

Subscribe to Genealogy Quebec

What is Genealogy Quebec?

Buying physical copies of the Drouin Great Collections (write to us at contact@institutdrouin.com)

Quebec mortality rate under the French regime

In a previous article, we have shown using the family of Joseph Landry dit Penot and Marie Josèphe Coron dite Dauphinais how the PRDH family reconstructions, the centralization of all the vital events pertaining to a family, allow us to bring light to the living conditions of our ancestors. This exceptional couple, married in 1778, gave birth to an incredible 25 children, a great example of the natural fertility that prevailed in the absence of contraception and other social limitations.

Such a fertility rate would have been unsustainable due to the population increase resulting of so many births, had it not been for the mortality rate that was associated with the population of the time. Elevated mortality under the Old Regime made death an omnipresent part of our ancestors’ lives: it could happen at any age, contrarily to today, where it is mostly associated with old age. The infant mortality rate (death before the age of 1) was extremely high, and the children who did live past the age of 1 were still prone to sickness and accidents. Individuals reaching the age of 50 would be considered elderly. Men and women would die of malnutrition, work accidents, lack of proper hygiene as well as sickness, including smallpox epidemics that ravaged the population.

The information colligated by the PRDH allows us to put actual figures on these conditions. At the forefront is infant mortality rate. Between a quarter and a third of children born under the French Regime died before the age of 1, with a gradual increase over time, particularly in cities. Infant mortality rate is indeed directly linked to hygienic conditions and thus to the detrimental effects of overcrowding in cities. For example, 50% of children born in Montreal within the last few decades of the French Regime died before reaching their first birthday. Overall, less than half of the population would reach the average age of marriage, which was 20 years old for women, and 25 years old for men.

Family file sourced from the PRDH website. The children who died before the age of one are underlined in red.

Marrying at the age of 25, an average man would go on living 39 more years, to the age of 64. An average woman, marrying at 20, would also go on living 39 more years, to the age of 59. Why such a disparity? Because 1.5% of childbirths would result in the death of the mother, which meant that on average over the course of her life, a woman had a 12% chance of dying while giving birth. This had a direct impact on the average length of marriages at the time: barely half of the married couples would reach their silver wedding anniversary. This also explains the frequency of remarriages, as the presence of two parents was necessary to raise a large family.

You are now acquainted with the average living conditions and mortality rates in Quebec during the XVII and XVIII centuries. How do these rates compare to those among your ancestors? Careful! You may notice that your ancestors fared better than what is being described in this article, which is entirely logical. If you are here today to research and explore your ancestors’ history, it is through an unbroken lineage going back to them. A lineage that is a testimony to their children’s survival, as well as their own…

 

Bertrand and François Desjardins

November 2017