Over 50,000 historical documents have been added to the Drouin Miscellaneous Collections, one of 15 tools available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers.
The Drouin Miscellaneous Collections contain an assortment of images, documents, books, photos and directories of historical and genealogical interest. You can browse this tool at this address.
Trace your ancestors with tens of millions of genealogical records by subscribing to Genealogy Quebec today!
Clarence Cross collection – Family files
37,000 family files from Eastern Ontario, containing information about a family unit. The files are sorted by the husband’s surname.
Can be consulted in the Miscellaneous Collections under folder 26 – Généalogie Saint-Laurent – Cornwall, Ontario/Collection Clarence Cross/
Biographies of French America
54,000 biographies of individuals who lived from the 17th to the 20th century. The biographies are sorted by surname. An excellent source of less common information about your ancestors.
Can be consulted in the Miscellaneous Collections under folder 32 – Compilation des Biographies de l’Amérique Française/
We would like to thank Mr. Daniel Dionne, compiler of this impressive collection, for bequeathing it to us for safekeeping.
Do you have genealogical archives that you’d like to preserve? Contact us at contact@institutdrouin.com, we’d love to help!
The Drouin Collection Records are a collection of parish registers (baptisms, marriages and burials) covering all of Quebec and French Acadia as well as parts of Ontario, New Brunswick and the Northeastern United States, from the parish’s foundation up to the 1940s and sometimes 1960s.
You can browse the Drouin collection with a subscription to Genealogy Quebec at this address.
The LAFRANCE, also available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers, is a search engine allowing you to explore these parish registers by searching for the individual(s) mentioned in them.
The resolution of these new images is two to three times higher than that of the previous version, which ensures great legibility.
Browse all of Quebec’s parish registers as well as millions of historical documents by subscribing to Genealogy Quebec today!
The Drouin Collection Records
The Drouin Collection Records are a collection of parish registers (baptisms, marriages and burials) covering all of Quebec and French Acadia as well as parts of Ontario, New Brunswick and the Northeastern United States, from the parish’s foundation up to the 1940s and sometimes 1960s.
You can browse the Drouin collection with a subscription to Genealogy Quebec at this address.
The LAFRANCE, also available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers, is a search engine allowing you to explore these parish registers by searching for the individual(s) mentioned in them.
Société de généalogie de Saint-Hubert fonds, containing obituaries and photos of individuals
Fonds Ronald-Léger, containing images from the newspapers L’Avenir, le Guide and L’Express from 2008 to 2011
Fonds André-Hurtubise, addition of digitized negatives
Lavallée fonds from the Centre d’histoire de Saint-Hyacinthe, 17,219 pages of genealogical research by Mr. Lavallée
Fonds René-Jetté, addition of Fiches René Jetté, nearly 13,000 handwritten records in alphabetical order. Addition of nearly 7,000 additional complementary cards from his research
Over 110,000 birth, marriage and death cards have been added to the BMD Cards collection, one of 15 tools available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers.
These are non-Catholic births, marriages and deaths from the St-François judicial district, which encompasses most of the Eastern Townships.
They can be consulted in the BMS non-catholique, district St-François and Sépultures non-catholiques, district de Huntingdon folders, which can be found in the Fiches BMS (villes) folder at this address.
You can browse the BMD cards and trace your ancestors with tens of millions of historical documents by subscribing to Genealogy Quebec today!
What is the BMD cards tool?
The BMD cards tool is a repository of birth, marriage and death cards from Quebec, Ontario and the United States.
The documents in this collection are organized in a tree structure. In most cases, records are arranged alphabetically by the surname of the subject of the record, or the name of the place where the record is located.
As of today, the collection contains over 2.7 million cards. You will find more information as well as research tips on the Drouin Institute’s blog.
Let’s face it: DNA testing has redefined genealogy!
For more than two decades, DNA tests have demonstrated their importance in the realm of family history and genealogy. From FamilyTreeDNA (2000), a pioneer in the field, to subsequent companies such as 23andMe (2006), AncestryDNA (2012) and MyHeritage (2016), over 40 million DNA test kits have been sold to date. But are all these tests equivalent and interchangeable?
In this article, we’ll answer that question and explore in more detail the different types of DNA tests available on the market.
Types of DNA tests available on the market
There are two types of commercial DNA tests on the market: those for Autosomal DNA, and those for “deep” DNA (Y-DNA and mtDNA).
Autosomal DNA
Autosomal DNA reaches up to 7 generations, accounting for 128 potential ancestors. However, with each successive generation, some of this ancestral DNA is inevitably lost. Therefore, starting from the 8th generation onward, the last traces of certain ancestors are completely lost, making it impossible to establish a genetic connection with them.
Tests in this category (autosomal) account for the largest share of the genetic genealogy market. This category includes FamilyTreeDNA‘s “FamilyFinder” test, as well as all DNA tests from 23andMe, Ancestry and MyHeritage. These DNA tests focus on close relatives, recognizing degrees of relationship with great precision.
Y-DNA and mtDNA (Deep DNA)
Y-DNA and mtDNA is DNA which is transmitted only through the father’s and mother’s lineages; Y-chromosome DNA transmitted from father to son, and mitochondrial DNA transmitted by the mother. It is with this DNA that we are able to identify the pioneers of New France. For example, all male descendants of the patriarch Jean Côté should, in principle, carry the same DNA – that of the Y chromosome passed down from father to son. This deep DNA identifies lineages, not individuals, unlike autosome tests. A man bearing the name Côté can therefore verify, with the help of FamilyTreeDNA‘s Y-37 test, that he does indeed possess the ancestral DNA signature of the Côté family patriarch, Jean Côté. Among the major DNA testing companies, only FamilyTreeDNA offers specific Y chromosome analyses.
Female pioneers are not to be outdone, as matrilineages also carry DNA signatures that go back centuries. FamilyTreeDNA‘s mtFullSequence test (also known as FMS) analyzes the DNA signature transmitted from mother to children via mitochondria. If your matrilineal matriarch is, for example, Marie Rollet, the courageous wife of Louis Hébert, you should carry her genetic signature, and the mtFullSequence test can confirm this. Your test results will take you back to the origins of New France.
Deep DNA, Autosomal DNA, or both?
Autosome tests such as those offered by 23andMe, MyHeritage and Ancestry serve many purposes, whether it’s to verify close relatives, reveal unsuspected filiations, or enable adoptees to trace their parentage.
However, these objectives are not the same as those of genealogy enthusiasts interested in older times. Deep DNA reaches the patriarchs and matriarchs of the first generations who founded the country and from whom our surnames originate. The DNA signatures of New France’s ancestors live on through the lineages that link us to them: deep DNA testing aims to discover the heritage they passed on to us.
An overview of the Y-DNA signatures of pioneers established by the Genealogy Quebec DNA project. These are compared with your Y-DNA test results to confirm that you are indeed descended from the pioneer in question.
Among the major companies, only the tests offered by FamilyTreeDNA lead to the discovery of historical DNA signatures invaluable to the study of early Canada. If you’re interested in the origins of New France, and in confirming your genealogical research over several generations, Y-DNA and mtDNA tests are the ones to go for.
The right DNA test for YOU!
Autosome tests are very accurate for determining relationships spanning several generations. They are not, however, accurate for ethnic percentages, which are not genealogical in nature. As accurate as the kinship calculations of autosome tests are, their ethnic estimates are uncertain. These two aspects of the results must be contrasted. These tests are therefore very different from deep DNA patrilineage and matrilineage tests, which aim to identify distant ancestors.
Patrilineage and matrilineage deep DNA tests enable individuals to discover or verify that they are descended from one genetic lineage and not another. In genealogy, these tests are often used to establish, beyond any doubt, the validity of documentary research, and thus confirm that the individual tested is indeed descended from the lineages identified by the archives.
What’s more, the genetic identity of the test subject cannot be deduced from the results, only the origin of his or her lineage. As a result, privacy can be protected, and the use of a pseudonym is commonplace. Those who wish to remain anonymous can limit themselves to deep DNA testing.
Getting your DNA test
Deep DNA (Y-DNA and mtDNA) If you’d like to learn more about your origins and confirm your parentage to a pioneer.
With the help of our team, you can verify that your DNA signature matches that of the ancestors at the origins of your lineage. This match provides scientific proof of your documentary research and genetic assurance that you are indeed descended from the ancestor in question. To find out more, visit our DNA section!
Autosomal DNA If you’re more interested in discovering close relatives, from more recent times, FamilyTreeDNA‘s FamilyFinder test and tests from Ancestry, Myheritage and 23andMe will put you in touch with hundreds of people who share DNA segments inherited from common ancestors.
If you have any questions about DNA and its use in genealogy, don’t hesitate to contact the Genealogy Quebec DNA project team at adn@institutdrouin.com.
What’s more, if you already have DNA results from Ancestry, 23andMe or MyHeritage, you can transfer them free of charge to FamilyTreeDNA and combine them with deep DNA tests, which will be consolidated in a single account. You’ll then be able to attach all your results to the Genealogy Quebec DNA project, where our team will be happy to answer any questions you may have about your DNA.
Over 54,000 obituaries have been added to the Obituary Section, one of the 15 tools available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers.
These obituaries were published in various newspapers across Quebec and date from the 20th and 21st centuries.
You can browse these new obituaries with a subscription to Genealogy Quebec at this address.
Subscribe to Genealogy Quebec and start tracing your ancestors today with tens of millions of historical images and documents!
The Obituary section
This section contains most of the obituaries, memorial cards and headstones available on Genealogy Quebec. It is divided in 4 sub-sections:
Internet obituaries, which contains over 2.85 million obituaries published online from 1999 to today.
Newspaper obituaries, which now contains over 1,400,000 newspaper obituaries published between 1860 and today
Headstones, which contains more than 740,000 pictures of headstones from hundreds of cemeteries in Quebec and Ontario.
Memorial cards, which contains near 100,000 memorial cards published between 1860 and today.
These collections are indexed and can be explored using a search engine. You will find more information about this section on the Drouin Institute’s blog.
An update has been applied to the Acadia – Families tool, one of the 15 collections available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers.
12,414 family files and 27,689 baptism, marriage and burial records have been added to the collection. The Acadia – Families tool can be browsed with a subscription to Genealogy Quebec at this address.
Subscribe to Genealogy Quebec and trace your ancestors with over 100 million images and documents starting today!
What is the Acadia – Families tool?
The Acadia – Families tool contains family files based on original Acadian church records.
In total, this tool contains 171,246 family files. Currently, these cover a period that spans from the beginning of the Acadian colony to the end of 1849. In addition, 38 locations covering from 1850 to the end of the available registers are included. A list of these locations as well as a more detailed overview of the collection can be found on the Drouin Institute’s blog.
The files usually contain the names and first names of the parents, the first name of the child, the dates of birth and/or baptism, of death and/or burial, and of marriage (a total of 328,623 records). Links to the original church documents pertaining to the baptisms, marriages and burials mentioned in the file are also usually available.
