Category: Newsletters

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.

• Drouin Institute’s Great Collections – More information
• Drouin Institute’s Family Genealogies – More information
• Drouin Institute’s Miscellaneous Collections – More information

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 Genealogical Institute is proud to announce the acquisition of Planète Généalogie, a genealogical research website offering more than 29 million images and files.

What is Planète Généalogie?

Planète Généalogie is a genealogical research website that provides various collections and databases.
It contains parish registers, GEDCOM files, tombstones, death cards, telephone directories, obituaries and more. These collections pertain to the province of Quebec as well as part of Canada and the United States.
The various subscription options can be found here. Please note that the website is only available in French.

What does this mean for GenealogyQuebec.com?

Our long term plan is a gradual transition of Planète Généalogie‘s content to GenealogyQuebec.com. This transition begins today with this addition of the following collections on Genealogy Quebec:

21 481 parish register images have been added to the Drouin Collection Records (under the Registres (Québec et Ontario) folder):

• Marie-Médiatrice-de-toutes-les-Grâces (Ottawa) 1956-2007

• Ste-Jeanne-d’Arc (Ottawa) 1923-2000

• St-Barthélémy (Joliette) 1929-2010

• St-Cuthbert (Berthier) 1770-2008

• St-Tite-des-Caps (Champlain) 1940-1994

• St-Viateur (Berthier) 1909-2009

• Vanier (St-Charles) 1908-2008

75 000 images have been added in the Great Collections section:

• 12- Patrimoine familial, 100 new family genealogies. 55 904 added images

• 14 – Fonds d’archives: Fonds Arcand, 3066 added images. This is a collection that pertains to the Arcand family

• 15 – Généalogies familiales, Cité Saint-Michel coat of arms, 90 added images

• 18- Autres documents, 15 094 added images. Various historical documents, including a collection dated from the 1940-1950s named “Mes Fiches“.  “Mes Fiches” was a monthly publication focusing on various subjects related to the Catholic church

What will happen to Planète Généalogie?

The Planète Généalogie website will remain available for at least another year. Once a closure date has been selected for the website, we will gradually remove the subscription options starting with the yearly subscription, biannual subscription, and finally the monthly subscription. This will allow the Planète Généalogie‘s subscribers to extend their subscription up until the website’s closure.

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

The bimonthly LAFRANCE update was applied earlier this month.
The additions pertain to the 1850-1861 period for Catholic baptisms and burials.

Update figures

Catholic baptisms 1850-1861 : 11922 records added
Catholic burials 1850-1861 : 6335 records added
In addition, the corrections sent by our users over the past 2 months have been applied.
You will find more information about the parishes that have been updated on this document.

About the LAFRANCE

The LAFRANCE, one of 16 tools available to GenealogyQuebec.comsubscribers, is a detailed index with link to the original document of ALLCatholic marriages celebrated in Quebec between 1621 and 1916, ALLCatholic 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.

Drouin Institute blog

We are happy to announce our new communication and content sharing avenue, the official Drouin Institute blog!
We’ve already published a series of articles that cover the various tools available on Genealogy Quebec as well as the PRDH:

• What is the PRDH?
• The LAFRANCE
• The Obituary section
• Marriages and Deaths 1926-1997
• The Petit NBMDS
• The Connolly File
• The Kardex
• The Loiselle File
• Notarized documents
• Postcards
• Acadia – Families

In addition, we are working on a monthly series of articles pertaining to Quebec genealogy and demography. The author of these articles, Bertrand Desjardins, holds a Ph.D. in Demography from the University Lumière-Lyon 2 and is the author of numerous scientific publications centered on the study of the populations of Quebec and Canada.
Here is a sneak peek of this new series!
Twenty five children in 27 years: A look at our ancestors’ fertility

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.
Please note that this section has moved and can now be found under our main domain, here.

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

The bimonthly LAFRANCE update was applied earlier in the week.
The additions pertain to the 1850-1861 period for Catholic baptisms and burials.

Update figures

Catholic baptisms 1850-1861 : 25917 records added
Catholic burials 1850-1861 : 11084 records added
In addition, the corrections sent by our users over the past 2 months have been applied.
You will find more information about the parishes that have been updated on this document.

About the LAFRANCE

The LAFRANCE, one of 16 tools available to GenealogyQuebec.comsubscribers, 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.

50% off on our “New Books” collection

Until September 30th, get 50% off any book from the “New Books” collection by using the promo code “50” on our online boutique.

This collection contains monographs and indexes, produced by various organisations and authors, that pertain to Quebec, Ontario and the United States.

Volunteering

The Drouin Institute and its partner “Groupe-Nécro” are looking for volunteers to help with death notice and tombstone indexing, as well as cemetery photography.

• Death Notice indexing

Indexing death notices is as simple as extracting the deceased’s name and the date of death from the original obituary, and entering the information in a template.

• Tombstone indexing

Tombstone indexing is done using Microsoft Excel. The names and the text on the stone are entered in an Excel file that has been designed for the task.

• Cemetery photography

To this day, close to 1100 Quebec cemeteries have been photographed by Groupe-Nécro, for a total of over 600 000 tombstone pictures. This collection can be browsed with a subscription to GenealogyQuebec.com in the “Obituary” section.

We are looking for volunteers to photograph the remaining cemeteries in Quebec as well as cemeteries in the eastern part of Ontario.

For more information regarding cemetery photography and genealogical data indexing, please contact Sébastien Robert at srobert@institutdrouin.com.

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.

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

The bimonthly LAFRANCE update was applied earlier in the week.

The additions pertain to the 1850-1861 period for Catholic baptisms and burials.

Update figures

Catholic baptisms 1850-1861 : 6966 records added
Catholic burials 1850-1861 : 4622 records added
In addition, the corrections sent by our users over the past 2 months have been applied.

About the LAFRANCE

The LAFRANCE, one of 15 tools available to GenealogyQuebec.comsubscribers, 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. We estimate to have completed about 70% of all Catholic Quebec parishes for this period.

Free obituaries – New subsections

In addition to the 20 000 death notices added over the past 2 months, our obituary section is now equipped with subsections such as the province, city or publication in which the notice was published.
This section contains Canadian obituaries ranging from 1999 to this day. You can browse the collection free of charge at this address:
http://necrologie.genealogiequebec.com/home

Additions to our digital collections

The development of our numerous collections is still underway! Here are some additions made over the past 2 months:

Archival fonds

• Fonds Pepin-Lachance: 3427 images
• Fonds Wilfrid-Meloche: digitized books relating to this individual’s family
• Fonds SGCE: genealogical publications from members of the SGCE – over 11 000 pages
• Fonds Yvan-Beaulieu: personal collection of genealogical archives – 467 641 images
• Fonds Raymond-Aubry: 551 images from his personal collection
• All of these archival fonds can be consulted in the 14 – Fonds d’archives category, which can be found in the Great Collections section under the tab of the same name

“Lignes de vie” series

• Addition of 1000 individual genealogies produced by Michel Pepin, brother of Jean-Pierre Pepin, in the 17 – Lignes de vie category under the Great Collections tab

Newspaper obituaries

• Over 20 000 death notices from the 1945-1980 period as well as tens of thousands of death notices from the 1980-2017 period have been added

Connolly file

• Annual update on the Connolly file – new BMS records and corrections

Outaouais registers

• Addition of numerous English parish registers from the Outaouais region: 1177 register pages can now be consulted under the Registres québécois, région de l’Outaouais category in the Drouin Collection Records section

Kardex

• About 10 000 new BMS files from Ontario have been added to the Kardex collection

All of these collections – and much more – are available with a subscription to GenealogyQuebec.com.

OGS 2017

From June 16 to June 18 2017, the Drouin Institute team will be at the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Ottawa. All the details surrounding the conference can be found here.

If you attend the conference, make sure not to miss Gail Dever’s presentation, “The Crème de la Crème of Online Resources for Quebec Research”, which will cover both GenealogyQuebec.com and the PRDH among other resources. Gail Dever is the author of the popular blog Genealogy à la Carte.

We hope to see you at the conference!

The Drouin team

The bimonthly LAFRANCE update was applied earlier in the week.

The additions pertain to the 1850-1861 period for Catholic baptisms and burials.

Update figures

Catholic baptisms 1850-1861 : 21 539 records added
Catholic burials 1850-1861 : 8680 records added

In addition, the corrections sent by our users over the past 2 months have been applied.

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 update. We estimate to have completed about 65% of all Catholic Quebec parishes for this period.

Fonds Jean-Pierre-Yves Pepin – 150 000 new images

A new image collection has been added to the Drouin Institute archives. Over 150 000 new images are now available to GenealogyQuebec.com subscribers. The following can be found in this new collection:

• Personal publications
• Documents pertaining to centenarians
• Marriage photos
• Baptism photos
• Post cards
• Manuscripts
• Family files

As well as various other genealogical documents.

GenealogyQuebec.com subscribers can view the collection at this address, under 14 – Fonds d’archives / Fonds Jean-Pierre-Yves Pepin.

Free obituaries

Our free obituary section now contains over 2 million death notices!
This section contains Canadian obituaries ranging from 1999 to this day. You can browse the collection free of charge at this address.

NERCG

From April 26 to April 29 2017, the Drouin Institute will represent Quebec genealogy in Springfield, MA at the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium. You can find us in the expo hall. We look forward to meeting you!

The Drouin Team

Over the course of February 2017, an important update was applied to the PRDH database.

This update wraps up the 1800-1824 period as far as Family Reconstructions are concerned, something we began working on in 2013.

February 2017 update

In total, 27 792 individuals and 18 183 couples totaling for over 150 000 familial links were added to the database through this update.

Detailed example of a PRDH Family File

PRDH and Drouin Institute collaboration

Since the Drouin Genealogical Institute became the PRDH’s editor in 2014, the following additions have been made to the database:

• 1 700 000 new baptism, marriage and burial certificates
• 60 000 new couples
• 345 000 new individuals
• Over a million new links between families and individuals

Members which are subscribed to both GenealogyQuebec.com and the PRDH have access to the following exclusive features:

1. View the original document (parish register) on GenealogyQuebec.comfrom any PRDH certificate
2. View the PRDH individual file of any individual named in a GenealogyQuebec.com‘s LAFRANCE certificate.
3. 10% bonus PRDH hits free of charge on purchase for GenealogyQuebec.com subscribers

Detailed example of a PRDH Record Certificate

PRDH complete overview (1621-1849)

As of today, the PRDH database contains:

• 2 400 000 baptism, marriage and burial certificates
• 875 000 individuals
• 181 500 couples
• Over 3 million links between individuals and families

Detailed example of a PRDH Individual File

About the PRDH

The PRDH is a repertory of vital events (baptisms, marriages and burials) registered in Quebec during the 1621-1849 period, and a genealogical dictionary of families of the 1621-1824 period for the same region. You will find more information here:
Subscription information
The database
Family reconstructions
Free access (limited)

What’s next?

We are currently beginning to apply the family reconstruction process on the 1825-1849 period, which represents about as many records, individuals and families as the entire 1621-1824 period put together.

The bimonthly LAFRANCE update was applied earlier in the week.

The additions pertain to the 1850-1861 period for baptisms and burials as well as the entirety of 1916 for Catholic marriages.

Update figures:

• Catholic baptisms 1850-1861 : 10193 records added
• Catholic burials 1850-1861 : 4306 records added
• ALL Catholic marriages of 1916 : 14622 records added

In addition, the corrections sent by our users over the past 2 months have been applied.

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 update.

Free obituaries

Over the past 2 months, more than 20 000 death notices have been added to our free obituary section. This section contains close to 2 million Canadian obituaries ranging from 1999 to this day. You can browse the collection free of charge at this address:
http://necrologie.genealogiequebec.com/home

Roots Tech 2017

From February 8 to February 11 2017, the Drouin Institute team was in Salt Lake City for Roots Tech 2017, the largest genealogy conference in North America. We would like to thank the numerous GenealogyQuebec.com and PRDH subscribers who visited our booth at the expo hall.

Roots Tech proved to be an amazing opportunity for us to meet many prominent genealogy firms and societies from around the world. Talks with some of our French cousins and neighbors from the South were particularly promising and inspiring.
We also had the pleasure of running into our Canadian countrymen from the Ontario Genealogical Society, who were kind enough to invite us to their annual conference. The conference will be held in Ottawa from June 16 to June 18 2017.
We wont miss it!

We sincerely believe that the connections made at Roots Tech this year will prove instrumental in speeding up the development of our collections, which will allow us to provide more comprehensive tools and databases to our subscribers.

Address change

Finally, please note that Drouin Institute’s mailing address has changed. We are now based in Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur, Qc.

Sincerely,

The Drouin team

Dear subscribers,

Earlier in the week, the LAFRANCE database was updated.
In total, 7593 baptism and 3142 burial records for the 1850-1861 period have been added to the LAFRANCE.
In addition, the corrections sent by our users over the past 2 months have been applied.

About the LAFRANCE

The LAFRANCE, one of the tools available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers, is an index with link to the original document of ALL catholic marriages celebrated in Quebec between 1621 and 1915, ALL catholic baptisms and burials celebrated in Quebec between 1621 and 1849, and ALL protestant marriages celebrated in Quebec between 1760 and 1849.

Free obituaries

Over the past 2 months, more than 20 000 death notices have been added to our free obituary section. This section contains close to 2 000 000 obituaries ranging from 1999 to this day. You can browse this collection without the need for a subscription here.

Holiday gift idea

Are you looking for the perfect gift for a loved one this Christmas? A subscription to Genealogy Quebec or the PRDH can be the ideal gift for the history and genealogy enthusiast. Call us now at 514-400-3961 (Monday to Friday, 8 to 5) or write to us at contact@institutdrouin.com for more information on how to gift a subscription.

Happy holidays!

The Drouin Team

This edition of our newsletter will focus on the development of Genealogy Quebec, the Drouin Institute’s primary genealogical research website.

1850-1861

Close to 330 000 baptism and burial records from the 1850-1861 period have been added to the LAFRANCE in the past few months. We estimate that this represents about a third of all records for this period. The additions are made through our bimonthly update and will continue until the period is concluded.

About the LAFRANCE

The LAFRANCE is an index with link to the original document of ALL catholic marriages celebrated in Quebec between 1621 and 1915, ALL catholic baptisms and burials celebrated in Quebec between 1621 and 1849, and ALL protestant marriages celebrated in Quebec between 1760 and 1849. The LAFRANCE is one of the multiple tools available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers.

Acadian families

Last spring, a database of Acadian records and families was added to Genealogy Quebec. This database covers over 40 000 families, and provides a link to the original document from which the data is sourced. This tool is available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers and can be accessed from the tool list.

33% off online shop

A reminder that the 33% sale on our online shop is still active. For more details, read our October 20th newsletter.

Rebranding

You may have noticed a logo change on the English version of Genealogy Quebec. When the site was first translated years ago, Quebec Records was chosen as the official name.
Over the years, we realized that having a different name for the French and English versions created confusion among our users. Thus, Quebec Records has been rebranded in Genealogy Quebec. The content of the website remains unchanged.
Also note that you can now use the http://genealogyquebec.com URL to be redirected to the english version of the website directly.

The Drouin Team