25% off the Genealogy Quebec yearly subscription until Saturday! Get the offer here.

How to use Genealogy Quebec’s search engine

Try the search engine for free at this address!

About the search engine

Genealogy Quebec’s search engine is based on cutting-edge search technology, and contains over 65 million historical documents.

Search Engine Content Overview

You will find a detailed overview of the collections available in the search engine at this address.

Search engine features

A global search

The engine simultaneously searches through the entire website – over 65 million records – with a single query.

A smart search

The technology on which the search engine is based enables advanced logic to be incorporated into the various search functions, providing great flexibility when it comes to queries. Approximate date, alternative spelling or typo? No problem for the search engine; you’ll still find what you’re looking for.

Dynamic filters

The search results can be segmented using three categories of filters:

  • Type of document
  • Location
  • Year

These filters allow you to refine the search results directly from the results page. For example, you can choose to only display a specific type of document or source collection, or you can limit the results to a particular location and/or time period.

Free search

Although Genealogy Quebec is a subscription-based site, a limited version of the search engine can be used free of charge. Simply go to the site and start your search.

When you perform a search without being subscribed, you will have access to the same results as members, but they will be partially redacted.

Comparison of free and paid search results

The free version of the result gives you the name of the document’s subject(s), some of the information contained in the index, and a preview of the original document.

Future developments for the search engine

The next stage of development of the engine is the addition of individuals to the search. This will allow you to add a father, a mother, or a spouse to your search. We are hoping to release this feature by the end of 2025.

How to use the search engine

The search engine is divided into two sections that operate independently, each with its own features: the Basic search and the Advanced search. By default, the Basic search is activated. To switch to the Advanced search, simply click on Advanced search to the right of the Search button.

To switch to the Advanced search, simply click on Advanced search to the right of the Search button.

The basic search, with its 4 fields, works on a simple principle: you are searching for a specific individual, and the search engine provides you with every document on the site that mentions the individual. The results are ordered according to the probability that the document in question relates to the individual you’re looking for.

The more the information contained in a document matches your search parameters, the earlier it will appear in the results list.

First name(s) and last name(s)

This is where you enter the name of the person you’re looking for. This person can have any role in the document (subject, parent, spouse, godparent, or simply being mentioned anywhere within the document), but documents where the person is the subject are prioritized.

Accents, capital letters and hyphens may or may not be used in your search without affecting the results.

You can also enter several first and last names for the same individual; the engine will prioritize the documents where a maximum of these names are found, but you will also obtain results where the individual is identified under only one of the names.

Adjusting the search broadness

Under the first name and last name, you have the option of adjusting the broadness of your search, i.e. the level of difference between the name you entered, and the name found in the corresponding document.

There are three levels to this option:

  • Exact search
  • Similar search
  • Extended search

The different search levels are explained at this address.

Year of birth

In the year of birth box, it is important to enter the exact or approximate year of birth, not the year of marriage or death. The engine performs a calculation based on the year of birth to show you results relevant to your search. If you enter a date other than the approximate year of birth, many relevant records will be excluded from the search results.

You can adjust the range of years searched by clicking on +/-

Location where your ancestor may have resided

The location is used to order and prioritize search results. For example, if two documents contain the name entered, but only one contains the location searched for, the document also containing the matched location will appear first in the results.

You can use the location search box freely, by entering a district, town, region, parish or even a country.

Please note that a match between the searched location and the location listed in the document is not necessary for the document to appear in the search results. The location is only used to prioritize results, not to exclude them.

The Advanced Search lets you refine your search with additional parameters. It includes two main components: adding events and adding individuals (coming soon).

The Advanced Search uses the concept of Target Individual.

The Target Individual is the person at the center of the search, whose name is entered in the First Names and Last Names boxes. All parameters added to the search pertain to the Target Individual, whether it’s an added event or individual.

In addition, the Target Individual can only have the role of subject in the document (e.g. the deceased in a burial, the spouses in a marriage, etc.). To search for an individual in another role (parents, ex-spouse, etc.), you can use the Basic Search.

When the addition of individuals to the search is released, you will be able to use it to search for individuals with secondary roles in the document.

First name(s) and last name(s)

This is where you enter the name of the person you’re looking for.

Accents, capital letters and hyphens may or may not be used in your search without affecting the results.

You can also enter several first and last names for the same individual; the engine will prioritize the documents where a maximum of these names are found, but you will also obtain results where the individual is identified under only one of the names.

Adjusting the search broadness

Under the first name and last name, you have the option of adjusting the broadness of your search, i.e. the level of difference between the name you entered, and the name found in the corresponding document.

There are three levels to this option:

  • Exact search
  • Similar search
  • Extended search

The different search levels are explained at this address.

Adding events to the search

This feature lets you add the date and/or location of events related to the individual you’re looking for.

Available events

Birth: Add the year and place of birth or baptism of the person you’re looking for.

Marriage: Add a year and place of marriage for the person you’re looking for.

Death: Add the year and place of death or burial of the person you are looking for.

Residence: Add a year and place of residence for the person you’re looking for.

Publication: Add a year and place of publication that prioritizes documents published on that date and/or in that place.

Any event: Allows you to search for a year and/or place present in a document, regardless of which event that place or date is associated with. The year and place entered need not belong to the same event.

Events utilisation in search

When you add a year or place of event to your search parameters, the engine uses it to order your search results according to their relevance. The more a document matches the search parameters you’ve entered, the higher it will appear in the results list.

You can add as many parameters as you wish to your search; the engine will use them to evaluate the relevance of the documents, but does not require that the parameters you enter be present.

However, you can force the presence of a parameter by using the “Must match” checkbox. When this box is checked, only documents where this information is explicitly mentioned will appear in the search results.

Let’s use the following search as an example:

Here’s how the parameters entered in the search above are used to select and order the results:

  • The name must match Joseph Tremblay, according to the parameters of the broadness selected for your search. The better the name match, the higher the document priority.
  • If Joseph Tremblay‘s year of birth is 1922 in the document, it receives a high priority in the order of results.
  • If Joseph Tremblay‘s place of birth is Montreal in the document, it receives a high priority in the order of results.
  • If Joseph Tremblay‘s year of marriage is 1945 in the document, it receives a high priority in the order of results, AND, since the “Must match” box is checked, any document in which Joseph Tremblay‘s year of marriage is not explicitly stated to be 1945 is excluded from the results, even if the other search parameters match.

Adding individuals to the search (coming soon)

Under development.

Search filters

The new search engine provides filters to refine the search results. When you activate a filter, documents not matching the filter are removed from the results list.

As such, when using a filter, you are displaying a subset of your initial search results. A result that was not present in your initial search will not appear following the use of a filter.

To close a filter and return to the previous one, simply click on the X to the right of the activated filter.

Filtrer by collection / type of document

This filter allows you to only display results corresponding to a specific type of document. It also allows you to select the source collection of the documents displayed.

The filter generally operates on three levels.

  1. The document category, which encompasses several types of documents that relate to one another
    Ex: Births, Marriages and Deaths
  2. The document type, which is specific to a particular type of document
    Ex: Marriages
  3. The source collection, i.e. the database in which the document can be found
    Ex: LaFrance Marriages

Filter by location

This filter allows you to remove any documents that do not match a specific location from the search results.

When a search is performed, all the locations mentioned in the search results are listed and sorted under the Location filter. When you select one of the filters under Location, you are in effect excluding all documents that do not contain that specific location.

The sorting of locations under the filter is as follows:

  • Country
    • Province / State
      • Region
        • City / Parish / Other geographical entities

Occasionally, a document may contain province and city information, but no region. In this case, the document will be found under the Other category in the list of regions:

  • Country
    • Province / State
      • Other
        • City / Parish / Other geographical entities

Please note that due to the large number of documents and sources in our databases, locations are not standardized. It is therefore possible for a place to be repeated several times in the filters, under different variations. For example, a document where the location is listed as “Ville de Québec” will not be sorted under the same filter as a document where the location is listed as “Québec”.

Filter by date

This filter allows you to select documents in which a specific year appears.

During your initial search, you are prompted to enter the year of birth of the person you are looking for. The date filter, on the other hand, is not necessarily based on the year of birth. Instead, it considers all the dates mentioned in the document.

For example, if you apply the date filter “1945” to your search, all documents containing the year 1945 will be displayed, whether it’s a year of birth, marriage, death or residence.

As a result, a document containing more than one date will appear under several different filters.

Search results

Search results on the new engine are ordered and presented according to a scoring system. When you perform a search, the engine scans all the documents in our databases, then presents you with the events that best match your search parameters. The more a document matches, the earlier it will appear in the results list.

Results – Snippet

On the new engine, search results are first presented as snippets.

This snippet starts with the names of the subject(s), below which the type of document and the source collection are given.

An extract of the information contained in the document is then presented. The content of this preview varies according to the type of document. To the right of the preview, a thumbnail of the original document is displayed.

To view the complete information and the original document (where available), click on the thumbnail or “View” button.

At the bottom left, a note informs you of the last time you consulted this document.

Results – Details page

After clicking on the thumbnail or the “View” button, you are redirected to the details page.

Original document

When available, the original document is displayed on the left. Click on it to view it in full size.

Details tab

This is where you’ll find all the information available for this event.

Source tab

This tab contains three sections.

  • Information: Contains information about the collection to which the document belongs.
  • Original source: Indicates where the document originally came from.
  • Citation: The source to include when sharing this document outside our site. You can copy and paste it as is.

Back to search results

Clicking on this button takes you back to your search results. Please note that the button doesn’t work if you’ve opened the details page in a new tab, or if you’ve arrived at the details page via a direct link rather than via the results page.

Search tips and tricks

Prioritizing sources in the event of conflicting information

Genealogy Quebec’s new search engine has the advantage of searching through all the site’s databases. As a result, events may sometimes be listed in several databases, or even several times in the same database. This is generally an advantage, since it’s not uncommon for one source to contain information not present in the others. But what if two sources contradict each other?

First of all, check whether a source is accompanied by an original document. If this is the case, you should always give it priority, and make sure you check the information in the original document.

If the original document is not available, you can prioritize documents based on their source collection. In the case of birth, marriage and death records, the sources to prioritize are the LaFrance first, then the NBMDS, as these are databases containing transcriptions of original documents.

The records in the ABCD databases, on the other hand, are aggregations of various informations and sources, but are not direct transcriptions of original records. Therefore, in the event of a contradiction, you must give precedence to the LaFrance and NBMDS records.

Finding the original document associated with a birth, marriage or death

Many of the sources listed in the new search engine contain events taken from parish registers, but do not offer a direct link to the source document.

However, your subscription to Genealogy Quebec gives you access to the Drouin Collection Records, which contains all of Quebec parish registers from 1621 to the 1940s, as well as numerous parish registers from Ontario, Acadia and the northeastern United States.

It is therefore often possible to find the source document associated with a BMD record by referring to the Drouin Collection Records

Take, for example, this birth found in the NBMDS collection.

Baptism record of Marie Laure Jeannette Tremblay from the parish register of St-Alphonse-de-Liguori

Marie Laure Jeannette Tremblay is said to have been born in Bagotville and baptized in the St-Alphonse-de-Liguori parish in 1923. Thus, we should be able to find the original entry for her baptism in the parish’s register under the year 1923.

First, let’s go to the Drouin Collection Records.

Once in the Drouin Collection, you’ll notice that the various registers are arranged in a tree structure. Since the document we’re looking for was recorded in Quebec, we will open the Quebec folder. The registers we’re interested in are then found under the Fonds Drouin folder. Now we need to find the parish.

Some parishes are listed under the name of the city or region they serve, while others will be found under the parish name itself. In the case of St-Alphonse-de-Liguori parish, it is listed under the Bagotville folder.

Once this folder has been opened, you need to navigate to the year you are looking for, in order to reach the list of images contained in the register for that year. It is important to note that in most cases, images are arranged in chronological order.

The first image in the folder will therefore contain the first events recorded in that year, i.e. records from the beginning of January, while events from the end of December will be found among the last images.

As Marie Laure’s birth took place in August, we can deduce that the record will be found towards the middle of the series of images.

baptism record genealogy quebec
Baptism record of Marie Laure Jeannette Tremblay from the registers of St-Alphonse-de-Liguori

After browsing through a few images, we find the baptism we’re looking for.

Using the date filters to find a specific event

The basic search, with its “year of birth” field, allows you to find all documents pertaining to the person you’re looking for.

However, if you are looking for a particular document, specifically a marriage or death, it can be more difficult to find among the many results obtained.

The advanced search, which we hope to bring online in the coming months, will alleviate this problem. But for now, you can use the date filters to find specific events whose dates you know.

How the date filters work

When you select a date or date range, the search engine excludes from the results all documents that do not contain the date(s) you have selected.

For example, if you select the 1945 filter, only documents specifically containing the year 1945 will remain in your search results, regardless of whether 1945 is a year of birth, marriage, death, residence or publication in the record.

If you know that one of your ancestors married in 1945 and would like to find his or her marriage certificate, start by searching for the ancestor’s name. You can include a date of birth if you wish, but it is not necessary.

You will then obtain a list of all the documents where this individual is mentioned on the site. By activating the 1945 date filter, you’ll end up with a list of all documents in which the individual is mentioned AND in which the year 1945 appears, which should enable you to find the marriage easily.

FAQ

What about the old search tools?

Genealogy Quebec’s current research tools and databases will remain available to our members for the long term. However, they will no longer be updated once the new search engine has been fully released.

Some of my search results don’t match the information I’ve entered

The first and/or last names do not correspond

By default, the search engine allows for some variation in the spelling of names . What’s more, the LaFrance name dictionary will eventually be integrated into the system, meaning that certain names will be matched despite different pronunciation or spelling.

An option (Exact Search) allows you to limit the search results to records where the names match exactly.

However, please note that the exact search does not prevent the display of results in which only one of the first names or surnames searched for is listed. For example, a search for “Jean-Sébastien Roy” will also produce results with “Sébastien Roy”, even with exact search enabled.

The year does not correspond

In the Basic search, you are asked to enter the approximate or exact year of birth of the ancestor you are looking for. However, the majority of documents on the site do not contain a date of birth. Therefore, we use the date of birth entered in your search to exclude documents that are not relevant. For example, it would not be useful to show you a marriage which took place in 1734 if you entered 1844 as the date of birth, even if the name matches.

As a result, you’ll often see results that don’t contain the date you entered; these aren’t there by mistake.

The location does not correspond

In the Basic search, location is used to prioritize and order results.

A correspondence between the location searched and the location mentioned in the document is not necessary for a document to be included in the search results.

For example, if you search for “François Desjardins” as the first and last name, and set “Montréal” as the location, all documents on the site containing a “François Desjardins” and taking place in Montréal will appear first in the search results. However, once these results have been exhausted, the search will start displaying documents mentioning “François Desjardins”, regardless of location.

227 Parishes Redigitized and 25% off on Genealogy Quebec

51,000 images from the registers of 227 Quebec parishes have been rescanned on Genealogy Quebec to improve their clarity.

To this day, over 1.35 million Drouin collection images have been rescanned and are available exclusively on Genealogy Quebec.

Comparison between the old and new versions of the Drouin Collection’s images.
Source: Drouin Collection Records, GenealogyQuebec.com

The resolution of these new images is two to three times higher than that of the previous copy, which ensures great legibility.

Browse all of Quebec’s parish registers as well as millions of historical documents by subscribing to Genealogy Quebec today.

Get 25% off the yearly subscription if you subscribe by June 24th!

A monthly subscription is also available at this address.

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 names.

You can browse the LAFRANCE at this address.

List of rescanned parishes

Here are the parishes that have been rescanned in this update.

ParishYear(s)
Abbott Corner (Baptist Church)1897-1911
Arundel (Anglican Church)1902-1942
Arundel (Church of England)1869-1915
Arundel (Episcopal Church)1892
Arundel (Holiness Movement)1898-1922
Arundel (Methodist Church)1876-1923
Arundel (Presbyterian Church)1875-1923
Arundel (Protestants)1897
Arundel (Standard Church)1936-1940
Arundel (United Church)1936-1942
Avoca (Baptist Church)1912-1942
Avoca (Presbyterian Church)1895-1920
Avoca (United Church)1936-1942
Bedford (Anglican Church)1851-1864
Belle-Rivière (Church of Scotland)1834
Belle-Rivière (Église évangélique)1862-1887
Belle-Rivière (Presbyterian Church)1888-1915
Bolton (Anglican, Saint Andrew)1862
Bolton (Baptist Church)1864-1941
Bolton West (Secrétaire-trésorier)1928-1942
Brome (Baptist Church)1879-1884
Brome (Congregational Church)1842-1854
Brownsburg (Anglican Church)1923
Brownsburg (Baptist Church)1936-1938
Brownsburg (United Church)1936-1942
Buckland (Notre-Dame-Auxiliatrice)1857-1862
Calumet (Methodist Church)1888-1919
Calumet (Pentecostal Church)1935-1940
Calumet (Protestants)1937-1941
Calumet (United Church)1938-1940
Carillon (Methodist Church)1890
Chapeau (St-Alphonse)1883-1929
Clarenceville (Anglican Church)1852-1854
Clarenceville (Baptist Church)1887-1942
Cowansville (Anglican Church)1854-1864
Cowansville (Congregational Church)1845
Cowansville (Secrétaire-trésorier)1925-1930
Cushing (Presbyterian Church)1892-1921
Cushing (United Church)1939-1942
Dalesville (Baptist Church)1877-1942
Drummondville (Anglican Church)1823-1942
Dunham (Church of England)1848
Dunham (Secrétaire-trésorier)1930
Dunkin (Baptist Church)1924
Durham (Baptist Church)1859-1873
Durham (Congregational Church)1842-1919
Durham (Methodist Church)1854-1925
Farnham (Secrétaire-trésorier)1931-1935
Farnham-East (Baptist Church)1864-1893
Fort Beauharnois1732-1760
Fort Chambly1759-1760
Fort Châteauguay1751-1762
Fort Presqu’Ile1757-1762
Frelighsburg (Anglican Church)1852-1942
Frost Village (Anglican Church)1857-1864
Gore (Church of England)1854-1904
Gore (Episcopal Church)1839-1844
Gore (Protestants)1879-1895
Granby (Congregational Church)1842-1854
Grande-Entrée (Sacré-Cœur)1900-1948
Grenville (Anglican Church)1914-1942
Grenville (Baptist Church)1872-1942
Grenville (Church of England)1837-1913
Grenville (Church of Scotland)1867
Grenville (Congregational Church)1878
Grenville (Methodist Church)1860-1923
Grenville (Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs)1879-1940
Grenville (Presbyterian Church)1844-1914
Grenville (Protestants)1937-1938
Grenville (Scotch Presbyterian Church)1848-1866
Grenville (United Church)1939-1941
Grindstone Island (Protestants)1929-1949
Grosse-Île (Protestants)1929-1949
Harrington (Methodist Church)1889
Harrington (Presbyterian Church)1862-1913
Harrington (United Church)1935-1942
Havre-Aubert (Notre-Dame-de-la-Visitation)1793-1929
Havre-Saint-Pierre (St-Pierre)1860-1905
Huberdeau (Standard Church)1940
Îles-de-la-Madeleine (Protestants)1858-1928
Inverness (Anglican Church)1859-1925
Inverness (Baptist Church)1871-1872
Inverness (Holiness Movement)1902-1913
Inverness (Methodist Church)1859-1925
Inverness (Presbyterian Church)1858-1942
Inverness (Secrétaire-trésorier)1914-1940
Inverness (Standard Church)1927-1928
Inverness (United Church)1926-1942
Ireland (Methodist Church)1860-1873
Ireland and Maplegrove (Anglican Church)1858-1942
Kilkenny (Church of England)1874-1905
Kilmar (United Church)1935-1942
Kinnear’s Mills (United Church)1927-1942
Knowlton (Anglican Church)1856
Knowlton (Secrétaire-trésorier)1901-1911
Lac-Beauport (St-Dunstan)1834
Lachute (Anglican Church)1912-1942
Lachute (Baptist Church)1884-1942
Lachute (Church of England)1869-1911
Lachute (Episcopal Church)1879-1893
Lachute (Free Church)1859-1862
Lachute (Methodist Church)1852-1923
Lachute (Presbyterian Church)1842-1942
Lachute (United Church)1936-1942
Lake View (Presbyterian Church)1897-1905
Lakefield (Anglican Church)1901-1942
Lakefield (Church of England)1890-1910
Lakefield (Episcopal Church)1892-1896
Lakefield (Methodist Church)1881-1909
Lakefield (Protestants)1936-1938
Lakefield (Trinity Church)1939
L’Ancienne-Lorette (Notre-Dame-de-l’Annonciation)1777-1800
Leeds (Anglican Church)1855-1942
Leeds (Methodist Church)1858-1909
Leeds (Presbyterian Church)1858-1939
L’Étang-du-Nord (St-Pierre)1863-1868
Lost River (Presbyterian Church)1896-1923
Mabel (Baptist Church)1923
Mansonville (Baptist Church)1909-1942
Mascouche (Methodist Church)1880
Mille-Isles (Anglican Church)1908-1942
Mille-Isles (Christ Church)1941
Mille-Isles (Church of England)1862-1912
Mille-Isles (Presbyterian Church)1864-1940
Mille-Isles (Protestants)1920-1922
Morin (Church of England)1862-1888
Morin (Protestants)1920
Morin Flats (Holiness Movement)1906-1910
Morin Heights (Anglican Church)1909-1942
Morin Heights (Christ Church)1941
Morin Heights (Methodist Church)1915-1916
Morin Heights (Protestants)1942
Morin Heights (Trinity Church)1936-1940
Morin Heights (United Church)1938-1942
New Glasgow (Anglican Church)1910-1942
New Glasgow (Church of England)1870-1915
New Glasgow (Methodist Church)1875-1915
New Glasgow (Presbyterian Church)1875-1940
New Glasgow (United Church)1941-1942
North Gore (Church of England)1852-1869
North Gore (Methodist Church)1867-1875
Notaire André Bouchard dit Lavallée1834-1874
Notaire Augustin Mackay1827-1872
Notaire Blotters1852-1858
Notaire Jean-Moïse Lefebvre1863-1881
Notaire Joseph Ledoux1868-1872
Notaire Joseph Lesiège dit Lafontaine1856-1886
Notaire Joseph Turgeon1783-1808
Notaire Joseph-Paul Filiatrault1832-1852
Notaire Louis-Adélard-A. Brien1886-1919
Notaire Louis-Hector J. Bellerose1875-1900
Notaire Paul Filiatrault1838-1852
Notaire Pierre-Rémi Gagnier1784-1817
Notaire Stephan Mackay1821-1859
Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix (Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix)1909
Noyan & Foucault (Anglican Church)1858-1864
Oka (Methodist Church)1870-1909
Oka (Pentecostal Church)1935-1942
Oka (United Church)1936-1942
Ottawa (Ste-Brigide)1890-1907
Philipsburg (Anglican Church)1809-1942
Philipsburg (Congregational Church)1845-1853
Ponsonby (Methodist Church)1896-1900
Potton (Anglican Church)1856-1864
Potton (Baptist Church)1911-1915
Potton (Methodist Church)1846
Registre des Notaires de Detroit1778-1796
Repentigny (La Purification-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie)1679-1810
Rivington (Baptist Church)1936-1942
Roussillon (Baptist Church)1921-1923
Roxton Pond (Baptist Church)1876-1942
Salaberry (Presbyterian Church)1875-1910
Shawbridge (Methodist Church)1866-1922
Shawbridge (Protestants)1942
Shawbridge (United Church)1936-1941
Shefford (Anglican Church)1852-1854
Shefford (Baptist Church)1939-1942
Shrewsbury (Anglican Church)1941
South Ely (Baptist Church)1878-1932
St-André-Est (Anglican Church)1926-1942
St-André-Est (Christ Church)1937-1938
St-André-Est (Methodist Church)1855
St-André-Est (Presbyterian Church)1897-1942
St-André-Est (United Church)1936-1942
St-Armand-Est (Baptist Church)1864-1915
St-Armand-Est (Church of England)1856
Ste-Agathe-des-Monts (Trinity Church)1936-1942
Ste-Foy (Notre-Dame-de-Foy)1827-1829
Ste-Sophie (État civil)1938-1940
Ste-Sophie (Presbyterian Church)1866
Ste-Thérèse (Church of Scotland)1834
Ste-Thérèse (Presbyterian Church)1845-1887
Ste-Thérèse (United Church)1888
Ste-Thérèse (United Church)1936-1942
St-Eustache (Church of Scotland)1834-1837
St-Eustache (Presbyterian Church)1846-1856
St-Eustache (United Church)1936-1942
St-Faustin (Methodist Church)1891-1916
St-Faustin (St-Faustin)1934
St-Hippolyte-de-Kilkenny (St-Hippolyte)1866-1869
St-Jovite (Methodist Church)1897-1916
St-Mungo (United Church)1848
Stonefield (Baptist Church)1896-1921
St-Philippe-d’Argenteuil (Baptist Church)1842-1922
St-Philippe-d’Argenteuil (Church of England)1837-1860
St-Philippe-d’Argenteuil (Church of Scotland)1833-1867
St-Philippe-d’Argenteuil (Methodist Church)1861-1907
St-Philippe-D’Argenteuil (Presbyterian Church)1844-1899
St-Sauveur-des-Monts (Methodist Church)1892
Stukely (Anglican Church)1851-1863
St-Vallier (St-Philippe-et-St-Jacques)1713-1786
Sutton (Baptist Church)1864-1942
Sutton (Secrétaire-trésorier)1931-1937
Sutton, Glen Sutton and West Sutton (Anglican Church)1891-1942
Terrebonne (Church of England)1872-1918
Thetford Mines (Anglican Church)1907-1942
Thetford Mines (Methodist Church)1910-1927
Thetford Mines (Secrétaire-trésorier)1924-1926
Thetford Mines (United Church)1926-1943
Ulverton (United Church)1926-1942
Valcourt (Baptist Church)1918-1936
Victoriaville (Greffe)1929-1942
Ville-Marie (Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire)1873-1933
Waterloo (Anglican Church)1855-1863
Wentworth (Anglican Church)1941
Wentworth (Church of England)1869-1881
West Shefford (Anglican Church)1855-1863

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

More Drouin Collection Rescanning and 25% Discount on Genealogy Quebec

83,000 images from the registers of 72 Quebec parishes have been rescanned on Genealogy Quebec to improve their clarity.

To this day, over 1.3 million Drouin collection images have been rescanned and are available exclusively on Genealogy Quebec.

Comparison between the old and new versions of the Drouin Collection’s images.
Source: Drouin Collection Records, GenealogyQuebec.com

The resolution of these new images is two to three times higher than that of the previous copy, which ensures great legibility.

Browse all of Quebec’s parish registers as well as millions of historical documents by subscribing to Genealogy Quebec today!

Get 25% off the yearly subscription if you subscribe by March 31st!

A monthly subscription is also available at this address.

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 names.

You can browse the LAFRANCE at this address.

List of rescanned parishes

Here are the parishes that were rescanned in this update.

Adamsville (St-Vincent-Ferrier)1873-1940
Asbestos (St-Aimé)1897-1924
Ascot Corner (St-Stanislas-de-Kostka)1913-1940
Athelstan et Elgin (Presbyterian and United Church)1911-1940
Barnston (St-Wilfrid – Kingscroft)1904-1940
Beaulac (Garthby Station)1878-1940
Bedford (St-Damien)1869-1901
Beebe (Ste-Thérèse-de-l’Enfant-Jésus)1925-1940
Béthanie (Très-St-Enfant-Jésus-d’Ély)1916-1940
Bishopton (St-Clément)1922-1940
Brigham (Ste-Marie-Médiatrice)1925-1940
Bromont (St-François-Xavier-de-West-Shefford)1859-1940
Bromptonville (St-Denis)1925-1940
Bromptonville (St-Praxède)1872-1940
Bury (St-Raphaël)1899-1940
Capelton1907-1940
Chartierville (Emberton)1883-1940
Coaticook (St-Edmond)1880-1940
Coaticook (St-Jean-l’Évangéliste)1913-1940
Coaticook (St-Marc)1917-1927
Cookshire (St-Camille)1898-1939
Cowansville (Ste-Thérèse-de-l’Enfant-Jésus)1928-1940
Danville (Ste-Anne)1866-1940
Disraëli1884-1940
Dixville (St-Mathieu)1916-1940
Dunham (Ste-Croix)1850-1920
East Angus (St-Louis-de-France)1888-1940
East Hereford1908-1940
Farnham (St-Romuald)1871-1929
Fitch Bay (St-Éphrem)1922-1940
Fontainebleau1913-1940
Franklin (Church of England, Methodist and Congregational Church)1891-1940
Granby (Notre-Dame)1916-1931
Ham-Nord (Sts-Anges)1869-1940
Ham-Sud1880-1940
Hemmingford (Presbyterian Church of England and Methodist Church)1866-1940
Henryville1833-1844
Huntingdon (Presbyterian, Methodist and Church of England Saint Andrew)1856-1916
Iberville (St-Athanase-de-Bleury)1870-1939
Johnville (Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix)1919-1940
Katevale1882-1940
La Patrie1876-1940
L’Acadie (Ste-Marguerite-de-Blairfindie)1784-1790
Lac-Mégantic (Ste-Agnès)1886-1940
Lennoxville (St-Antoine)1878-1940
Magog (St-Patrice)1861-1937
Maricourt (Ste-Marie-d’Ély)1893-1940
Milton (Ste-Cécile)1857-1922
Milton (St-Valérien)1854-1929
Napierville1843-1917
Richmond (Ste-Bibiane)1895-1940
Rock Forest1892-1916
Roxton Falls (St-Jean-Baptiste)1938-1940
Roxton Pond (Ste-Prudentienne)1874-1940
Shebrooke (St-Michel1877-1896
Sherrington (St-Patrice)1865-1925
St-Alexandre (Iberville)1851-1862
St-Alphonse1875-1940
Ste-Anne-de-Stukely1857-1924
St-Édouard (Napierville)1849-1904
Ste-Sabine (Missisquoi)1922-1940
St-Étienne-de-Bolton1889-1940
St-Ignace-de-Stanbridge1877-1940
St-Jean (Notre-Dame-Auxiliatrice)1906-1940
St-Jean (St-Edmond)1903-1940
St-Jean (St-Jean-l’Évangéliste)1853-1940
St-Joachim-de-Shefford1860-1940
Stukely-Nord (Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours)1907-1940
Sutton (St-André)1867-1940
Sweetsburg1877-1940
Valcourt1854-1940
Waterloo (St-Bernardin)1865-1940

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

Massive PRDH-IGD Update: Over a Million New Files

It is our great pleasure to announce one of the most important updates ever made to PRDH-IGD!

subscription to PRDH-IGD.com will now give you access to all French-Canadian individuals and families who lived in Quebec from the very beginnings of the French colony to 1861!

This massive update adds over a decade of coverage to the database, and represents the addition of 738,696 vital records, 544,537 individuals and 94,264 families.

Your family history awaits you! Subscribe to PRDH-IGD today and discover your ancestors with the most detailed and comprehensive database of its kind.

What is PRDH-IGD?

PRDH-IGD.com is a database of all Catholic baptisms, marriages and burials recorded in Quebec between 1621 and 1861 (nearly 3.2 million records) as well as a genealogical dictionary of families commonly known as “Family reconstructions”.

All individuals mentioned in these records receive their own “individual file” which centralizes the information available on the individual, along with links to the records in which they are mentioned.

In addition, every married couple receives their own “family file”, which fulfills a similar role as the individual file, but for a family unit.
It contains a list of the couple’s children with links to their respective individual files and vital events, as well as additional information about the married couple.

As a result, PRDH-IGD can be described as a detailed family tree of the entire French-Canadian population from the colony’s beginnings to 1861.

PRDH-IGD is the result of a rigorous academic effort spanning decades and is recognized worldwide as one of the most detailed and reliable demographic databases.

You’ll find a more detailed overview of the database at this address.

Genealogy Quebec and PRDH-IGD: Similarities, differences and benefits of subscribing to both

Are you a Genealogy Quebec subscriber considering a subscription to PRDH-IGD? Discover the unique benefits of subscribing to both sites! You’ll find all the answers to your questions in this blog post.

Price adjustment

PRDH-IGD’s prices have been adjusted for the first time in over 5 years. This moderate adjustment follows the inflation rate of recent years and ensures continuity in the quality of our services.

Adjusted prices can be viewed at this address.

Next steps

This update represents a significant step towards completing family reconstructions up to 1861. However, further updates are planned over the coming months to complete the period. You can follow all future developments through our newsletter.

Genealogically yours,

The Institut Drouin and PRDH teams

50,000 new historical documents on Genealogy Quebec

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!

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

Genealogy and LGBTQ+ families

L’attribut alt de cette image est vide, son nom de fichier est IGD-large-1024x336.png.

Increasingly, we hear about family models that diverge from heterosexual and cisgender1 norms. The rights of LGBTQ+ individuals to form a family (and to access various methods allowing them to have children) are indeed recent, and the political events of the last few months demonstrate that these rights are still precarious. Certain groups, often associated with the far-right, seek to challenge the rights of queer2 individuals, especially those who are transgender (Massoud, 2023; Beaulieu-Kratchanov, 2023). These groups claim an international fight against the “homosexual agenda” and consider the very existence of queer individuals as ideological, stemming from “propaganda,” or even indoctrination, and depicting a “deterioration” of society (arguments that also exist, moreover, concerning homosexuality). In this context, it seemed essential to me to explore what genealogy could teach us about these realities – particularly how it could make them visible and help deconstruct marginalizing narratives.

Picture of two gay dads, 1983. Source : WikiCommons.

Finding our LGBTQ+ ancestors

Some people sometimes feel that there are “more and more LGBTQ+ individuals.” This is purportedly an argument supporting the idea that queer identities result from indoctrination. In reality, this impression is created because people within the sexual and gender diversity spectrum increasingly feel less need to hide – however, there have always been queer individuals, and it’s highly likely that among your ancestors and mine, there were LGBTQ+ persons.

Identifying them can be challenging because they often had to live in secrecy. Nonetheless, it’s not impossible3. Of course, one can begin by looking into ancestors who did not marry (or who got divorced if it was legal), had few or no known romantic relationships, and did not have children. LGBTQ+ individuals also tended to choose professions where being single was not unusual, or even required – like teaching, the clergy, and the arts (Leclerc, 2023). Many also became self-employed or entrepreneurs because this way, if their identity was discovered, they couldn’t be dismissed (MacEntee, n.d.). Some of these professions also allowed for easy mobility and relocation if needed. These are not conclusive pieces of evidence, and there were LGBTQ+ individuals who did not fit these criteria, but they can be good initial clues!

Ideally, we would have access to our ancestors’ correspondence or journals. These documents can help us better understand their lives, including their gender identity and sexual attractions. Traces of LGBTQ+ ancestors can also be found in legal records and newspapers of the time: homosexuality was illegal in Canada until 1969. Therefore, homosexual individuals could be prosecuted, and traces of their trials can be found in such documents4. If they were in the military and their identity was discovered, they were likely to be discharged. When using these sources, remember to investigate the terms used at the time to describe gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, and transgender people – all these terms are relatively recent. Moreover, LGBTQ+ individuals often had to use codes to avoid being identified, which put them in danger.

However, in the absence of indisputable evidence, additional clues can be sought. For instance, one can start by looking into the places where the person lived. Did they reside in a gay neighborhood? Were there places, private clubs, for example, that served as safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community at that time? Did they leave traces of the people who frequented these places? In census records, when a same-sex couple lived together, both partners often found ways to present themselves without revealing the nature of their relationship. Sometimes, it was simply left undefined, or defined in vague terms like a “friend,” or disguised under another label such as a housekeeper or tenant. Clues can also be found in records listing passengers of transportation companies, indicating that two same-gender individuals lived together.

Subsequently, one can look into our ancestors’ network of relationships. Often, LGBTQ+ individuals were rejected by their families due to the heavy prejudices of the time. When archives are found for all our ancestors except one, questions arise: it’s possible that an embarrassed family sought to erase the presence of an LGBTQ+ member by wiping out their presence as much as possible. If relations with the family were severed, it’s likely that our ancestors did not bequeath their material possessions to them. Hence, examining their wills can be insightful. Historian and genealogist Mary McKee (2022) notes that the “new support circles”, the chosen family of queer individuals, is often revealed in their wills by the individuals they chose to inherit their material possessions. Similarly, same-gender couples were sometimes buried together: if your ancestor is buried with a same-gender person who wasn’t part of their family, that could have been their partner. A person of the same gender might also be mentioned in their death certificate as a “long-time companion,” “close friend,” or even a roommate!

In short, to trace and identify our LGBTQ+ ancestors, we need to think outside the box! Sometimes, we need to look beyond the “traditional” sources typically used in genealogical research, consider absences as much as findings, and even consider that our ancestor might have used an alias in certain circles to avoid being exposed. Having a good understanding of the LGBTQ+ history of our country or region will guide us on where to search and what to focus on depending on the era in which our ancestor lived. Of course, in several cases, despite your efforts, confirmation of your ancestor’s queer identity might not be attainable – but you will still have good reasons to suspect it.

Representing non-conventional family models in our family trees today

It is imperative that the various platforms used for building family trees include features that allow representation of unions between same-gender individuals, as well as individuals who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth5. Even today, this is not always the case – although it is on Genealogy Quebec in the section of marriages from the Directeur de l’état civil (DECQ)’s records and on other sites and software (see Koeven, 2018). Similarly, rules concerning photos that can be uploaded to these platforms should be inclusive: some sites have been criticized for prohibiting photos representing “cross-dressing” or “immodest” attire.

Marriage notice celebrating a union between two women, 2020. Source : Genealogy Quebec, mariages DECQ.

Let’s not forget that LGBTQ+ realities are not the only ones deviating from conventions and facing challenges in representation. It is crucial to adapt our genealogical tools to the realities of so-called “blended” families, where parents separate and then form new relationships, sometimes with individuals who already have children, families who adopt, families where there’s only one parent, by choice, as well as parents practicing ethical non-monogamy6. Again, a few sites and software allow this, but not all (see Waldemar, n.d.), and individuals sometimes have to resort to software not designed for genealogy to document these realities.

While it’s important to adapt our tools, it’s also crucial for laws governing unions and parenthood to continue evolving to recognize the entire diversity of family models! Many strides have been made in recognizing unions and children born out of wedlock, blended families, and the legalization of same-sex marriage (Magnan-St-Onge, 2020). However, the issue of polyamorous7 parents remains unresolved to this day. Lawyer and doctoral candidate Michaël Lessard documented that polyamorous individuals who fulfill a parental role may be excluded from decisions related to the custody, monitoring, and education of the child, regardless of the quality of their bond with them, and that privileges and economic and social assistance programs reserved for partners exclude polyamorous individuals, leaving them disadvantaged and therefore precarious (Magnan-St-Onge, 2020).

In conclusion, it seems essential to reflect on the reasons that drive us to reveal the LGBTQ+ (confirmed or presumed) identity of our ancestors. Thomas MacEntee (n.d) reminds us that disclosing one’s LGBTQ+ identity is a highly personal issue, and even today, not all individuals belonging to sexual and gender diversity decide to reveal their identity to their surroundings, partly because they sometimes fear for their safety. MacEntee thus raises the question: what is the best way to honor the memory of our ancestors? It’s important to consider our particular situation. Sometimes, revealing the LGBTQ+ identity of our ancestors can be perceived as a betrayal, while other times, it’s a way to give them the voice and visibility they were denied during their lifetime (MacEntee, 2007). It is also possible to take note of this information but choose whom to reveal it to and protect it, for instance, with a password.

Nevertheless, bringing visibility to LGBTQ+ stories within our families allows us to have a more accurate and comprehensive portrait of our ancestors. Not to mention, some genealogists today are part of the LGBTQ+ community or practice polyamory (see Our Prairie Nest or Blandón Traiman, 2018a) and may want to document their realities. As mentioned in the introduction, this also allows us to show that LGBTQ+ realities are not new but are human experiences common to all places and times and thus contribute, on our scale, to the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights.

Audrey Pepin


1 To be cisgender means identifying with the gender assigned at birth. Conversely, transgender individuals identify with a gender different from the one assigned at birth and thus undergo a social, legal, and/or medical transition to live with a gender identity that aligns with their own.

2 The term “queer” serves as both an umbrella term used to refer to LGBTQ+ individuals and an identity embraced by those who refuse to define their sexuality and/or gender through labels.

3 This section of the article provides a summary of various recommendations found in the numerous blog articles consulted. Further details are available in the mentioned articles, all listed in the bibliography at the end of this article.

4 It is important to note that men were more targeted in police operations aimed at homosexual individuals; therefore, this tool may be more useful for your research on male ancestors. Although women may have benefited from this targeting at the time, it’s also another way in which their history is currently rendered invisible.

5 The genealogist Stewart Blandón Traiman has extensively reflected on this topic, and if you’re interested, I highly recommend visiting his blog (Blandón Traiman, 2018b).

6 By ethical non-monogamy, I refer to relationship models where partners can have sexual and/or romantic relationships with more than one person. For non-monogamy to be ethical, the individuals involved must be aware of the agreement and have given their enthusiastic, free, and informed consent

7 Polyamory is defined as a practice, an identity, or a relational orientation that involves a consensual, transparent, and honest romantic relationship with multiple partners simultaneously. It is thus a form of ethical non-monogamy

Bibliography :

Beaulieu-Kratchanov, Léa (2023). ” ‘C’est déshumanisant’ : l’impact de la haine anti-trans sur les jeunes”. Pivot Québec. Accessed on November 20th 2023 https://pivot.quebec/2023/09/26/cest-deshumanisant-limpact-de-la-haine-anti-trans-sur-les-jeunes/ 

Blandón Traiman, Stewart (2018a). LGBT Genealogy – The Six Generations (blog). https://sixgen.org/category/lgbtq-genealogy/ 

Blandón Traiman, Stewart (2018b). LGBT Genealogy and Softwares – The Six Generations (blog). https://sixgen.org/category/lgbtq-genealogy/lgbtq-genealogy-software/ 

Collins, Rosemary (2022). ”How to Trace LGBT Ancestors” Who do you Think you Are (online magazine). Accessed on November 17th 2023 https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/feature/how-to-trace-lgbt-ancestors 

Kobel, Becks (2017). ”Genealogy in the Works: Being Gay in Genealogy” The Hipster Historian (blog). Accessed on November 20th 2023 https://thehipsterhistorian.com/2017/02/06/genealogy-in-the-works-being-gay-in-genealogy/ 

Koeven, Mary (2018). ”Non-traditional Family Trees: Homosexual Relationships”. The Handwritten Past : Professional Genealogists (blog). Accessed on November 20th 2023 https://thehandwrittenpast.com/2018/07/28/recording-homosexual-relationships-in-your-genealogy-database/ 

Leclerc, Michael J. (2023). ”5 Tips for Finding Your LGBTQIA+ Ancestors”. Ancestry (blog). Accessed on November 16th 2023 https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/5-tips-for-finding-your-lgbtq-ancestors/ 

MacEntee, Thomas (s.d). ”Finding Your LGBT Ancestors”. My Heritage (blog). Accessed on Novemebr 16th 2023. https://education.myheritage.com/article/finding-your-lgbt-ancestors/ 

MacEntee, Thomas (2007). ”The Hidden – LGBT Family Members and Genealogy”. Destination : Austin Family (blog). Accessed on November 20th 2023 https://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/2007/10/hidden-lgbt-family-members-and.html 

Magnan-St-Onge, Carolanne (2020). ”Droit de la famille : le polyamour au banc des accusés” Observatoire des réalités familiales du Québec (online publication). Accessed on November 20th 2023. https://www.orfq.inrs.ca/droit-de-la-famille-le-polyamour-au-banc-des-accuses/ 

Massoud, Rania (2023). ”Identité de genre : après la rue, une offensive dans les écoles en vue”. Radio-Canada. Accessed on November 20th 2023. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2012019/identite-genre-ecoles-kamel-cheikh 

McKee, Mary (2022). ”How to Trace LGBT Ancestors”. Find my Past (blog). Accessed on November 16th 2023. https://www.findmypast.com/blog/help/lgbt-ancestors 

Neaves, Jessica (2020). ”How to Search for Your LGBTQ Ancestors”. Heritage Discovered (blog). Accessed on November 17th 2023 https://www.heritagediscovered.com/blog/how-to-search-for-your-lgbtq-ancestors 

Waldemar, Heather (s.d). ”How to Create a Family Tree with Flying Logic”. Flying Logic (Website). Accessed on November 20th 2023. https://flyinglogic.com/1498/how-to-create-a-family-tree-with-flying-logic/ 

More Drouin Collection rescanning on Genealogy Quebec

50,000 images from the registers of 64 Quebec parishes have been rescanned on Genealogy Quebec to improve their clarity.

To this day, over 1,200,000 images from the Drouin collection have been rescanned on the website.

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!

Get 25% off the yearly subscription until December 20th.

A monthly subscription is also available at this address.

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.

You can browse the LAFRANCE at this address.

List of rescanned parishes

Here are the parishes that were rescanned in this update.

Armagh (St-Cajetan)1914-1940
Beaumont (St-Étienne)1687-1821
Berthier-en-Bas1909-1940
Buckland1863-1900
Cabano (St-Mathias)1901-1919
Colombier1939-1940
Côte-Nord (Protestants)1910
Frampton (Protestants)1876-1940
Franquelin1932-1934
Greffe Michel Lavoie1737-1747
Grosse-Île (Protestants)1923
Harrington (Protestants)1921-1930
Havre-St-Pierre1861-1931
Isle-aux-Coudres (St-Louis)1878-1940
Kennebec (Protestants)1883-1940
La Malbaie1774-1824, 1850-1906 et 1923-1940
La Malbaie (Protestants)1932
La Tabatière1932-1941
Lac-Mégantic (Presbyterian Church)1894-1903
Les Éboulements1733-1932
Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon1912-1940
Magpie (desserte St-Octave)1890-1912
Manicouagan1902-1908
Mingan1905-1940
Murray Bay (Protestants)1912-1923
Natashquan1883-1940
North Shore (Protestants)1928
Petite-Rivière-Saint-François1773-1793 et 1929-1940
Pointe-au-Pic1912-1940
Pointe-au-Pic (Protestants)1919-1932
Port-au-Persil (Protestants)1907-1914
Postes-du-Roi1815-1861
Rivière-au-Tonnerre1898-1934
Scott (St-Maxime)1892-1940
St-Bernard 1889-1940
St-Damien-de-Buckland1896-1940
Ste-Hénédine1852-1940
Ste-Marguerite (Dorchester)1855-1939
Ste-Marie (Beauce)1842-1940
Ste-Rose-de-Watford1894-1940
St-Eugène (L’Islet)1874-1895
St-Georges (Beauce) 1874-1904 et 1926-1940
St-Georges (Beauce) (Protestants)1895-1910
St-Hilaire-de-Dorset1913-1940
St-Honoré-de-Shenley1873-1890
St-Irénée1902-1940
St-Joseph-de-Beauce1834-1874 et 1926-1940
St-Joseph-de-la-Rive1931-1940
St-Jules (Beauce)1919-1940
St-Louis-de-Gonzague (Dorchester)1912-1940
St-Luc (Dijon)1917-1932
St-Martin (Bolduc)1882-1940
St-Méthode-d’Adstock1889-1940
St-Nazaire-de-Buckland1902-1911
St-Paul-du-Nord1870-1900
St-Prosper (Dorchester)1929-1940
St-Samuel-de-Gayhurst1884-1940
St-Sébastien (Frontenac)1869-1940
St-Séverin-de-Beaurivage1872-1940
St-Théophile1891-1940
St-Urbain (Charlevoix)1913-1940
St-Victor-de-Tring1848-1940
St-Zacharie (Metgermette)1881-1888
Tadoussac (Ste-Croix)1863-1940

LAFRANCE Update: 32,000 new baptisms on Genealogy Quebec

32,000 new baptism records are now available in the LAFRANCE, one of 15 tools available to Genealogy Quebec subscribers.

These new records are from Acadia and Quebec.

Baptism record of Ellen Broomer in Quebec, added in the latest LAFRANCE update.
Source: Record 13528024, LAFRANCEGenealogyQuebec.com

The LAFRANCE contains 11 million birth, marriage and death records from Quebec, Ontario, Acadia and the United States.

These records will allow you to trace your ancestry back all the way to your family’s first immigrants in the region. The LAFRANCE contains:

  • Every Catholic marriage from Quebec between 1621 and 1918
  • Every Protestant marriage from Quebec between 1760 and 1849
  • Every marriage recorded by the Quebec government between 1926 and 1997
  • Every Catholic baptism and burial from Quebec between 1621 and 1861
  • Every death recorded by the Quebec government between 1926 and 1997
  • 1.7 million additional marriages from various sources in Quebec, Ontario, and the USA between 1919 and today
  • Tens of thousands of additional records from Quebec, Ontario and Acadia

More information about the LAFRANCE can be found on the Drouin Institute’s blog.

Start discovering your family history with over 100 million historical images and documents on Genealogy Quebec today!

Here are more details about the update:

ParishRecord typeMin YearMax YearNumber
St-Jean (cathédrale Immaculée-Conception)b1841186114154
Québec (Anglican, Cathedral Holy Trinity)b179618618072
Montréal (Methodist, Saint James)b181818612137
Woodstock (paroisse)b184218621471
Québec (Methodist, Wesleyan Methodist Church)b183118611420
St-Jean-sur-Richelieu (Church of England)b181718611033
Champlain (Notre-Dame-de-la-Visitation)b18501861895
St-Alexis (Montcalm)b18521861575
Lachine (Presbyterian, Saint Andrew)b18181861501
Montréal (Methodist, East-End Lagauchetiere)b18311861489
Québec (Anglican, Travelling Mission)b18261848340
Loch-Lomond (St-Martin)b18471862327
St-Léonard (Madawaska)b17521829161
Montréal (Congregational, Évangélique Française)b18451861158
Québec (Congregational Church, Congregational Societies)b18381861147
Québec (Anglican, Holy Trinity Church)b1859186161
Montréal (Presbyterian, Côte Saint George)b1847185041
Montréal (Congregational, United Free)b183618376

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

Drouin Collection rescanning on Genealogy Quebec

80,000 images from the registers of 60 Quebec parishes have been rescanned on Genealogy Quebec to improve their clarity.

To this day, over a million images from the Drouin collection have been rescanned on the website.

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.

You can browse the LAFRANCE at this address.

List of rescanned parishes

Here are the parishes that were rescanned in this update.

St-Jérôme1925-1939
Ste-Thérèse1935-1935
Brownsburg1915-1936
Berthierville1727-1783 et 1846-1928
Joliette (Cathédrale)1851-1939
Joliette (Hospice St-Eusèbe)1910-1939
Joliette (St-Pierre)1916-1921
Lanoraie1879-1939
L’Assomption1897-1939
Lavaltrie1861-1939
St-Roch-de-l’Achigan1787-1939
Repentigny1926-1939
L’Épiphanie1857-1919
Mascouche1874-1926
St-Jacques-l’Achigan1886-1920
St-Cuthbert1892-1939
Ste-Élisabeth de Joliette1854-1895
St-Félix-de-Valois1851-1939
St-Gabriel-de-Brandon1839-1938
St-Lin1874-1940
St-Alexis (Montcalm)1852-1880
St-Michel-de-Saints1904-1939
St-Zénon1887-1940
St-Donat (Montcalm)1875-1907
St-Norbert1913-1939
Ste-Julienne1849-1940
St-Damien1867-1931
St-Ambroise-de-Kildare1866-1940
St-Paul-l’Hermite1857-1903
Ste-Émélie-de-l’Énergie1922-1940
St-Jean-de-Matha1855-1940
St-Théodore-de-Chertsey1925-1940
St-Côme1867-1940
Ste-Béatrix1882-1940
St-Edmond1892-1940
St-Guillaume-Nord1916-1927
Vaucluse1904-1940
St-Viateur1909-1940
St-Ignace-de-Loyola1895-1940
Rawdon (Églises protestantes)1832-1940
Rawdon (Episcopal Church)1832-1971
Rawdon (Methodist Church)1912-1940
St-Félix-de-Valois (Protestants)1901-1939
Berthier (Protestants)1823-1930
Beauharnois (St-Clément)1854-1880 et 1906-1940
Bellerive1900-1922
Châteauguay (St-Joachim)1836-1940
Châteauguay (Christ-Roi)1939-1940
Hemmingford (St-Romain)1854-1940
Hinchinbrooke (St-Patrice)1854-1939
Howick1884-1940
Huntingdon (St-Joseph)1867-1940
Ormstown (St-Malachie)1862-1940
Dundee (Ste-Agnès)1866-1900
St-Anicet1936-1940
St-Antoine-Abbé1860-1913
St-Chrysostôme1846-1915
St-Louis-de-Gonzague (Beauharnois)1898-1940
Châteauguay (Sœurs Grises)1897-1940
Montréal (Notre-Dame)1941 + index BMS

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team

New historical documents on Genealogy Quebec!

Over 75,000 historical documents have been added to Genealogy Quebec‘s collections.

These include newspapers, directories, obituaries and other documents of historical and genealogical interest.

Trace your ancestors and discover your family history with tens of millions of historical documents on Genealogy Quebec today!

Here is a more detailed overview of the documents added with this update.

Historical newspapers (11,239 documents)

  • L’Artisan (Montréal), magazine of the insurance company Société des Artisans Canadiens-Français from 1905 to 1921
  • La Revue Moderne (Montréal) from 1920 to 1926
  • La Revue Présentine (Saint-Hyacinthe), organ of the Pensionnat de la Maison-Mère de l’Association des Anciennes, from 1932 to 1953
  • Le Front Ouvrier (Ottawa) from 1948
  • Le Passe-Temps, musical magazine, from november 1946
  • Rigolades et Nouvelles (Châteauguay), regional newspaper, from 1956 to 1959
  • L’Opinion Publique (Montréal) from 1870 to 1874 and 1878

These newspapers can be consulted in the Drouin Miscellaneous Collections under the folder 23 – Journaux anciens.

City directories (294 documents)

  • 1940-1941 Quebec Mining Directory

This directory can be consulted in the City directories tool under the folder Annuaire minier 1940-1941.

Miscellaneous historical documents (2361 documents)

  • Miscellaneous documents and newspaper clippings from 1940 to 1990
  • Book on the descendants of Napoléon Gareau

You can consult these documents in the Drouin Miscellaneous Collections under the folder 18 – Autres documents.

Archival Fonds (61,000 documents)

  • 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

These archival fonds can be consulted in the Drouin Miscellaneous Collections under the folder 14 – Fonds d’archives.

Genealogically yours,

The Drouin team