Quebec and New France Resources

In the past few months there have been lots of beginners researching their ancestors who came to New France in the early years, or like mine, immigrated to the province of Quebec after 1800.

Quebec about 1690

If your ancestors were from French Quebec you hit the genealogy jackpot! 
If you submitted your DNA to Ancestry you likely have over 1000 "4th cousins or closer" matches. You may also find common ancestors on both sides of your tree.

New France took the French custom of recording women by their maiden name, and most early records reflect this. Many Protestant records gave the maiden name of the mother, but not all, and some gave no parents' names on a marriage record if the parties were not minors.

When going back on your tree always start with a marriage record, then when looking for the birth records you'll have the parents' names to get the right person. So your great-grandparents' marriage record will give you names of your 2x great-grandparents, and so on.

If you don't understand French, easiest is to use Chrome to open websites and right click to choose translate. Some have an English button, but that doesn't always work well. There are people on facebook groups that can help you translate records, but if you pay attention to the wording you will be able to pick out the pertinent words. There are websites that help with this, I have given a couple below. 

There are a few things to know about New France...

Land distribution was by the seigneurial system.  A seigneur was given land and he was responsible for populating and protecting that land.

A "dit name" is a nickname or nom de guerre, often used to distinguish families of the same name. Example, Pierre Maupetit dit Poitevin had three children all with the surname Maupetit dit Poitevin. Down the line the "dit Poitevin" was dropped for the most part and the name became Monpetit. On the other hand Michel Morel dit Parisien had a son that had his own dit name, Francois Morel dit Mador. His line dropped the Morel and were known as Mador. There can also be a great variation in spellings.

There were a few nominal censuses before 1825, they are on the resource list. 

Jean Talon wanted to boost the population, so he devised incentives. Couples would get a reward of money if they married young, and another 300 livres per year when they had over 10 children. There were also penalties for males who were 20 years of age and hadn't married yet and for parents that had daughters that were 16 years old and still single. 

Livres tournois (£ s d) were the first currency of New France (not British pounds). Each livre was divided into 20 sols (sous after 1715) each of which was divided into 12 deniers.  Eight ounces of gold (a mark) was worth 740 livres, 9 sols; eight ounces of silver was worth 51 livres, 2 sols, 3 deniers. It took about 200 livres per year per person to live comfortably. 

When the British took over in 1759-1760 the currency was British pounds, shillings and pence. They also changed the incentives and gave grants of land to people who had 12 living children. 

Birth, marriage and death records are at Genealogie Quebec You need a subscription to research on the site, which is very reasonable at $5 cdn /day or only $13 cdn/month (as on day post was written). There is much more than BMD on the site and it's well worth exploring. 

I have compiled a list of mostly free resources to start you on your genealogy travels. It is free to download and share. It is added below, and will remain posted under the Resources tab in the above menu.

Also try the subjects listed on the right of this blog, and the search box at top right. 


Relevant Links

Quebec and New France Genealogy Resources (download list)

Genealogie Quebec (Drouin) $ very reasonable

Drouin Blog (Free)

PRDH $

Les Premiers Montrealists 1642-1643

Base de données – Les Premiers Montréalais – Yvon Sicotte

Filles du Roi

Filles a Marier (with bios)

Carignan Soldiers (images of lists)

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ)

BAnQ – maps and plans

Notorial records

Contrats de mariage de la région de Québec, 1761-1946

Registres de l'état civil du Québec des origines à 1917(civil registers)

Guardianships, Quebec Judicial District 1639-1930

Coroners' investigations of the judicial districts of Beauce, 1862-1947, Charlevoix, 1862-1944, Montmagny, 1862-1952, Quebec, 1765-1930 and Saint-François (Sherbrooke), 1900-1954

Applications for free grants of land to families with 12 living children, 1890-1905

The prisoner file of 19th century Quebec Prison

Early Canadiana online (ECO)

Guide for ECO above

Inventaires d'un Collection de Pieses Judicires, Notariales

Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Canadiennes

Origine des Familles Canadiennes-Françaises

Guide for above DGFC

Fichier Origine   

Nos Origines (not complete or entirely correct – use for hints only)

Tables généalogiques de la noblesse québécoise  

Gazette des Familles Canadiennes et Acadiennes VOL 2,1871

Researching vital records in France (links of Departments on left)

Royal Commission on the Relations of Capital and Labor in Canada 1889 (wages)

Annual report of the city treasurer of the city of Quebec 1891

Claims arising from building of the Beauharnois Dam - has names and amounts claimed

Sessional Papers of Quebec Legislature (Internet Archive)

Sessional Papers of Quebec Legislature (HathiTrust)

Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec (Internet Archive)

Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec (HathiTrust)

Statement of the Public Accounts of the Province of Quebec

Gazette officielle du Québec

SOLDIERS

Carignan Soldiers (images of lists)

Le régiment de Carignan

Database of the French and British army soldiers Plains of Abraham 1759-1760

List of Officers Of The Sedentary Militia Of Lower Canada,1862

CENSUSES BEFORE 1825 

Census 1666 at Internet Archives

Census 1666 originals

Census 1667 at Internet Archives

Census 1667 originals

Census 1671 Arcadia

Census 1681

Census 1686 Arcadia – incl Riviere St Jean and Port Royal

Census 1716 Quebec

Census Quebec 1744

Census Trois Rivieres 1760

Census Quebec 1762

Census Montreal and Trois Rivieres 1765

Recensements paroissiaux de Notre-Dame-de-Québec, 1792,1795, 1798, 1805, 1806

Censuses 1825 and later

CADASTRES & LAND

Cadastres abrégés des seigneuries du district de Montréal1863, Vol 1-3

Cadastres abrégés des seigneuries du district desTrois-Rivières 1863

Cadastres abrégés des seigneuries appartenant à la couronne 1863 (incl Lauzon, Sorel..)

Extrait du livre de renvoi officiel de la cité de Montréal –10 volumes

Plan de l'Isle d'Orléans (zoom in)

Letters Patent of grants of land (in Report By Québec Secretary's Office) 1891

Upper Canada land Books

Land Records at Lac

DIRECTORIES AND ALMANACS

BAnQ Directories and Almanacs

French Commercial Dictionary (trades)

Lovell's farmers' register of the garden of the Eastern Townships

Boyd's Business Directory of Montreal 1875  

EDUCATION

McGill Yearbooks

West Hill High School Yearbooks

List of graduates from McGill Normal School 1857-2007

King's Hall School for Girls, Compton and Bishops College 

King's Hall School for Girls - Info

Students who graduated from the Montreal Polytechnic School as Civil Engineer 1889

École de médecine et de chirurgie de Montréal

Report of the Superintendent of Education of the Province of Quebec

Catalogue des officiers et les élèves du Séminaire de Québec

Rapport annuel sur l'Institution catholique des sourds-muets pour la province de Québec

Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière 1827-1927

Collège de Lévis 1941-1942

Annuaire Université Laval

NEWSPAPERS

  

Quebec newspapers and magazines digitized by BAnQ 

Google Newspaper Archives

Quebec Newspapers online

PARISHES

Interactive map of all the PARISHES of Quebec 

Ile d'Orleans

Généalogie des familles de l'Ile d'Orléans

Monographie de St-Ignace du Cap St-Ignace depuis 1672 à 1903

History of Compton, QC and Eastern Townships

The history of the county of Huntingdon [Quebec] and of the seigniories of Chateaugay and Beauharnois from their settlement to the year 1838

Russeltown Flats church and cemetery

Annuaire de Ville-Marie

Annuaire de Ville Marie - Histoire de la Paroisse de Boucherville

Kamouraska 1674-1948

Lake St Louis Old and New  (incl massacre of Lachine and lists of furtraders etc)

Les anciennes côtes du lac Saint-Louis avec un tableau complet des anciens et nouveaux propriétaires

History of the counties of Argenteuil QC and Prescott ON

Paroisse de Charlesbourg 1887

Histoire de la paroisse de l'Ange-Gardien

Précis de l'histoire de la seigneurie, de la paroisse, et ducomté de Berthier

Les Premiers colons de la rive sud du Saint-Laurent

The pioneers of Inverness Township, Quebec : an historicaland genealogical story, 1800-1978 (Borrow online)

Other parish histories

QUEBEC CITY

Quebec City Heritage

Quebec Street Toponymy (old and current names) – use translate

Old Quebec, the city of Champlain

Trade and Shipping, Port of Quebec… ships and masters

Mount Hermon Cemetery Burial Register, 1848-1904

Historic Tales of Old Quebec 

Quebec Fowlers Club

MONTREAL 

Archives of Montreal

A chronology of Montreal and Canada 1752 - 1893

Montreal Street Toponymy (how streets got named) – use translate rather than Eng button

Maps and plans of Montreal 

Montreal Streets 1858

Immigrants Sponsored by the Montreal Emigrant Society, 1832

Biographical Sketches of Montreal citizens

Alphabetical list of the merchants, traders, housekeepers residing in Montreal 1899 

Montreal Archery Club 1859

Non-Catholic Baptisms of the Montreal Area, 1766-1835

Non-Catholic Marriages of the Montreal Area, 1766-1899

Non-Catholic burials of the Montreal area, 1767-1899

GENEALOGY SOCIETIES

Société de généalogie Vaudreuil-Cavagnal

Quebec Family History Society

Morin Heights Historical Association

Société généalogique de Châteauguay

Société de Généalogie de Drummondville

La Société de généalogie de Longueuil

La Société d'Histoire de Sherbrooke

Société de généalogie des Cantons-de-l'Est

Société de généalogie du grand Trois-Rivières

Société de généalogie de l'Outaouais

Société de généalogie de Abitibi-Témiscamingue

Société de généalogie de Lévis

Société de Généalogie de la Beauce

Step by step Quebec Research

Translating French records

Researching in Scotland - was it a bust?

I am finally caught up on life stuff after getting back from my Scotland trip, and now it's time to tell you all about it. 

For research we went to Aberdeen where my mother's paternal family was from. This was the purpose of the trip as I am stuck in my research at my 3rd and 4th Mavor great grandfathers. I have the marriage record of my 3rd ggf John Mavor to Elizabeth Ledingham in Ellon in 1827. On John's death certificate it states his parents were John Mavor, butcher and 4th ggf, and Mary Sangster of Peterhead. I had found a brother George Mavor by seeing the same parents on his death certificate. Possibly a sister also, where George and his mother were living as paupers with her family.  

I spent two full days at the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society (most people call it the Family History Shop) where everyone, including their in-house expert, was so kind and tried everything to help me. 

I browsed through all the church records and did not find any marriage for John Mavor and Mary Sangster. No births of children for John and Mary. Lastly, although I have a marriage record for John and Elizabeth there are no birth records for any of their children either (found only by the census).

We did find one odd record that may not be mine but worth noting as no one had seen anything like it before...

"1805, 20th Jan after sermon, sess[ion] met and being constituted appeared John Mavor mason in Balnakedle (Balnakettle in place name book) acknowledged to clandestine marriage with __ he was rebuked & fined 10/ for his penalty."  

The date is of the penalty record, not of the marriage which could have been any time before. Also no name of the wife, so I guess it was a big secret! Intriguing!

We went down to the basement and looked through member family histories that had Mavor people... the few could not connect to mine. We looked through poll books, old censuses, directories, MI books for all the cemeteries, testaments, poor relief, local history, etc - nothing. 

What I did learn is that not everyone recorded their marriages and births in the registers as it was not mandatory and also you had to pay.  I was told that one prominent man recorded his daughter's birth but he never paid up so they crossed it out... hahaha.  

So was it a bust?  Definitely not!  I am never satisfied unless I can see for myself, and now I know that there are just no records for what I was looking for. Another case where a negative is progress. 

Although I didn't find what I was originally looking for - I DID find the marriage of Elizabeth Ledingham's parents and a whole genealogy for that family! I found some records for my Bruce family in Fyvie. I also wrote out a pedigree with what I know of the Mavors and left it there to put in their binders for other searchers to find. 

The second part of the trip was touring around Inverness with a cousin I had only met online and doing research together these past years - that was a fun and adventurous filled few days. 

The last part of the trip was in Edinburgh, walking around where my Tait ancestors lived and worked. Just that was worth everything to me!!  

I am thankful for daughters who came along and helped me get around. 💛 💖



Relevant Links

Celtic Place Names in Aberdeenshire   

Kamouraska Resource

A branch of this family I am researching settled in Yamouraska. Another place I have not looked at before. 

Any search I do for the surname or the place took me to a book at google titled: Kamouraska (1674-1948) by Alexandre Paradis, limited search only. Besides google books, it was only coming up on book stores. I checked at Internet Archive and at Hathitrust, not there. Darn!

Next I went over to BAnq and put the surname in the general search box, and oh... first result that came up is the book! Not only can you look at it, you can download the whole book free as a 434 page pdf. 

Kamouraska, pg 51, mark 81

There are some appendices at the end of the book with lists of notaries, priests and marguilliers, and some marriage contracts and dates of burials to name a few.

There are so many resources online at BAnq, not just newspapers and pistard, but also publications and documents. Try it - you can visit the site in English, but of course the matierials will be in the original language. 




Relevant Link

BAnq - Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

Kamouraska (1674-1948)

A negative can be a positive

I just got back from our trip to Bisbee, AZ, trying to find information on my grandmother's aunt Sarah Ann and young cousin Elsie Maud that died there. Bisbee is only a few hours away from where we stay for a few months in the winter, so why not go? I could have emailed, but I am the kind of person I like to see and look for things for myself if I can. 

We combined going to Bisbee with exploring all over the area south of Phoenix in our RV.  My husband is a good sport and he happily sat with our dog in the RV while I did my thing.  I first went to the office of Public Works. They take care of burials in the city cemetery and have info on past burials. The woman I spoke to was very nice and helpful. She took me back to her office and we looked at the database.

In 1908 there was a big fire in Bisbee and the town offices were burned down, with all the records.  The Public Works were able to put together a database with info from newspaper accounts, family papers and other documents. There was not information on all burials.  The database did show the cousin, Elsie Maud was buried there in 1896 in Section E, but no date, no plot number and no headstone. Same as on Ancestry. 
Nothing on her mother Sarah Ann. 

My husband thought I had wasted my time because I didn't find what I wanted. But a negative answer is also a positive.  If I didn't go to Bisbee I would always wonder if I would have found something. I was able to see for myself in the database that Elsie was buried in Section E, and I was able to go to Evergreen Cemetery and take a photo. Sarah Ann and Elsie are most likely both buried there. 

I got to look around the old town of Bisbee and get a feel for how it was to live there, under the shadow of the mountain and the booming copper mine above, which was probably noisy with equipment and blasting.

So now I can positively cross off checking records at Bisbee from my list, and try other methods of finding the dates of death. 

Kingston Trip - Part II: Discoveries

This may be a shock to some of my readers, but I have never physically done research at an archive or a library.  I have called to ask for look-ups and copies and am happy to say most people are very accommodating.  But because of many years of limited mobility and discomfort, it was not feasible for me to "go there", so all my research has been done by computer from the comfort of my easy chair. This past year has been one of marked improvement for me and I decided it's time to get off my butt.

I think the library is all I could handle first time out, so after leaving the beautiful Manor we headed to the Kingston Public Library to do some research. I was looking for specific information, and having contacted the library ahead of time, I knew to go to the Isabel Turner branch. The staff were very helpful, looking for what we needed and anything that could help with my ancestor stories. 

First we looked for the Tweedsmuir History Book for Pittsburgh Township. There was a whole section on "Greystone Manor" with the history since it was built by Colonel MacKenzie in 1817. I knew most of this, because a Kingston historian had replied to a query from my Uncle in 1969, giving him excerpts from this book. 

From little clues here and there, and the fact the Seales came from military roots, I suspected that John Seale came from Ireland to Canada as a soldier, but I could find no written proof. Until now. 

One entry I read about the manor said it had been owned or leased by soldiers for the next 60 years or so after being built. My great-great-grandfather was there for 60 years, 1832-1892

Then in the Index To The Upper Canada Land Books I found this entry:

John Seal (soldier), 28 Sept 1832

There I get three pieces of information in one. John was a soldier and 25 years old when he came to Canada, and now armed with info from this index I can find the original land transaction in the archives.

Looking at other documents in the same book I found that John added sublot 5 to their land in 1842, and there was an assessment for the land in 1891.

We looked through many interesting books about Pittsburgh Township and the village of Barriefield, and it was a great help having my daughter there to help. The next book of importance we found was the Index to Wills Probated, Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada, 1858-1973.  There I found John Seale, probated in 1892. A will is a gold mine! Now knowing where to look I can also obtain a copy of the will.  

One last thing we found was a genealogy book - The Seale Family History 1800-2000. This is about the Seales that settled in Morin Heights, Quebec, a different branch of the family.

I'm on a roll! But four hours research was all I could to at one time.  Now to find the house my grandfather (Pop) grew up in.

My great grandfather was a carpenter and the family lived at 82 Bagot Street, Kingston. This was the first ancestral property I found using Lisa Cooke's webinar on Google Earth. The numbers have all changed since those days, so I looked in the street directory in the 1891 city directory of Kingston: 82 Bagot is on the corner of Miller's Lane (named for my great grandmother's family) and before Raglan Road.

1891 Kingston Directory, pg 15

1908 fire insurance map

Miller's lane is still on Google maps and gps, although it is merely a driveway for the house and does not go through to the other street anymore. 

The current address is 490 Bagot Street.  I can now imagine my great grandparents and my Pop and his brothers posing for this photo in front of this house. 

  

The ground must have been lower then, as there were steps leading up to the veranda, and the window ledge is at George's shoulders.

The whole trip to Kingston - staying at the manor, the discoveries at the library and standing at my grandfather's house - was very emotional for me, after years of researching the family and the properties from afar. I was so happy my daughter wanted to share this experience with me.

Now to get cracking and find the documents that go with those indexes I found. 

Note:  Read Part I here

You Never Know Where You'll Find a Treasure

This is a photo I recently acquired of my 2x great grandparents, Alexander and Margaret (Bruce) Mavor, who immigrated from Scotland before 1859. After working and growing their family on Ile aux Reaux, next to Grosse Ile, they eventually settled in Waterville, Compton Quebec...

Did I get this photograph from an aunt? A cousin? Some other family member?

No.

I got this photo, along with other family photos and papers, from the great granddaughter of the brother of the guy that married my great grandfather's sister. That's right!

If on Ancestry I had not entered and researched my 2nd great aunt Jean's husband's family I never would have come across some photos that were posted of their house. I contacted the person that uploaded them and we got to chatting. We swapped info and she uploaded this photo for me that was in a box of photos and papers she inherited.

She also uploaded this letter, written by the Prime Minister of Canada Louis St Laurent to my Aunt Jean,and talking about his "old friend", my 2x great grandfather Alexander Mavor and mentions his working for Dr (George Mellis) Douglas who was a doctor at Grosse Ile. Too bad she does not have the photo he mentioned in the letter.

There was also a rather long announcement of Jean's wedding, naming all the out of town guests.  There I discovered clues of where to look for a couple of ancestors I had previously lost track of, and finding them led me to others.

I am eternally grateful.

If you can't find what you want from your immediate family, try going further out of the circle. You never know where you will find a treasure!

Devon Genealogy Resources

My maternal grandmother's ancestors are the King family of Loddiswell, in the South Hams district of Devon, England. I lucked out finding a distant cousin who had done some research and between us we discovered even more. I have two 5x great grandfathers named King that lived in Loddiswell. With the help of two King wills and the Devon Tithe Apportionments with corresponding maps I was able to map quite a bit of the property they once owned.

My line of Kings were millers and malters. They owned the Loddiswell Mill, which was later called the Avon Milling Company.  My 5x great grandfather Clement King left the mill and some land to his eldest son Thomas, who left it to his son John Clement, who died young, unmarried and no children. John Clement King left his estate to his two sisters and it was his brother-in-law Philip Foale that was named as owner when the Mill was advertised for rent in 1874.

After Phlip Foale's wife Susanna King died in 1884 the mill and land were put up for sale. Just look at the amount of information I can glean from this newspaper article!!

Clement's granddaughter, Avis King from Woodleigh, was married to William Willing and he was the miller at New Mill in Loddiswell, where the couple lived.

There are quite a few online publications and websites that helped me find more about these ancestors to tell the story of their life. In searching for these I found others that may help you with your ancestors. I have put all my Devon links, and a few others for the UK, into a PDF that you can download and share.


Relevant Links

Devon Genealogy Resources

List of Devon Newspapers

I Don't Know Everything!

One of my daughters gave me this genealogy book for Christmas, by George G Morgan and Drew Smith, titled Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques.

And you know what?  I don't know everything! 

Just by page thirteen I had already read tips I had not thought of. Thanks Mel!

Many genealogists share their knowledge by writing books.  Some are specific to an area, family or an event, others more general with tips and tricks.

Check your local Historical or Genealogical Society, Amazon online, and the following links for books that may help you with your family tree. Use keywords "genealogy books" in your favourite search engine. 

Relevant Links

Olive Tree Genealogy, Lorine McGinnis Shulze

The British Genes, Chris Paton

Books on Irish Genealogy, Mike O'Laughlin, Irish Roots Cafe

Resource Books for Canadian Genealogy, Cyndi's List

7 Top Genealogy Books, Family History Daily

10 essential Genealogy Books, Family Tree Magazine

Top 11 Essential Reference Books for Genealogists, About.com