Sources
There are three kinds of sources. There is a primary source, secondary source, and oral.
A primary source is a piece of information or a document that was generated in the presence of the person it involves. (Birth, marriage and death certificates)
Birth certificates, for example, are primary sources only for the names of your parents and your birth date and where you were born - it proves that you were born on that date and that's your primary proof of a birth date. Now let's take a death certificate. A death certificate is a primary source proving that you died because the doctor says that you died on this date, at this time, at this place and this was more than likely your name. However the name of your mother and father on the death certificate is secondary information because you didn't give it. The same applies for your address and how old you were. The information you give for paper work to join the military came from you and that's a primary source.
A secondary source would be a source that was generated for a person after they died or outside of their presence. Obituaries would be a good example here.
An oral source is when someone recalls an event from memory. If the events are about them they are primary sources. Others people events would be secondary.
There is a tremendous amount of information on the web, but everybody has to bear in mind that that information is suspect until you yourself have been able to substantiate that the information is correct. When you find some information online, maybe from someone else's family history work, don't add it to your own work until you are satisfied that the preponderance of evidence says that this information is right and belongs to your family.
Libraries and Research Centers
If you hope to do any serious research on your family, you're going to need some hard-copy resources.
The following is a list of some research centers. Please call ahead regarding hours of operation.
Algonquin College
Perth Campus
7 Craig Street
Perth, Ontario K7H 1X7
Canada
Tel: (613) 267-2859
______________________________________________________________
Library and Archives Canada
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N4
Canada
Tel: 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777
________________________________________________________________
Publications
The sources you will use most often are divided into three types:
Genealogical dictionaries, which contain marriages for many surnames and many places;
Marriage repertoires, which contain marriages for many surnames in just one place; and
Family genealogies, which have marriages for just one surname in many places.
- Quintin Publications, in Pawtucket, RI, has been selling genealogy books since 1977, and they specialize in French- Canadian resources (especially microfilm), though they have an extensive collection of other genealogy books as well. Call 1-800-74-ROOTS, e-mail them at rquintin@gnn.com, or check out their Web site.
http://www.quintinpublications.com/
- For home use, the most reliable source of information on French-Canadians in the province of Quebec is Rene Jette's Dictionnaire genealogique des familles du Quebec. The only drawback with this book is that it stops dead at 1730. You have to go to Tanguay after that.
- Cyprien Tanguay's Dictionnaire genealogique is not considered to be as reliable as Jette, but it has the huge advantage of going far beyond Jette's 1730 cutoff date. Marriages are listed reliably through about 1770, and in hit-or-miss fashion up to around 1810. This out-of-print book is being reprinted by Quintin Publications this spring for $225 through April 1, and $250 thereafter. For more information, contact Quintin Publications, 28 Felsmere Avenue, Pawtucket, RI 02861-2903, phone 800-74-ROOTS (orders only). Or you can e-mail
http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/numtextes/at802.htm
- If you are just starting out, and your French-Canadian grandparents are from the Maine/New Hampshire/Quebec/Western NB area, then you will need a source to take you back far enough so you can use Jette and Tanguay. At the Family History Centers of the Mormon Church, (FHC), you can order microfilm of Henri Langlois' Dictionnaire genealogique du Madawaska: repertoire des marriages. This is a simple marriage repertoire (no birth information), and it actually goes all the way back to the earliest marriages.
- If you live near a large research center that can afford the large Drouin, then you will want to make extensive use of this. It is poorly reproduced and outrageously expensive, but it often contains marriages that cannot be located anywhere else. The full title is Repertoire alphabetique des mariages des Canadiens-Français de 1760 a 1935. There is also a small, or petit Drouin, that may be available at some libraries without the budget for the large one.
http://drouininstitute.com/
- The PRDH is another fantastic reference that you will only have access to at large libraries or research centers. PRDH stands for "Program de Research en Demographie Historique," and it's a sort of nickname, referring to the group that compiled it. The actual title, if you want to try to get your library to arrange for an interlibrary loan, is "Repertoire des Actes de Bapteme, Mariage, Sepulture, et des Recensements du Quebec Ancien." It covers events in Quebec from the early 1600s to 1765. There are 45 volumes. To determine which volume you need, refer to the PRDH Index.
http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/accesLibreBD.htm#Dictionnaire
- The Loiselle Index is only available on microfilm and microfiche. It's available on microfilm at the FHC, but at a cost of $5.00 for each roll, it's very expensive to use. The plus side of the Index is that you can search by males or females. If you just can't find a marriage anywhere else, you might as well give the Loiselle Index a try.
- If you know where your family was located, then you may find it most effective to use a marriage repertoire, if one has been compiled for your area. This is a collection of marriages, generally covering one parish or one county, over a period of many years--often from the 1600s to the 1990s.
Electronic
On-line access to genealogical information is exploding. It's not always the quickest, cheapest, or most accurate source of information, but it may be the most fun. I'm listing the electronic links I think are most useful. If I miss any important sites or any important services at any sites, please do let me know.
Click next to see the links
Home
AAFNA