French Canada Region: Resources

We are happy that you are considering becoming accredited in the French Canada region. This resource page contains links to important record collections, resources, and repositories that will be helpful to you as you prepare to take the French Canadian exam.

As a French-Canadian researcher, you should be familiar with these resources. Although this list is not comprehensive, it will provide a starting point for you as you learn what is available. If you are aware of additional online resources for French Canada, let us know. This web page will be updated regularly, and we'd love to add additional resources that will benefit all French-Canadian researchers.

If you would like to contribute additional resources to this page, please contact the moderator for this page: Beth Davies, AG.

Original Church Records (Baptisms, marriages, and burials–both Catholic and Protestant)
Census Records

Compiled Church Records (Marriage repertoires, Published parish records, PRDH Database, Tanguay’s Dictionary, Jette’s’ Dictionary)
Marriage Indexes (Loiselle, Drouin)
Notarial Records and indexes
U.S. Records:
Border Crossing Records (Canada to U.S.)
U.S. Naturalization Records
U.S. Census Records
U.S. Vital Records

Land and Property Records
Border Crossing Records (U.S. to Canada)
Loyalist Records
County Histories

In order to pass the French Canada exam, you will be expected to accurately translate documents of genealogical significance from French into English. Following are links to online classes and sample French documents, which you may use to develop and test your language skills.

Quebec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967
Indexed scanned images of parish records that were microfilmed by the Drouin Institute. Indexing is not perfect, but prior to the availability of this collection, there was no index to baptisms or burials for Quebec which covered the entire province. Both Protestant and Catholic records are included, though the Protestant collection may not be complete. This is a subscription website. It is included in the ancestry world subscription, but can be accessed as a separate subscription.

PRDH database
University of Montreal database of pre-1800 Quebec baptisms, marriages and burials taken from parish records, census records, and other sources such as marriage contracts and census records. Burial records extend into the 1800's for some individuals born prior to 1800. Actual parish records do not appear on this site, but it can act as an index for finding the parish records. This is a subscription website where you pay for each “hit” you use. It is possible to view parts of this website for free (name, parish, and year, but not exact date for example).

Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1900
Digital images of the Family History Library microfilms. These are not yet indexed, but the images are sometime better than those found on Ancestry.

bms2000
A genealogical database of Quebec baptisms, marriages and burials created by the cooperation of 23 genealogical societies. This can act as an index to finding the parish records. It is possible to search by names of parents, which is not possible on Ancestry. This is a subscription website where you pay for each “hit” you use, but it is possible to view some of the data without paying.

Geographical Names of Canada

Marc A. Schindler, Administrative atlas of Canada, FHL 971 E7sm, US/CAN Ref 2nd and 3rd. Volume 2 is Quebec.

Quebec Research Outline
This gives a good brief explanation of “dit” names.

American-French Genealogical Society
This website also give some anglicized versions of surnames/given names.

Robert J. Quintin, French-Canadian Surnames: aliases, adulterations, and anglicizations (Pawtucket, RI.: R.J. Quintin, c1993). FHL 971 D4q.

Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Canadiennes Depuis la Fondation de la Colonie Jusqu'a Nos Jours(Montréal [Québec]: Éditions Élysée, 1975). Appendix to Volume 7. FHL 971 D2t US/CAN Ref 2nd and 3rd.

René Jetté and Micheline Lécuyer, Répertoire des Noms de Famille du Québec des Origines à 1825(Repertory of Family Names of Québec from the Beginning to 1825) (Montréal, Qué.: Institut Généalogique J.L. et Associés, 1988). FHL book 971.4 D4j.

French Genealogical Word List

Family Search Wiki, Quebec

Archives and Library of Canada

Ancestry.ca
Parish records, census records, etc.

FamilySearch
Research outlines, Family History Library catalog, links to other FamilySearch resources

National Institute for Genealogical Studies
A number of online classes on Canadian records are offered.

Contributors to this page: Heidi Sugden, AG and Beth Davies, AG.