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Episode 084-June 1, 2019
Today we look at the Drouin Institute’s NBMDS, with guest Bertrand Desjardins. NBMDS stands for naissances, baptêmes, mariages, décès, and sépultures, or births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials.
Drouin Institute’s NBMDS
The NBMDS, or little BMDs, database includes about 1.2 million records and covers the following regions:
the lower St. Lawrence region, especially the south shore
the Laurentians, north of Montreal
the Ottawa region
the city of St. Hubert
For time periods covered, click on View the parishes at the top of the right-hand column on the NBMDS home page. Here you’ll see the name of each parish, the genealogy society responsible for indexing the records, the number of records from that parish, and the records’ start and end dates. Records begin as early as 1681 and end as late as 2011.
There is some overlap with the Drouin Collection records for parishes that begin before 1940. But the Drouin records are not indexed beyond the marriages. This index include baptisms and deaths which can lead you to the original pre-1940 record in the Lafrance database.
Search tips
Read the Drouin Institute’s blog post The NBMDS tool. A link to this will be placed on the NBMDS home screen soon. Here you will find instructions for using the NBMDS index to find the original record in the Lafrance database.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, it doesn’t mean the record doesn’t exist. Remember that not all parishes are included.
Unless you are searching for a very common name, start large. Just enter given name and surname. Add other qualifiers as needed.
Use the % sign as a joker. Search for Boisjol% to cover Boisjoly, Boisjoli, and Boisjolie.
Baptism records
Include name and sex of baptized, parents, godparents, date of birth, date of baptism, parish, and transcribing society. Some entries also include notes [see Notes below].
May also include an extended search by clicking on Search parents’s [sic] marriage. The marriage will be included if they were married in any parish covered by the collection, not just the baptismal parish. If no marriage appears, try a manual search.
Marriage records
Include name of the groom, his parents, date of marriage, parish, city, transcribing society, name of bride, and bride’s parents.
If one of the spouses was widowed, the record would name the previous spouse. Some entries also include notes [see Notes below].
May also include an extended search by clicking on Search parents, Search baptism, or Search death. Again, if no record appears, try a manual search.
Death records
Include name and sex of the deceased, spouse if an adult and parents if a child, date of death, date of burial, city and parish, and transcribing society. Some ages at death are included in the Notes [see Notes below].
If the deceased is an adult, the extended search is to Search marriage (below). If the deceased is a child, the extended search is to Search parents’s [sic] marriage (above). Some entries include both.
Notes
Found in the right-hand column, notes give variable information included in some records. It might indicate the occupation of the father or that the godparents were spouses, for example.
It is easy enough to copy and paste the free-form notes into an online translator. However, some of the notes include abbreviations. It is nearly impossible to get meaning from an abbreviation if you are unfamiliar with the French language. So below, I will include some abbreviations, their French words, and meanings. If you come across an unknown abbreviation not on the list, email me or post it in the Facebook group and either I or Bertrand Desjardins will translate for you. Then I will add it here to the list.
a – ans – years
adr – adresse – address
d – décès – death
ép – époux or épouse – husband or wife
épse – épouse – wife
épx – époux – husband
hop – hôpital – hospital
j – jour(s) – day(s)
j – journalier (with metier) – day laborer
m – mois – month
maj – majeur(e) – in his/her majority
marr – marraine – godmother
min – mineur(e) – minor
n – né(e) – born
parr – parrain – godfather
s – sépulture – burial
T – temoins – witnesses
To subscribe
The NBMDS database is one of many at Genealogy Quebec. You can subscribe here through a daily, monthly, or yearly subscription.
MSS episodes about Drouin Institute collections or the PRDH
Ep. 9: The Drouin Collection
Ep. 12: The Drouin Collection-Microfilmed and Digitized
Ep. 26: PRDH
Ep. 65: The Drouin Institute’s Lafrance Database and the PRDH
Ep. 72: Drouin Collection Records-part 1
Ep. 73: Drouin Collection Records-part 2
Announcements
Journal Rundown
Volume 42, number 2 of Je Me Souviens, the journal of the American-French Genealogical Society, focuses on English captives carried to Canada. Interesting articles include:
The Deerfield Massacre: Finding Some of Our English Ancestors
Thankful Stebbins Among Those Captured in the Raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts
Digory Sargent, Worcester Massachusetts Pioneer and his Son, Daniel
The Story of Indian Captive, Matthew Farnsworth III
François Hertel and Abigail Key
Acadian Festivals, Part 3
French-Canadian News
The Franco-American Centre
Jun 22, beginning at 1:35 pm at the Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester: the 4th Annual Franco-American Heritage baseball game between the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, a double-A affiliate team of the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Trenton Thunder, the double-A team for the New York Yankees. Celebrate La Fête nationale du Québec as well as French culture throughout New England, all while enjoying an exciting (I hope) baseball game.
La Fédération franco-américaine du New York
June 23, La Fédération franco-américaine du New York’s St. Jean Baptiste Day mass and digitization project: La Fédération franco-américaine du New York will host their annual French Catholic mass to celebrate St. Jean Baptiste Day at St Mary’s Church in Waterford, NY. Immediately following the mass, a reception will be held in the parish hall. During the reception, the Federation will welcome Dr. Janet Shideler from Siena College who will be bringing her project, Je Me Souviens…I Remember, to the St Jean Baptiste celebration. Dr. Shideler’s project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, seeks to digitally preserve the rich cultural heritage of upstate New York Franco-American communities. Individuals can bring old family photos of Franco Americans and events as well as small and medium scannable family items that are connected to their Franco-American past. After the French mass, Dr. Shideler’s project will be set up in St Mary’s parish hall where, during the reception, items will be scanned and entered into the database. Eventually the items will be viewed at the New York Heritage Digital Collection online. Please note that copyrighted materials cannot be accepted for scanning in this project. The French Catholic mass will be held in St. Mary’s Church at 2 pm. The reception and scanning event will immediately follow the mass in the parish hall. St. Mary’s Catholic Church is located at 119 Broad Street in Waterford. If you live in Clinton, Essex, or Franklin counties in New York and are unable to attend this event in Waterford, consider attending an event in Plattsburg on June 9 and 10, 1 to 6 pm each day, at Mountain Lakes PBS station in Plattsburg where the project will be digitizing artifacts. You can learn more about the NEH Common Heritage project by viewing a video. You can view the collection itself at the New York Heritage Digital Collections website.
The Minnesota Genealogical Society’s Canadian Interest Group
June 23, 1-3 pm, at the Minnesota Genealogy Center in Mendota Heights: Genealogy Travels in Canada. See presentations on genealogy trips to Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec.
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