Archives

Marriage Contract Update

When you search for a marriage in the PRDH, you may find a link to a marriage contract instead of the marriage itself. The clue in the record below is the format of the date, 1738-07-04, which is in italics. Normal print is a marriage record; italics indicate a...

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MSS-079-Dissecting a French-Canadian Marriage Contract

We all have them. Piles of notarial records that need translating. Among them is arguably the most important notary record of all–the marriage contract. This document gives us an intimate look into the lives of our ancestors. Yet many of us haven’t tackled them yet due to the language...

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MSS-015-French-Canadian Marriage Records

Marriage records are the backbone of your French-Canadian research upon which you build your family structure. Before we dissect a marriage record, it helps to understand what’s behind the parts that make up the whole. In preparation, today we will discuss the history of marriage in New France, as well...

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