First, this question is not meant to be controversial. My goal is to have an analytical, academic discussion of this, for some, emotionally-charged word. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but it was brought to the forefront after a discussion with one of my podcast guests. You...
Most French-Canadian genealogists will find that they have several soldier ancestors who were members of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, a unit sent to the young colony by King Louis XIV in 1665 to protect it from the attacks of the Iroquois. In episode #41, Bill Kane, vice-president of La Société...
After listening to episode #37, you went out and found every census record for every ancestor alive between 1871 and 1921, right? Now it’s time to take the family back another century by exploring the provincial censuses. We’ll also learn French words for religious denominations that you will find...
How we genealogists LOVE census records! Lucky for us, more and more of these wonderful documents are digitized and available online. In this episode, I’ve gathered together, from all corners of the internet, information about online census records from the post-Confederation era. This includes national decennial censuses from 1871 until...
Most of us have a voyageur or two in our family tree. What was life like for them? And what was life like for the wife left alone months on end? In an interview with author Marcel Pronovost, he shares with us the discoveries he made about his ancestors,...
In this episode, Susan McNelley, author of Hélène’s World: Hélène Desportes of Seventeenth-Century Québec, rejoins us for a more in-depth look at two themes covered in her book: ‘Survival’ and ‘Relationship with the Natives.’ It’s a fascinating look at social history from that time period in Nouvelle France. Also,...
Oral histories are a window to the past. Two Salem State professors take us on a journey back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the Salem Franco community of the Point. We learn about life in this ‘Little Canada’ and how the Great Fire of 1914 affected...
Would you like to tap the vast knowledge of French-Canadian research and resources in Québec directly from those who produce the records, but in English? Then the Québec Family History Society from Montréal may be just what you’ve been searching for! Conducting genealogy business in English, publishing an English-language...
Our Acadian ancestors did not face turmoil only at the time of deportation. Their entire existence was rife with battles, both civil and international. In this episode, Lucie LeBlanc Consentino continues the story of the Acadians before the fateful Grand Dérangement. Do you have ancestors with an IEU in...
Many French-Canadians can also claim Acadian ancestry. Today Lucie LeBlanc Consentino begins her first of several lessons about the tumultuous history of our beleaguered ancestors. In Language Tip #29, we look at surnames ending in ERT and how best to locate them in online indexes. And last, be sure...
