Do you have a voyageur in your ancestry? A coureur de bois? How about an engagé? Huh? So what’s the difference? Suzanne Sommerville will help you to distinguish between them as she takes you through the history of the fur trade in New France and into the British Regime....
Sommerville-Suzanne-Boivin
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...
MSS-064-Settling Detroit
Who were the early settlers of Fort Ponchartrain/Detroit? What records did they leave behind? Co-authors Suzanne Sommerville, Gail Moreau-DesHarnais, and Diane Wolford Sheppard answer those questions and many more in their award-winning book, Le Détroit du Lac Érié. Cadillac established the fort with about fifty soldiers and a group of...
MSS-016-The History behind the Geography
When entering data into your genealogy database, have you ever asked yourself: Do I enter Nouvelle France or Canada? Is St-Charles the parish or the village? Where is the Pays d’en Haut? With the help of our guest Suzanne Boivin Sommerville, we will attempt to answer some of your...