Have you ever thought of taking your research and writing the stories of your ancestors? If you haven’t yet, what’s stopping you? Time? Don’t know where to start? Can’t read French? Author Susan McNelley will take us on her journey, one that resulted in the publication of Hélène’s World:...
New Hampshire saw a large influx of French-Canadians in the 19th century, and the American-Canadian Genealogical Society and its library have helped many descendants trace their roots back to Québec. President Jim Gaudet fills you in on the history and happenings of the ACGS. Then in Language Tip #18, you’ll...
Thanks to the hard work of hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers across Canada and the United States, those of us who were researching our French-Canadian ancestors a decade or two ago were very grateful to have a multitude of repertoires at our disposal. Once we discovered to which...
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...
After reviewing common French terms found in baptism records and learning some less-common terms, you should then be ready to try your hand at reading a record from start to finish on your own. Test your skills and revel in your accomplishment! In the main segment, we are treated...
The goal of every genealogist is to get back to the original record whenever possible. Tanguay (episode 6), Jetté (episode 8), and the published Drouins (episode 9) are great as finding aids and indexes. With the microfilming of the Drouin collection based on the civil copy in the 1940s and...
Because of the proximity of Québec and the northern states of America, those of us from the northern US most likely have immigrant ancestors who traveled back and forth between the two. We also find that they often had children in both places. This initial nomadic lifestyle presents a...
What would we as genealogists do without genealogy societies and their libraries? They are critical in compiling, preserving and disseminating the information we need to prove our family lines. In our first Spotlight on a Society segment, Loraine DiCerbo, president of the French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan (FCHSM), tells...
Perhaps one of the most valuable French-Canadian resources packed into one volume is René Jetté’s Dictionnaire genealogique des familles du Quebec, covering early Québec families from the beginning to 1730. Learn how to use Jetté to locate your family as well as what other information can be found within...
Imagine being a young lady in your teens or early twenties. You leave everything known to you to travel six to eight weeks across an unforgiving ocean toward a harsh land that requires all your strength and resolve to survive. We of French-Canadian descent are here today because approximately...
