Hello: My brother has been researching our family tree, (most likely a tree with a lot of “nuts.” ). At any rate, he is doing pretty well with tracing the U.S. roots. However, we have quite a number of relatives who either stayed in Canada, or emigrated to the U.S., mostly early 1900’s
So, my question is, does anyone know of any good Canadian sources available for that sort of research, preferrably ones that are free? I almost certain that they come from the Province of Quebec.
There is a lot of information, Tom. I don’t have the websites marked any longer, but if you search you can find them. Some are in French, but I think they had an English side. They’ll tell you about what to expect when searching, what to look for, resources, and so forth.
If your relatives are from Quebec and they were French to begin with, be sure to look up “dit name.” You can come to inexplicable dead ends in your search when an ancestor began using a dit name. That would be, for instance, when someone named John Jones, a tailor, was called John Jones the tailor, and the family line eventually dropped the Jones to become Tailors. If you’re looking for Tailors and suddenly cannot find any, you have to look for the name they used first (Jones).
Doing Quebec genealogy, you must remember that the wife keeps her maiden name and doesn’t take her husband’s name!
See if your library has:
Dictionnaire Genealogique des Families Canadiennes, author:L’Abbe Cyprien Tanguay
And: French Canadians 1600-1900, edited by Noel Montgomery Elliot, published by The Genealogical Research Library, 86 Gerard St. Toronto Ontario Canada. 2 volumes.
Do you know if your ancestors were French speakers or English speakers?
Ask me if you need French translations.
My father’s a genealogist in Connecticut. He’s found some interesting connections for our family, 'way back. For instance, my husband and I are cousins! Ten generations ago, back in Ireland. It doesn’t seem to have affected our kids.
Kind of fun to imagine who we came from. Our family has all kinds, from kings to murderers.
ok - sorry - but every time I see the title of this thread, I think this…
You know Jeff Forxworthy’s “If your family tree doesn’t have any branches, you might be a redneck”???
Well, my ex’s was a wreath.
Seriously.
One of the oldest in a family of about 14 had a descendant that a couple of generations down the line, married one of the descendants from the youngest of that first group. There’s maybe 4 surnames on his mother’s side… And one of his mom’s sister continued that tradition - she didn’t have to change her last name when she married!!!
). At any rate, he is doing pretty well with tracing the U.S. roots. However, we have quite a number of relatives who either stayed in Canada, or emigrated to the U.S., mostly early 1900’s
