Quebec Church Records: Difference between revisions

Church registers should be consulted for records of baptisms, marriages, and burials for all time periods in Québec history. Many records are available both in original church registers and in copies that were submitted to civil archives. The copies are called duplicate, second, or civil copies. The largest religious group in Québec is the Roman Catholic Church. The first Catholic parish register was for Notre-Dame de Québec, founded in 1621. Although this register was burned, it was reconstructed in the 1640s. Most Catholic records have been carefully made and preserved from that time to the present. The earliest Protestant records are from 1766, when the Church of England (Anglican) parishes were founded in Montréal. Presbyterian records date from 1770 in the city of Québec and 1779 in Montréal. Other non-Catholic groups came later. An inventory of Catholic and Protestant church records is: Fortin, Francine. ''Guide des registres d'état civil du Québec = Guide to Quebec's Parishes and Civil Registers 1621–1993.'' [Lachine, Québec, Canada: F. Fortin], 1993. (Family History Library [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=976413&disp=Guide+des+registres+d%27%C3%A9tat+civil+%20%20&columns=*,0,0 book 971.4 K22f; on 7 fiche 6075969.)] Lists church records available on microfilm and in books. Some of the information missing from church records is available in notarial records. Léon Lalanne was a notary for the entire Eastern Townships area between 1799 and 1815. His records included wills and marriage contracts. To find out more about his records, see "Availability" in the "Notarial Records" section of this outline.  

<br>'''THE CATHOLIC CHURCH RECORDS:'''&nbsp; Roman Catholic parish registers are the most accurate and helpful of all the French Canadian genealogical sources. These registers contain christening, marriage, and burial records from 1621 to the present. Between 1679 and 1993, all parishes in Québec were required to send duplicate copies to the civil archives. This duplication has ensured that a vast majority of vital records from Quebec survive to the present day.  

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<br>For earlier records (1621 through 1799), the University of Montreal's [http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/accesLibreBD.htm#RepertoireDesActes Quebec and French Canadian Genealogy Database] is a paid subscription service that allows users to instantly search all registers. The university (for research into demography) has each person numbered and all appearances of each individual (subject, witness, parent, child, etc.) are linked together. This is a database only.&nbsp; While it is based on parish and other original records, it&nbsp; does not have links to those original records.&nbsp;&nbsp; A number of&nbsp; burials for individuals dying after 1799 have been added to this database.&nbsp; Generally these are individuals born before about 1750.&nbsp;  

'''INDEXES TO CATHOLIC MARRIAGE RECORDS:&nbsp;&nbsp;'''&nbsp;Researchers studying French Canadian Catholic families normally use one of the following indexes to locate a marriage in church records. Instructions on three of the most important sources are in Appendixes A, B, and C of this outline. Loiselle, Antonin. ''Index to Many Marriages of the Province of Québec and Adjacent Areas''. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1972. (On 174 [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Family History Library] films beginning with&nbsp;film # 543721. This Loiselle Index lists more than a million marriages. It covers about 70 percent of Québec Catholic marriages to 1900, with a few as late as the 1960s. It also includes a few parishes outside Québec where there were large settlements of French Canadians, such as Madawaska County, New Brunswick, and Manchester, Hillsboro County, New Hampshire. Loiselle, Antonin. ''Index alphabétique des mariages de certaines paroisses du Québec'' ''(Alphabetical Index to Marriages in Certain Parishes of Québec)''. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Ville de Montréal, 1988. ([http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Family History Library] film #s 1571024-74.) The text is in French. There is a supplement to the original Loiselle Index. It extends the original geographical coverage to the Montréal region, the Ottawa River Valley in both Québec and Ontario, and to a few parishes in western Canada. The ''Loiselle Index'' and its supplement have two cards for each marriage—one for the husband and one for the wife. Each card lists the date and place of the marriage, the names of both spouses, and the names of both spouses' parents, or the name of the previous spouse. See [[Loiselle Marriage Index|Appendix A for instructions for using the Loiselle index and the Loiselle supplement]]. A smaller index than the Loiselle Collection is: Rivest, Lucien. ''Index to Marriages of Québec and Adjacent Areas 1670–1964''. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973. (On 41 [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Family History Library] films beginning with film 933143.&nbsp; It lists 230,000 Catholic marriages in 13 counties northwest and northeast of Montréal,&nbsp;alphabetical by the bride's maiden surname. See [[Rivest Marriage Index|Appendix B for instructions for using the Rivest Index]]. Other indexes of marriages are: ''Mariages de Québec (Marriages of Québec)''. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1984. (On 30 [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Family History Library] films beginning with film&nbsp;# 1381846.) The text is in French. It is a small but important index. It lists Catholic marriages to 1970 in the Eastern Townships region southeast of Montréal. It is alphabetical by the groom's name. ''The Collection Fabien, National Archives of Canada series MG 25, G 231,'' includes Catholic marriages from 1657 to 1974 in counties surrounding Montréal (54 films) and both the Québec and Ontario sides of the Ottawa River Valley (25 films). The text is in French. The Collection Fabien is not at the Family History Library. The microfilms can be borrowed from the National Archives of Canada through public and college libraries participating in the interlibrary loan system. A list of the film numbers can be obtained from the National Archives of Canada. Information for many French Canadian Catholic marriages in Québec before 1930 is transcribed in: ''Répertoire alphabétique des mariages canadiens-français, 1760–1935''. (Longueuil, Québec, Canada: Service généalogique Claude Drouin, 1989–1991.) Also known as the Répertoire Drouin. Part One (49 volumes) lists marriages alphabetically by the husband's surname. Part Two (65 volumes) list marriages alphabetically by the bride's surname. It gives information similar to the information in the Loiselle Collection. The [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Family History Library] has a microfiche edition of&nbsp; the Répertoire Drouin.&nbsp; Part One begins with fiche 6202704.&nbsp; Part two begins with&nbsp;fiche 6203266.&nbsp;&nbsp; Each part contains two alphabetical listings.&nbsp;&nbsp; Since there is some overlap in the years covered by each listing, both listings should be consulted.&nbsp; Copies are available at the National Library of Canada in Ottawa, at the Salle Gagnon of the Bibliothèque de la Ville de Montréal, and at a few other libraries. See the "Archives and Libraries" section of this outline for addresses. Marriage records of many parishes have been compiled and published. These compilations are available at branches of the Archives Nationales du Québec, the [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Family History Library ]in Salt Lake City, and at many major libraries in Canada and northeastern and midwestern states. Look in the&nbsp;Place Search of the [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Family History Library Catalog] under QUEBEC, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - CHURCH RECORDS. If a church marriage record cannot be found, look in the notarial records for a marriage contract. About two-thirds of the marriages before the mid-1800s had marriage contracts. See the "Notarial Records" section of this outline. Several genealogical dictionaries also have marriage information (see the "[[Quebec Genealogy|Genealogy]]" section of this outline). One of the most important is Cyprien [[Tanguay's Genealogical Dictionary|Tanguay's]], ''Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes (Genealogical Dictionary of French Canadian Families)''.  

The original civil copies are held in the regional branches of the Archives Nationales du Québec. Extracts of the records before 1900 can be requested. Application forms are available at any regional branch. Send the completed form to the branch holding the records. See the "Archives and Libraries" section of this outline for more information and addresses of the regional branches. Because of rights-of-privacy laws, the public does not have access to civil copies of church records from 1900 to the present. However, you may be able to get an extract from the original church record. A few of the large Protestant churches in Montréal, the city of Québec, and the Eastern Townships still retain some of their records, but most denominations have placed their records in the conventional, synodal, or diocesan archives. The following is a list of major record repositories or headquarters for the most prominent Protestant churches in Québec. To locate addresses of parishes, write to:  

McMaster Divinity College <br>Hamilton ON CANADA L8S 4K1 <br>Telephone: 416-525-9140 ext 3511 === Lutheran === Lutheran Council in Canada <br>1512 St. James Street <br>Winnipeg MB CANADA R3H 0L2 <br>Telephone: 204-786-6707 <br>Fax: 204-783-7548