Understanding Quebec Catholic Records

Canada

Quebec

Catholic Records

The main sources of genealogical information in Quebec are the Roman Catholic parish records. They typically record baptisms, marriage and burials, and in some cases, confirmations. They are not direct records of births and deaths. There were no separate civil records for birth, unions and deaths before the 1980s in Quebec. Under the French civil code, priests were required to maintain the civil records.

The Catholic priests were recording religious events, and births and deaths may or may not be mentioned in the records, but always indirectly. The records contain precious information for genealogists like the parents of a child or the spouses, their origin, their age (but not always), and their relationships.

They are written in French, sometimes in Latin, but as they are written according to some rules and in a specific format, it becomes easy to recognize the main parts of each record and the information they contain. You can read this article about Quebec Languages to get started. They are also handwritten, and some priests were not much more educated than their parishioners; their handwriting and spelling may be difficult to read. You can usually get decipher them by reading other surrounding records written by the same hand.

Places

As for the events, the priests were referring to their own "territories" in the records, that is, parishes and dioceses. Unless another type of place is specifically mentioned, like a seigneurie or a city, it should be assumed that the places mentioned are parishes. Many parishes in Quebec have the same name, and it is important to consider the geographical location of each parish, and also the year of their coming into existence, before attributing the origin of a person to a specific parish. People did not travel far in those days, and certainly not forward in time.

Since parishes are communities of people, their size and location evolved, according to the movement, the growth and the density of the population. Parishes started as missions in remote areas, served by the priest of another parish, before becoming a parish of their own. As a parish becomes too large in population, or when the parishioners begin to find that the church is simply too far from where they live, other parishes are detached from the original one. Therefore, the name of the parish in the records does not necessarily reflect the geographical location we would assign to them nowadays.

Unlike the civil land organization, which has evolved through time, parishes have remained constant, with only their geographical and population sizes changed. Some parishes did change name, either following the will of their parishioners (example: Saint-Olivier becoming Saint-Mathias), or to identify them more precisely as one or more parishes had the same saint as patron.

Names

The spelling of both the first names and surnames of people mentioned in the records is very variable. It depends on the degree of literacy of the priests, some spelling according to the "sound" of the name, rather than using a more standard form. The spelling is also influenced by regional variations and by its evolution through time. Given that almost all the French Canadian people were illiterate, it is rarely possible to see how they themselves would spell their name. And the few who could write, were often just trying to copy, using very bad handwriting, what the priest had written in the record.

When building a family tree, it is therefore a good habit to adopt a standard spelling for the time, based on the frequency with which a certain spelling occurs in the records of the same period. Trying to note all the variations found can quickly become fastidious, and can hide relationships of people. This good practice also allows to reflect the evolution of certain names (like Magdeleine, in use in the 17th, 18th and early 19th century, closer to the Latin form Magdelena, which is written Madeleine nowadays).

Important: the Catholic priests always used their maiden name to identify women, unlike the Anglo-Saxon tradition. It was important for them to identify the family of the mother, in order to verify the degree of consanguinity or relatedness. This is of a great help to genealogists.

French accents

Starting in the 18th century, the French language in Quebec started to be written with diacritical marks, or accents, on vowels. These are the "acute" accent (like é), the "grave" accent (like à, è or ù), the "circumflex" accent (like â, ê, î, and ô), the dieresis (like ë and ï). These indicate a different pronunciation for the vowels: the "acute" accent rendering a "closed" sound like "é" (hay), an "open sound like "è" (hell), or an elongated sound like "ê" (hair). The dieresis mark like "ë" served to indicate that the vowel need to be pronounced separately from the preceding one, as in "Noël" (no ell, and not, nwell, as o followed by e would normally be pronounced).

The letter "c" also started to be accompanied by a "cedilla", like ç, to indicate that the sound is sibilant like an "s", and not hard like a "k". Example: François is pronounced "fransswah" and not "frankwah".

Before that time, the letter "s" was used instead of the accents, appearing after the vowel, depending the following consonant. For example, the surname "Létourneau" used to be written "Lestourneau", "Lemaître" as "Lemaistre", and the first name "Étienne" as "Estienne" (again. closer to the Latin form "Stephanum").

"Dit" names

Until the mid nineteenth century, French Canadian families were using more than one surname to designate and identify themselves. It was a way to differentiate the various people bearing the same original surname. This usage started in France, before the colonization of New France, but the practice has been extended significantly in New France. In the 17th and 18th century, priests were usually writing the two surnames separated by the word "dit", meaning something like "also known as" or "said to be". However, as time evolved, the two surnames ended up being used interchangeably and can really be confusing to many genealogists. it is therefore a good practice to mention the two surnames with the form "dit" when identify a person.

By the mid 1800s, the British government in Canada forced French Canadians to select only one surname to identify themselves. Very often, the surname chosen was the "dit" one, and not the original one. For example, most families bearing the name "Larose" or "Lafleur" are using this "dit" name, and not the original one, which can be very different depending on who was their paternal line ancestor.

The "dit" names have various origins. Sometimes, they were assigned to indicate the region of origin in France for the original settler, like "Parisien" (from Paris) or "Langevin" (from the French province of Anjou). They were also nicknames given to soldiers or sailors, which represented a physical or moral trait of theirs, like "Leroux" (red-haired), "Petit" (small stature), "Lafleur" (flowery, or smooth talker), "Jolicoeur" (nice heart, or good looking, flirtatious).

Unknown names

Catholic priests were very stringent on the importance of children being born of a legitimate marriage. In the case of a child born out of wedlock, they did not mention the name of the parents, simply writing "born of unknown parents", with the first name given to the infant by his or her godparents. Sometimes, one or both parents admitted or recognized being the parent, and the child grew up bearing the surname of the father, if this one came forth, or the mother. It happened that the parents got married after the birth of their child, and they would recognize being the parents at their marriage, legitimizing the birth, and the child could use the paternal surname. However, when none of the parents came forth, or the priest simply refused to mention them, the child could end up being referred only by his or her first name in subsequent records.

Events

Baptisms

The following information can be found in baptism records, depending on the time period of the record, and also on the accuracy of the priest and how closely he followed the rules. These rules were dictated by the Catholic Church itself and also by the Civil Authorities, like the King of France, and later on, the provincial government. Some information can nevertheless appear in the records prior to the edict imposing the rule to the priests.

Information that can be found in baptism records, and the enabling rule, if applicable

Information	Church Rule	Civil Rule	Remark
Date of birth	from 1614	from 1539	Priest are only referring to the date indirectly (today, yesterday, the day before yesterday), but sometimes with the day number.
Date of baptism	from 1563	from 1795	This is always the date of the baptism event, but sometimes the date it was registered (when the infant was baptized informally, or "ondoyé").
Place of birth	from 1973	from 1941	Most of the time, people were born at home, and the residence of the parents could be assumed as the place of birth (see the section on Places above).
Place of baptism			The priests often travelled to people's home to perform the baptism, but sometimes the father has to bring the infant to the church (not always his official one). The place where the baptism was performed is not necessarily the parish of record; the curate of a neighboring parish could have performed the ritual in the absence of the curate of the parents' parish.
"Ondoiement" (domestic baptism)	from 1614	n.a.	When the baptism is performed by a non-religious person, the priest has to write down the reason for this, and the person who has performed the ritual. Since catholics were afraid that a non-baptized infant not be admitted in heaven (remaining in limbo), they urgently performed the ritual if there was a risk of death.
Name of the child	from 1563	from 1667	Only the first name is mentioned, assuming that the surname would be that of the father.
Gender	from 1614	from 1866	The priest usually mentions that the infant is a son or a daughter. If the sex is not known (premature birth), the priest will use the generic term "un enfant" (a child).
Legitimacy	from 1614	n.a.	Either the priest clearly states the the child is illegitimate, or mentions that he or she is born of unknown parents. If it is not the case, he mentions that the child is from the legitimate marriage of his or her parents.
Names of parents	from 1614	from 1667	The full names (including "dit" names) of the parents, for the mother, the maiden name, are mentioned.
Occupation of the father	from 1703	from 1795
Residence of parents	from 1614	from 1795	The priest simply mentions that they are from his parish or from a different one, which is then named specifically.
Presence of the father	from 1836		The priest mentions this fact where he indicates if the godparents have signed the record or not.
Unknown parents	from 1614	from 1795	It would have been very rare that the priests did not know who the parents were (only in the case of an abandoned baby). But they usually refused to name them if they were not married.
Names of the godparents	from 1563	from 1667	Curiously, the Council of Trent concluded that it was more important to know the godparents, than the parents...
Father of the godfather	from 1614		Only if the godfather is minor.
Father or husband of the godmother	from 1703		If the godmother is minor, or for identification purposes.
Procurators of the godparents	from 1836	from 1866	If the godparents cannot attend in person, they normally had to designate someone to represent them.
Occupation of the godfather	from 1890	from 1866
Residence of the godparents	from 1614	from 1866
Relationship with the baptized	from 1919		Priests took the habit of mentioning the relationship long before it was ruled compulsory.
Signatures	from 1703	from 1667	The father was required to sign, unless he was not present. The priest always signed, and he had to indicate if the father and/or the godparents could not sign.

Typical formulation of the record (example)

Information	Original French	English Translation	Remark
Date of baptism	En l'an mil sept cent soixante onze, le 10 février...	In the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy one, on February 10th...	Always written in long form.
Who has performed the baptism	nous, curé (prêtre) soussigné, avons baptisé...	we, undersigned curate (priest), have baptized...	The priest always signs the record, usually only his last name with or without his initials.
Gender of the child	un fils nommé (une fille nommée)...	a son named (a daughter named)...	If the sex is unknown, it would be "un enfant" (a child).
Name of the child	un fils nommé Joseph (ou une fille nommée Marie Angélique)...	a son named Joseph (or a daughter named Marie Angélique)...	French Canadian children often bore the same first name, sometimes even in the same family.
Date of birth	né(e) d'hier...	born yesterday...	Most of the time relative to the date of the baptism.
Legitimacy	du légitime mariage de...	out of the legitimate marriage of...	Or from unknown parents, in the case of an illegitimate child
Names of parents	Joseph Benoît dit Livernois et Marie Geneviève Bédard...	Joseph Benoît dit Livernois et Marie Geneviève Bédard...	Sometimes, often in more recent years, the priest mentions the occupation of the father.
Residence of parents	de cette paroisse.	from this parish.	This is not a clear geographical or civil location (see the section on Places above).
Godfather	Le parrain a été François Benoît...	The godfather was François Benoît...	Often the grandfather (for firstborns) or an uncle (direct or by marriage).
Godmother	et la marraine, Catherine Bédard...	and the godmother, Catherine Bédard...	Often the grandmother (for firstborns) or an aunt(direct or by marriage).
Signatures	qui, avec le père présent, ont déclaré ne savoir signer...	who, as with the father present, have declared not knowing how to sign...	If they have signed, the priest would have written "a signé avec nous" (has signed with us).
Legal mention	selon l'ordonnance.	according to the decree.	Referring to the 1539 decree of François 1er, King of France.