Establishing your ancestry using Quebec Records

This guide will provide you with detailed instructions which will help establish your ancestry using the tools available on Quebec Records. Examples of the challenges you may encounter while establishing your ancestry are used throughout the guide.

Defining ancestry

Your ancestry denotes all of your ancestors as far back as they are traceable, starting with your parents. With each generation, the amount of ancestors you have doubles: 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, etc.

An ancestry can be total, or can be limited to a subset of ancestors:

-paternal ancestry (all the ancestors on the paternal side of your ancestry) or maternal ancestry (all the ancestors on the maternal side of your ancestry)

-patrilineal (father, grandfather, great grandfather) or matrilineal (mother, grandmother, great grandmother, etc.)

An ancestry can be unlimited, going as far back as the genealogical sources allow, or limited to a certain amount of generations.

The key to establishing an ancestry is the marriage record. Most marriage records will contain the name of the spouses’ parents or the names of the previous spouses, which are necessary in order to trace backan ancestry.

Tools

Quebec Records offers a multitude of complementary genealogical tools which you will need to complete your ancestry.

- The LAFRANCE, which contains, amongst other things, all the catholic marriages from Quebec between 1623 and 1913. Thanks to a refined search engine, you will be able to execute a search without worrying about the different variations of a specific name. A link to the original record is included with every document. It is through the LAFRANCE that you will establish the majority of your ancestry.

- The Men and Women series and the Kardex, marriage repertories covering a period that goes up to 1940. These repertories will be the bridge between your starting point and the first LAFRANCE marriage of your ancestry.

- The 1926 – 1997 marriage index, with a link to the original record included in every document.

The objective

Establishing your ancestry using the LAFRANCE is easy once you come across a marriage that predates 1914. The real challenge is to find that marriage.

When establishing your ancestry on Quebec Records, your main objective is to find a marriage that predates 1914. You will be able to do so by using our 1926-1997 and Men, Women and Kardex series tools.

The process

The ancestry of Bertrand Desjardins, born on the 24th of November 1948 in Montreal, will serve as an example in the instructions given in the following procedure.

First step

To discover your ancestry using Quebec Records, you must begin by establishing all the information you have on your family. It is always a good idea to ask parents, grandparents and other family members for clues and information regarding the family. The more information you start with, the easier your research will be. Make sure to have all this information readily available when starting your research.

Ex:

Here is the information established by Bertrand before the start of his research.

Subject:

Bertrand Desjardins, born on the 24th of November 1948 in Montreal

Parents:

François-Joseph Desjardins born in 1908, died on the 1st of September 1963 and Suzanne Bertrand, born in 1919 and still living, married in 1943 in Montreal.

Grandparents:

François-Joseph Desjardins’ parents: François Desjardins, died in July 1955 and Anna Jacques, died on September 1st 1975.

Suzanne Bertrand’ parents: Émile Bertrand, died on the 4th of November 1961 and Irène Michaud, died in june 1942.

Additional information:

François-Joseph is the eldest child of his family; Suzanne is the second child. François Desjardins’ father is Charles Desjardins.

Second step

It is now time to use the information we’ve gathered in the first step. First of all, we must verify whether this information allows us to track down a marriage that predates the year 1914. If that is the case, a simple search for the wife and husband’s names in the LAFRANCE should allow us to find the marriage record.

If that is not the case, we will have to turn to the complementary tools. Using your notes, try to find the earliest marriage you can get your hands on. This marriage will be your starting point.

If this marriage took place between 1913 and 1940, use the Men and Women series and the Kardex for your research.

(Unable to find the marriage you are looking for? Contact us at webmestre.lafrance@videotron.ca, we may be able to help)

Ex:

Let’s go back to Bertrand Desjardins’ attempt at mapping his ancestry using the Quebec Records website.

Paternal ancestry

It is now time for Bertrand to put the information gathered during the previous step of his research to use. The first thing Bertrand notices is that his father, François-Joseph Desjardins, was born in 1908. This signifies that François-Joseph’s parents, François Desjardins and Anna Jacques, got married in 1908 at the latest. A simple search for their names in the LAFRANCE should allow us to find their marriage.

Within minutes, Bertrand was able to find the first LAFRANCE mariage of his paternal ancestry.

The marriage record indicates that François Desjardins’ parents are Charles Eugène Desjardins and MarieMalvina Fortin. A LAFRANCE search should allow us to find their marriage.

The marriage record tells us that Charles Eugène Desjardins’ parents are Alexandre Roy Desjardins and Léocadie Gagnon.

From this point on, it is simply about repeating the process of searching for the parents’ marriage until we reach the first immigrant of the lineage. In Bertrand’s case, the first immigrant is Alexandre Roy dit Desjardins, who married Marie Major on the 11th of September 1668 in Québec city.

Bertrand Desjardins’ paternal ancestry is completed within minutes thanks to the LAFRANCE. All that is left now is the presentation of this work.

There are several templates available on the internet to organize and present your ancestry.

Maternal ancestry

His paternal ancestry completed, Bertrand decides to tackle the maternal side of his family. This time, there is no way to know if Bertrand’s grandparents’ marriage has been celebrated before 1914. A LAFRANCE search for Émile Bertrand and Irène Michaud yields no results. Bertrand must now turn to theDrouin Great Collections; the Men and Women series and the Kardex.

To use the Men and Women series, head over to the Great Collections category and click on the “Search by family in the Great collections “ tool.

The search is done by family name.

The results are separated by tools and are in alphabetical order of the first name.

Note that it is possible that an individual be sorted by his secondary first name. Émile could be sorted under Joseph Émile, since there is no distinction between the primary and the secondary first name. Similarly, a woman could be sorted under Marie despite usually being known under a different name.

The format used in the Men and Women series isn’t the most intuitive. This image should help you understand the layout:

Searches for the surnames Bertrand in the Men Series and Michaud in the Women Series produce no relevant results. The Kardex is next.

The Kardex must be navigated manually, as it doesn’t come with a built in search engine.

The files are sorted by letter and by the name of the husband.

Since we are looking for Émile Bertrand’s marriage, we have opened the BertrandEdouard – BertrandHypolite folder. The first file will contain the marriage of an Edouard Bertrand. Seeing as the files are ordered in alphabetical order of the husband’s first name, Émile Bertrand’s file should be amongst the first ones.

Unfortunately, the file isn’t in this folder.

As mentioned earlier, it is possible that Émile could be identified as Joseph Émile in his marriage file. To verify this possibility, we must look at the BertrandJoseph folder.

Note that the files are first sorted by the man’s first forename, and then by the woman’s surname. The marriage file of a Joseph Émile and a Michaud will be found at Michaud and not at Émile.

The file was in fact in the BertrandJoseph folder, sorted by Michaud.

1) Bertrand, Joseph Alfred Émile – Husband

2) (Bertrand), Antoine Wilfrid – Husband’s father

3) St-Aubin, Rose Anna – Husband’s mother

4) Michaud, Marie Lise Irène – Wife

5) (Michaud), Joseph Adolphe – Wife’s father

6) Bernard, Marie Lise Elisa – Wife’s mother

7) St Louis de France de Montréal – Parish

8) 12 juin 1915 – 12th of june 1915, marriage date

We now know that Émile’s parents are named Antoine Wilfrid Bertrand and Rose Anne St-Aubin. We should be able to find their marriage in the LAFRANCE.

The next step is to find Antoine Wilfrid Bertrand’s parents’ marriage in the LAFRANCE, and to follow the paternal lineage all the way up to the first immigrant.

This first immigrant is Jean Bertrand, who married Marie Charlotte Brar on the 23 rd of September 1697 inMontreal.

Bertrand’s maternal ancestry is completed.

Complicated cases

In the world of genealogy, it is often necessary to call upon our inner detective. Sometimes, the usual procedure doesn’t lead to the desired results. In those cases, a certain amount of creativity and initiativeis necessary to pull through.

For an example of that, let’s go back to Bertrand Desjardins’ paternal ancestry. Bertrand had no difficulty finding his grand-father’s marriage in the LAFRANCE thanks to the information established at the start of his research.

Let’s now imagine a scenario where Bertrand’s initial gathering of information did not allow him to find his grand-parents’ name. Essentially, Bertrand’s starting point is now his own parents and the only

information available to him is his parent’s marriage date, their dates of birth and the date of death of his father.

François-Joseph Desjardins born in 1908, died on the 1st of September 1963 and Suzanne Bertrand, born in 1919 and still living, married in 1943 in Montreal.

Since marriages don’t go past 1913 in the LAFRANCE and 1940 in the Great Collections, Bertrand has to turn to the Marriages and Deaths 1926-1997 tool.

A search for a Desjardins and Bertrand couple in the Marriage 1926-1997 section allows us to find their marriage:

While this document provides us with tons of interesting information, it doesn’t help us find Bertrand’s grand-parents’ marriage, as they aren’t mentioned in the record.

This is when some initiative and creativity is required to push the research further.

We know François Joseph Desjardins died on the 1st of September 1963.

Still in the Marriage and Deaths 1926-1997 tool, but this time in the Death 1926-1997 section, let’s attempt to find François Joseph’s death record.

We are able to find his death record. Luckily, the file indicates that the mother’s name is JACQUES, A. andthat the father’s name is DESJARDINS, F. A search for a Desjardins/Jacques couple in the LAFRANCE will allow us to find their marriage, and to establish Bertrand’s paternal ancestry.

Conclusion

The instructions and examples given in this guide will cover most of the situations you will encounter when establishing your ancestry on Quebec Records.

Do not hesitate to contact us at webmestre.lafrance@videotron.ca if you have any questions regarding this guide or the process of realizing your ancestry.