Reading/translating Canadian French church records

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Al (alpobc) on April 17, 2010 at 2:58pm

Hi LeLani;
If you send me a couple I will give it a try for you. Most of the records are fairly generic, much like the English ones. So and so of such and such village etc.
Al.
Duncan, British Columbia, Canada

Permalink Reply by Ray Marentette on April 17, 2010 at 3:24pm

Le Lani,
I will be pleased to attempt to translate probono old français documents to English. Being a 11th generation French descendent, I have been successful to do many but some of the hands written documents are somewhat difficult. Just send them to me at raymarentette@gmail.com and I will give it a try.
Ray Marentette

Permalink Reply by LeLani von Bober on April 17, 2010 at 6:29pm

Thank you to both Al and Ray for such a quick reply! I will forward a couple ASAP to each of you but I would need your email addy Al!!

Thanx again!
LeLani

Permalink Reply by James P. LaLone on April 18, 2010 at 7:27am

As Al said they are generally a generic format, you might check the various publications of the French-Canadian genealogy societies here in the states as several have done articles on the various records & how to read them. You might also want to check out marriage contracts as they sometimes have more info then the marriage record. Also invest in a French-English dictionary. Good luck.

Permalink Reply by LeLani von Bober on April 18, 2010 at 8:58am

Hello James,

Thank you for the info. "You might also want to check out marriage contracts as they sometimes have more info then the marriage record. Also invest in a French-English dictionary" I do have a French/English dictionary that does help some. Could you please elaborate on the 'marriage contracts' vs the marriage record? Where would I find them? I am from Wisconsin and only know of the 'Drouin collection'.

thank you,
LeLani

Permalink Reply by James P. LaLone on April 27, 2010 at 7:12pm

Here are some books worth reading to do research:
FRENCH-CANADIAN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH by John DuLong
SEARCHING IN FRENCH-CANADIAN RECORDS by Anita & John Coderre
FINDING YOUR FRENCH-CANADIAN ANCESTORS by Louise St-Denis
BEGINNING FRANCO-AMERICAN GENEALOGY by Rev. Dennis M. Boudreau
MILLER'S MANUAL by Douglas Miller
SEARCHING THROUGH THE OLD RECORDS OF NEW FRANCE, trans. by Armand H. Demers, Jr.
FRENCH & FRENCH-CANADIAN RESEARCH by J. Konrad
FRENCH-CANADIAN SOURCES: A GUIDE FOR GENEALOGISTS by Patricia Keeney Geyh, Joyce Soltis Banachowski, Linda K. Boyea, et al.

The following article shows how the marriage contracts can provide different info or variations from a marriage record:

“Marriage Contracts: A Comparison” by Carol Hamp & James P. LaLone, in MICHIGAN’S HABITANT HERITAGE, v.8 #2, Apr. 1987, p.27. (includes a list of notaries in the INVENTAIRE DES GREFFES DES NOTAIRES DU REGIME FRANCAIS series).Sorry for lack of accents, I cannot write in French.

Marriage contracts are civil contracts drawn up by a notary (lawyer) whereas the marriage record usually refers to the church produced record. The data can vary.

Some of the contracts have been published, some have been filmed by the Mormons, it all requires research. Good luck. By the way, besides the Drouin collection there is also the Loiselle Marriage Index (filmed by the Mormons) and the Rivest Marriage Index (again filmed by the Mormons), the Fabian Marriage Index is available at the National Archives in Ottawa and possibly some other places in Quebec, but do not know off hand.

Permalink Reply by LeLani von Bober on April 27, 2010 at 7:37pm

Hello James,
Thank you so very much for the wealth of information that you have provided! This will no doubt keep me busy for some time.

Regards,
LeLani