French Special Interest Group

Généalogie Québec

The largest collection of French-Canadian records, accessed on an AGS Edmonton Branch library computer.

Généalogie Québec is a genealogical research website that hosts more than 50 million images (from several collections, including Quebec, Acadia, USA, Ontario, etc.) and documents covering from the origin of New France to today. It is the largest and most comprehensive French-Canadian database online and belongs to the Drouin Genealogical Institute. The church records can be searched using their excellent tool, LAFRANCE. It also has links to the family reconstructions & indexes prior to 1830 on the PRDH-IGD website.

The Drouin Church Records Collection (i.e. Registres du Fonds Drouin)

Accessed through Ancestry.ca or GénéalogieQuébec websites on an AGS Edmonton Branch library computer.

The Drouin Church Records Collection is a collection of images of parish registers (baptisms, burials and marriages) as well as other documents. It covers all of Quebec and French Acadia as well as parts of Ontario, New Brunswick and the Northeastern United States. This massive collection contains almost the entirety of Quebec’s civil registry from 1621 to the 1940s (of all spiritual denominations), which encompasses most individuals who lived in the province during that period.

Marriages & Deaths in Québec Database

Accessed through MyHeritage or GénéalogieQuébec websites on an AGS Edmonton Branch library computer.

The Marriages and Deaths 1926-1997 tool is a detailed index of civil marriage and death forms recorded in Quebec between 1926 and 1997, all religious denominations included. This collection contains over 5 million files. Original documents can be viewed only for marriages; the death files are indexes.

Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec des origines à 1730 (Jetté Dictionary) by René Jetté
The Jetté Dictionary (published in 1983) draws up the genealogy of almost all the families established on the current territory of the province of Quebec from the beginning of the French establishment until 1730. 

The French Canadians 1600-1900: an alphabetized directory of the people, places and vital dates by Noel Montgomery Elliot
The French Canadians 1600-1900 (i.e. Les Canadiens-Français 1600-1900) is an alphabetized directory of the people, places and vital dates in 3 volumes. It has 468,000 name entries for French Canadians of Quebec and other parts of Canada, extracted from secondary sources covering the period 1600-1900. Not all the people who lived in Quebec during this time are included; only those found in the sources cited. Many of the early ancestors are undoubtedly missing. In fact, about 75% of all the entries are from the nineteenth century alone. Alphabetically arranged.  Entries may include name, occupation, year (which could be the year of birth, marriage or death or a year when the person was known to be living), place and a source code (each source code represents the secondary source where the information was obtained, and the codes are described in the back section of each volume).

Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes by Cyprien Tanguay
7 volumes, in book and microfilm form
The Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes is the work of Abbé Cyprien Tanguay. The dictionary, in 7 volumes, was produced between 1871 and 1891 for information from the beginning of the colony until 1763. The information in the Tanguay covers a longer period than the Jetté but is less reliable.