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I've been researching my family history for more than 30 years. My Canadian research has been limited to Ontario, primarily the Hamilton-Wentworth area. By no means am I an expert but I'm pretty familiar with what type of records are available to anyone researchig in this area.

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Below is a handout I use from my talk on basic F-C research (since I live in Michigan there is some stuff for that also). If your library doesn have the books mentioned, get them on interlibrary loan.

BASIC FRENCH-CANADIAN GENEALOGY RESEARCH
compiled by James P. LaLone
rev. April 2010

HOW TO:
RESEARCHER’S GUIDE TO AMERICAN GENEALOGY by Val Greenwood to learn the
fundamentals, terminology and basic references common to all researchers.
2) THE CANADIAN GENEALOGICAL HANDBOOK by Eric Jonasson
3) TRACING YOUR CANADIAN ROOTS by Angus Baxter
4) GENEALOGICAL READER: NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES AND CANADA, by N.E. Wright
5) TRACING YOUR ANCESTORS IN CANADA by P. Kennedy, J.M. LeBlanc & J. Roy
6) A CANADIAN DIRECTORY FOR GENEALOGISTS, by Louise St. Denis
7) LINKS TO YOUR CANADIAN PAST: v.1-Acadia & the Maritimes; v.2 Quebec; v.3 Ontario & Western Provinces
8) FRENCH-CANADIAN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH by John DuLong
9) SEARCHING IN FRENCH-CANADIAN RECORDS by Anita & John Coderre
10) FINDING YOUR FRENCH-CANADIAN ANCESTORS by Louise St-Denis
11) BEGINNING FRANCO-AMERICAN GENEALOGY by Rev. Dennis M. Boudreau
12) MILLER'S MANUAL by Douglas Miller
13) SEARCHING THROUGH THE OLD RECORDS OF NEW FRANCE, trans. by Armand H. Demers, Jr.
14) FRENCH & FRENCH-CANADIAN RESEARCH by J. Konrad
15) GENEALOGY: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, QUEBEC, VOL. 1, by C.A.S. Lewis, 1978
16) A GUIDE TO QUEBEC VITAL RECORDS, by Patricia Gee
17) FRENCH-CANADIAN SOURCES: A GUIDE FOR GENEALOGISTS by Patricia Keeney Geyh, Joyce Soltis Banachowski, Linda K. Boyea, et al.

ARTICLES:
Auger, Roland-J., "Genealogy in French Canada" in French-Canadian and Acadian Genealogical Review, vol.1, #1, Spring, 1968.
" " , "Tracing Ancestors Through the Province of Quebec and Acadia to Their Place of Origin in France" in French-Canadian and Acadian Genealogical Review, v.2, #4, Winter 1979, p.259.
Bourgeois, Marielle A. V.,”Who are the Acadians?” in Heritage Quest, Sep/Oct 2003, v.19, #5, pp.98-105.
“ “ “ “ , “Choosing Between Fountains: Area Oriented Name Research” in Heritage Quest, April 2004, v.20, #2, pp.96-102.
“ “ “ “., “A New Life in the Louisiana Wilderness: The Cajuns”, in Heritage Quest, Jun 2004, v.20, #3, pp.82-89.
“ “ “ “ , “A Search for Canadian Roots: Acadian Ancestry” in Heritage Quest,
Winter 2004/2005, v.20, #4, pp.100-104.
“ “ “ “ , “From France With Love: Les Filles du Roi – The Daughters of the King” in Heritage Quest, Spring 2005, v.21, #1, pp.96-101.
Chaput, Donald, "French Canadian Family Research" in Family Trails, v.1 #4, Summer 1978, p.3.
Dreifus, Erika, “French Connections: Twenty-one Homes for Franco-American Heritage”, in Family Chronicle, Feb. 2004, v.8 #3, pp.23-25.
Gee, Patricia F., "Ambitious Priest Indexed Quebec's Parish Registers" in Tri-State Trader, Oct. 6, 1979.
" " , "Quebec is Blessed With Thorough Records" in Tri-State Trader, September 29, 1979.
Harmon, J.F., "Familial Healdry in French Canada" in The Coat of Arms, v.5, #38, 1959.
Lapointe, Elizabeth, “A Research Guide to Finding Canadians in Canada” in Everton’s Genealogical Helper, March/April 2007, pp.84-88.
Nickerson, Janice, “Twenty-five Websites for Canadian Genealogy” in Family Chronicle, Jun 2004, v.8, #5, pp. 14-17.
Ouimette, David, “Tracing Your French-Canadian Ancestry” in Ancestry, Nov/Dec 2002, v.20 #6, pp.34-41.
Patterson, Gwen “Researching the Original Personnel of the Establishments, Penetanguishene” in Families, v. 27 #2 (1988), p.66.
Sperry, Kip, "Quebec Sources Include Valuable Marriage Index" in Tri-State Trader, February 9, 1974.
Stanford, Xenia, “French-Canadian Roots” in Family Chronicle, Jan/Feb 2001, v.5 #3, p.13.
Taylor, Maureen A., “Tour de New France” in Family Tree Magazine, Jun 2006, v.7 #3 , p.62.
Wohler, Patrick, “French-Canadian Church Records” in Family Chronicle, May/June 2006, v.10, #5, pp.39-40.

BIBLIOGRAPHIES
:
17) BIBLIOGRAPHIE DE L'HISTOIRE DU QUEBEC ET DU CANADA/BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE HISTORY OF QUEBEC AND CANADA, 1946-1965, 2 vols. 1st series, by Paul Aubin & Louis-Marie Côté.


COMPILED GENEALOGIES/BIOGRAPHIES/HISTORY:
18) DICTIONNAIRE GENEALOGIQUE DES FAMILLES CANADIENNES by Fr. Cyprien Tanguay
19) DICTIONNAIRE GENEALOGIQUE DES FAMILLES DU QUEBEC DES ORIGINES A 1730 by Rene Jette
20) GENEALOGY OF THE FRENCH FAMILIES OF THE DETROIT RIVER REGION, 1701-1936 (revised) by Fr. C. Denissen, as well as Michigan History Magazine and the Michigan Pioneer & Historical Collection.
21) WISCONSIN'S EARLY FRENCH HABITANTS by Jo B. Alderson & Kate A. Rennert.
22) THE WISCONSIN CREOLES by Les Rentmeester
23) ONE HUNDRED FRENCH-CANADIAN FAMILY HISTORIES by Phillip J. Moore
24) THE GOOD REGIMENT by Jack Verney covers the Carignan-Saliéres Regiment.
25) THE KING'S DAUGHTERS by Joy Reisinger & Elmer Courteau
26) THE PENETANGUISHENE LIST OF THE DRUMMOND ISLANDERS 1815-1828, by Bryan Gridley & Gwen Patterson.
27) METIS FAMILIES: A GENEALOGICAL COMPENDIUM, by Gail Morin (Primarily western Canadian Plains families, but some have origins back in Michigan & Quebec)

Historical data on the immigrant French-Canadian ancestor to Quebec can be obtained from reading the series edited by Tom LaForest titled 28) OUR FRENCH-CANADIAN ANCESTORS. Another excellent book containing a history of early Quebec and its social life as well as mentioning many of our immigrant ancestors is 29) THE WHITE AND THE GOLD by Thomas Costain. 30) DAILY LIFE IN EARLY CANADA FROM CHAMPLAIN TO MONTCALM by Raymond Douville & Jacques-Donat Casanova also mentions a number of the early immigrant ancestors.


LOCATIONS:
Quebec-
31) DICTIONNAIRE HISTORIQUE ET GEOGRAPHIQUE DES PAROISSES, MISSIONS ET MUNICIPALITIES DE LA PROVINCE DE QUEBEC, by Hormisdas Magnan, 1925.
32) A TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF THE PROVINCE OF LOWER CANADA, by Joseph Bouchette, 1832.
33) GUIDE TO QUEBEC CATHOLIC PARISHES AND PUBLISHED PARISH MARRIAGE RECORDS, by Jeanne S. White, 1993.
34) MICHIGAN PLACE NAMES, by Walter Romig, 1986.
35) INDIAN NAMES IN MICHIGAN, by Virgil J. Vogel, 1986.

WEB SITES:
General-
http://www.cyndislist.com/

Query forums-
http://boards.ancestry.com/
topic, location & surname message/query boards – under topics go to browse all topics, then click on Ethnic/Race, under that category there is Acadian/Cajun. There is also Native American, click that, then go to Intertribal & click then go to Intermarriage for Metis queries. Also under Native Americans you can click on Nations and the category Metis can be found.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/
GenForum also has topics, locations & surnames message/query forums.

Acadian/Cajun-
http://www.acadian.org/resrch.html (this paticular page lists researchers & organizations for surname specialists of French-Candian & Acadian names)
http://www.cyndislist.com/acadian.htm

French-Canadian/Quebec-

http://www.habitant.org/ (has a mailing list - see archives for surname websites)
http://www.cyndislist.com/quebec.htm
http://www.islandnet.com/~jveinot/cghl/quebec.html
http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/dicoGenealogie/ (Tanguay Dict.)

http://www.fillesduroi.org/
Kings’ Daughters & Carignan Regiment, plus other resources & links.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~canqc/ressources.htm
http://www.biographi.ca/index-e.html (Dictionary of Canadian Biography)
http://www.francogene.com/

Publications-
http://www.quintinpublications.com/catalog.html

Metis-
http://www.cyndislist.com/peoples.htm#Metis
I just found a probable ancestor that died in Hamilton-Wentworth in 1915, so am trying to gather more information on her, got death registration info, now need to kow where do you get the actual records, also what else might be available, she apparently went to live with a daughter there sometime after her husband passed away in Moncton in 1893.
My research is in Newfoundland. My mother from Codroy. Lines are Eustace in Torbay, Pouch Cove, and Gallop in Fortune and Codroy.
Back to James Eustace and Grace Cox in 1777. William Gallop and Mary Kearley in Fortune before 1779.. Other names are Williams,Evans, Bidgood, Chafe, Goss
My father's family from Rose Blanche, La Poile, Burgeo and possibly to St, Pierre and Micquelon and the Treaty of Utrecth. Anderson, Rose,Hayward, Giles.
Pat, in Michigan
Onatrio. It's my understanding that both my Mom's and Dad's families came to the US by way of Canada.
Haven't had time yet to read thru all the posts but my research is primarily in Ontario as well....an arc shape from Niagara thru to newmarket and then into toronto......I also have family who homesteaded in Manitoba for a number of years and also Alberta
I am researching my family in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. I also have limited family in Ontario.
Looking for: Bordeau and Hickey. My understanding is that the Hickeys came as part of an emigration scheme to move some of the destitute Irish elsewhere during/after the Potato Famine. I have a whole book about it, but can I find it? no.... of course not... ;)

But it was one of the ships that Peter Robinson sponsored, from Cork, the settlements were in Peterboro.

I found this link, but couldn't find any listings for Hickey. There were 9 ships one year, but I think there were ships the following year.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ote/ships/regulus.htm?cj=1&o_...
Hi, I'm searching the Nova Scotia area, primarily Gays River and Colchester County for the following names

George MOORE born in circa 1808. Married Elizabeth FRAME born circa 1813 Farmed in the Gays River area.
sons were

Samuel MOORE born 14 Mar 1839 in Nova Scotia married to Marry Isobel MACPHEE born 14 Jun 1844 in Scotland
David MOORE 1853 Nova Scotia married Evangline Elizabeth SINCLAIR born in Gays River.

I have found all kinds of records for Samuel and Mary Isobell and few for David. There are birth death and marriage records for all their children.

The one's I'm having trouble finding are George and Elizabeth. They are mentioned on Samuel and Mary's marriage records, but I can't seem to find any records of them. Colchester Co history lists a George and Elizabeth Moore among the first settlers of Gays River in 1780. Also s land grant for a George Moore in Apr 1806, and one for a Elizabeth Moore Feb 1812, and one for a Samuel Moore in the same date. Problem is it's before my Geroge and Elizabeth births. Would love to be able to prove this Samuel was my Georges father, and his father the other George.

Our family lore does have stories of us being with the first group of settlers. So far though I have dis-proven more family lore than proven any of it, LOL. I suppose that is how it normally works.
I'm also researching in New Brunswick HIllsboro, Lower Steiwecki, Nine Mile River, Truro for

Thomas PITT born 1816, Married to Marry Anne SPENCER born Apr 1839. Thomas was a farmer, and later a Mariner. I have n idea who their parents were, or weather they came from England or the Colonies. This information was gained from marriage birth and death records of their numerous children and census records of New Brunswick

Ellen, Pricilla, Andrew, William, Matilda, Michael-Thomas, Malcome-Mcleod, Mary-Ann, Henrietta, Lilyostena, Joeseph, Alexander-Michael, and my great grandfather, Robert Dyken PITT who married Ida May TERRIS.

I have tons of information on the TERRIS / TRERICE family if anyone needs it.
I'm searching in Manitoba for my dads Birth parents. According to his baptism record his Father was John Sivinski who was born in Pine Falls, his mother was Ethel Stevens no mention of birth place, but I according to the information I have been able to obtain, she was born in England. I do not believe however that Ethel and John were married, well not to each other, this being based on what my father can remember being told and I have yet to find any record of the marriage.
My dad's birth name is Ronald Eric Sivinski, he was born April 24, 1927 in Pine Falls Manitoba, adoption was final in 1933 in Ontario. According to dads baptism record, he was Baptized in 1929 and at that time in the care of Harry and Lillian Hirst, who later adopted him. It took me over 30 years to find his birth parents names, and now I'm stuck as I have no dates to work with ....Any Ideas?
Searching the history of the Bridgeman Family who emigrated to Montreal Approx 1834. I have 3 copies of letters sent from 947 St Catherine Street Montreal to my great grandmother from her relatives dated 1874 1876 1884 and they owned several properties around Montreal John Bridgeman was christened in Bulkworthy Devon in 1801 and emigrated to Canada in 1834 he married a lady named Gill ? from Lyonkley Barton in the us they had 3 boys and three girls But only 2 children survived called George Bridgeman and mary ann bridgeman any help i would be very grateful Jeffcooper747@yahoo.co.uk
I have decided to take another swing at one of my brick walls. Gilbert Merritt was born 12 Jan 1790 in Annapolis Nova Scotia. He was likely the son of John Merritt UE and his wife Lucy. Gilbert married Lucy Westcott, daughter of Thomas Westcott Sr. and Chloe Carpenter in 1811. About 1828 Gilbert and Lucy and their children came to Elgin County Ontario. Also coming with them were Abel and Mary Merritt. Abel was likely a brother of Gilbert's. Gilbert and Abel got land in Bayham Twp. Elgin County but Gilbert then moved to Kent County. Abel died in 1850 leaving a widow and a son, George Sutherland Merritt. Abel's widow Mary married Samuel Anderson, whose first wife was Chloe Merritt, oldest daughter of Gilbert and Lucy. Some records indicate that Mary's maiden name was Cartwright, however George Sutherland Merritt's first wife's maiden name was Cartwright so this info may be incorrect. Also coming to Ontario was Mary Merritt, born Nova Scotia, who married Abram Nichols in 1832 in Yarmouth Twp. After years of searching we have not been able to prove definitively who Mary's parents were. Many researchers assume that she was the daughter of Gilbert and Lucy but I have come to the conclusion she was not. Gilbert's will makes no mention of her and Lucy's obit lists 3 surviving children, all 3 of whom are accounted for. I have discovered John and Lucy Merritt of Digby Nova Scotia had at least 7 children born between 1790 and 1810. I am wondering if Mary Merritt Nichols born circa 1813 was actually their youngest daughter. So it's back to the drawing board. Any suggestions or help appreciated.

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