Catholic Genealogy

For people studying Catholic genealogy or Catholic church records
  • Craig Manson

    Catholic Records on FamilySearch.org's Record Search:

    Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Parish Records, 1729-1956 [Browse images only]
    Ohio, Diocese of Toledo, Parish Records, 1796-2004 [Browse images only]
    Quebec Parish Registers, 1621-1900 [Browse images only]
    Aguascalientes (Mexico) Churhc Records, 1616-1961 [Browse images only]
    Baja California and Baja California Sur Catholic Records, 1750-1983 [Browse images only]
    Campeche Catholic Records, 1638-1944[Browse images only]
    Chihuahua atholic Records, 1622-1956 [Browse images only]
    Coahuila Catholic Records, 1627-1978 [Browse images only]
    Colima Catholic Records, 1707-1969 [Browse images only]
  • Craig Manson

    The new logo you see on our group page was designed by our very good friend, footnoteMaven, an extraordinarily talented lady. She was put on the case by Donna Pointkouski. The log is a rendering of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) who was Bishop of Geneva and prolific spiritual author. He is the patron saint of journalists and writers. He is also venerated in the Church of England and the Church of Wales.

    What do you think of the logo? (I like it. When you need a logo, you now know which Lutheran to ask!).
  • James P. LaLone

    Suzanne Sommerville from the French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan on their mailing list has presented a nice summery of the records of Ste-Anne’s church in Detroit, MI that are available on film or the internet.

    The digital images for Ste. Anne de Detroit appear in several files in the Drouin Collection at ancestry.ca and ancestry.com You have to know what you are looking at.

    If you want the earliest surviving original records, here is where they are:
    > Early U.S. French Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1695-1954 > D > Détroit, Ste-Anne; Autres Registres > 1704-1744 [Autres Registres means Other Registers]

    >Early U.S. French Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1695-1954 > D > Détroit, Ste-Anne > 1702-1780
    Image 16 is June 1744 and the set ends with one for 1781. Note: I do not know why this set was identified as beginning in 1702.

    > Early U.S. French Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1695-1954 > D > Détroit, Ste-Anne > 1704-1780
    This one goes, actually, to 1760.

    The latter one is A TRANSCRIPTION, someone's handwritten copy of the original records. I call it the Drouin transcription to distinguish it from another one in a different handwriting created by a Mr. Prudhomme at the end of the 19th century, which is available from the Family History Library on microfilm #1026602, and is the FHL microfilm is the one Richard is currently using.

    To my knowledge, this Prudhomme transcription is not included among the Québec Church Registers available from either Ancestry or at the Family Search Pilot site, although I did notice the St. Joseph (Niles, Michigan) records there under both St-Joseph and also Berrien County, Michigan. Drouin also has original images from St. Joseph, but its files for Michilimackinac are a handwritten TRANSCRIPTION and images from the printed published transcription.

    The Family Search Pilot site records are NOT the same, most of the time, as the Drouin Collection. Family Search did its microfilming in the 1970s from CHURCH copies. Drouin did its filming from the CIVIL copies by about the 1940s. There is some overlapping for the earliest records.

    Family Search records stop in the mid-1800s; Drouin has some records to 1940s. You will also find TRANSCRIPTIONS among these records both to replace missing originals or to supplement them. Again, you have to know what you are looking at. Check the beginning images of each set of documents for information about the source.

    I began my study with the Prudhomme microfilmed transcription of the Ste. Anne de Detroit registers, followed very soon after with the microfilms of the originals as they were at that time in the Burton Library, Detroit Public Library. I later had access to the Drouin transcription.

    BOTH transcriptions of the Ste. Anne de Detroit registers have errors in reading, some of which I have identified in my articles for Michigan's Habitant Heritage.
  • Ellen M (Procopio) Kramer

    Beautiful logo!
  • James P. LaLone

    Found the following article browsing through FAMILIES, pub. by the Ontario Genealogical Society, v.48 #4 (Nov 2009), p.17 "Following the Paths of the Early Catholic Priests in Haldimand County" by Sylvia Weaver & Dan Walker. May be of interest to some.
  • James P. LaLone

  • James P. LaLone

  • James P. LaLone

    The LDS (FamilySearch.org) has released the Ontario Catholic Parish Records on their website.  See:

    https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-24494-12670-27?cc=192... .

    for the list of counties covered.  You can access these records by clicking on the county, then the town or city, and then the parish.

    If the link above does not work, go to www.familysearch.org, under browse by location, choose Canada, choose, Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records 1760-1923, and then, browse by location, which leads you to the list of counties.

    The records released are images from the microfilms that have been available for rent or are on permanent loan at the LDS/FamilySearch centers. 

    Although these records are not indexed, the image quality is often better than those found in the Drouin collection from Ancestry.com.

  • James P. LaLone

    FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE (Mar/Apr 2012 issue) has an article on researching Catholic ancestors.

  • James P. LaLone

  • James P. LaLone

  • James P. LaLone

    Did I miss out on something, did everyone die? While you all may be interested in Catholic research, none of you appear to be Christian (nor a good genealogist) and share.  Anyway of possible interest - http://md2ky.com/?p=43

  • Dusty W Otero

    How  you doing  James p   I  am  a  new  member   and  I  live  in  san  juan  capistrano   

  • James P. LaLone

    So Dusty, why did you join this group? Who/what are you researching?

    These groups on the internet are getting me down. Tons of people join then do nothing, just sit there expecting a miracle of someone posting their genealogy even though they don't post names or anything. Genealogy is about sharing, comparing, interviewing, researching, analyzing, reading, studying and writing.

  • Dusty W Otero

    I  joined  the  group to confirm  my  native  american  blood  line   ,,  and  last  night  I  found  everything  I  needed to  complete    the  pedigree  chart    thanks,,

  • Dusty W Otero

    I  have  to  go  to  work   have  a  nice  day  James...Albert%20Einstein.jpg

  • James P. LaLone

  • James P. LaLone

  • James P. LaLone

  • James P. LaLone

  • James P. LaLone