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If you want information about
your French-Canadian ancestry, don't go away - you're at the right place
- especially those who were married in the State of Maine.
It comes as a pleasant surprise to descendants
of French-Canadians when they discover the true extent of the records kept
by the Church and civil authorities in Quebec almost since the beginning
of the first settlements in the early 1600s. For almost all persons who
lived in Quebec since that time, records exist for baptisms, marriages,
and deaths except for the occasional rare case when records of a parish
or town were accidentally destroyed by a fire, flood or by deterioration
due to poor storage conditions. Most of these records have been microfilmed
and can be viewed at several places, including the National Archives at
Laval University in Quebec, in Montreal, at some genealogical society libraries
in Canada, at the Mormon's genealogical library in Salt Lake City, UT,
or at any Mormon Stake in the US via a film loan from their main library
for a small fee. Most of the marriage records of the Catholic Church in
Quebec have been published and many of these volumes are available at genealogical
societies in both the US and Canada as well as at various State libraries
such as the one in Augusta, Maine. As far as completeness, the genealogical
records of the French-Canadians are second-to-none in the world. If you
want to find out about your personal French-Canadian ancestry, go to the
"How to Begin" page below.
Over the past 10 years I have compiled computer
listings of most Maine and many New Hampshire marriages of French-Canadians/Acadians
consisting of over 700 different surnames. About 90% of these brides and/or
grooms are traceable through Quebec or the Maritime Provinces of Canada
back to early 17th century France. The compilation has about 250,000 marriages
dating from as early as the mid-1500's in France up to the present in many
cases. Due to it's size and the amount of work invested in it, I cannot
publish it on the Internet.
ABOUT THIS WEB SITE
This web site currently consists of 87 web pages
(including sub-pages) of information on genealogy, related subjects, history
and links and uses 10 megabytes of disk space. You would need over 500
regular 8-1/2 by 11 inch sheets of paper if you wanted to print out all
the pages of information, charts and photographs at this web site. The
Halde Cemetery web pages alone total about 60 typewritten pages. Each subject
page is listed alphabetically by category in the TABLE shown below. A short
introduction about each page is directly below the table. Pages you have
visited will change from a light blue to a dark blue (unless my background
or your color preferences are different). Like some other web pages at
this site, the French Surnames web page actually consists of four (4) subpages
divided alphabetically. You can navigate between the subpages by clicking
on the arrows at the bottom of each page. If you have sound with your computer,
you will find that many of these web pages have music. I have used an HTML
code for the music files that will create a MIDI control panel on the page
that should allow you to turn the music on or off as you wish. Also, there
are no advertisements, no commercial banners and no transfers to other
pages or web sites. It is provided to you at my own expense and personal
work (with the exception of a couple articles). Some have called it a "labor
of love" on Franco-American genealogy. ENJOY!
Beauce county,
Quebec birth & death records 1738-1876 now available on CD-ROMS
Dictionnaire Genealogique de Madawaska
(an updated version now available on CD or hard copy)
YES, STILL IN PROGRESS (patience is a virtue):
Corrections & Additions: to the marriage
catalogues of the Catholic parishes in the following towns: Biddeford (St.Joseph
& St.Mary), Jay/Chisholm, Lewiston (all 4), Lisbon, Mexico, Old Orchard
Beach, Rumford (St.John), Winthrop.
NOTE: All NEW
or recent articles/web pages may only be initially accessible from the
INDEX below.
CLICK on any link
below to view that web page
Brief Description of the Main
Contents
18+-Generation PEDIGREE: An 18 generation
pedigree of my children. Provides an excellent example of how much information
there is for people of French-Canadian ancestry, how to prepare a pedigree
using the Ahnentafel numbering system (used also in 4, 5 or 6 generation
charts), and will provide many readers with useful genealogical information
on some of their early ancestors. In two parts, this is now essentially
complete.
1840 Waterville census: Parts I and II.
The French-Canadian families that appear in the 1840 US census of Waterville,
Maine. The method used to identify the individuals and the marriages of
their children in Part II.
Anglicized Surnames: over 600 different
French surnames that were Anglicized
Chenard Genealogy: the known marriages
of Chenards in Maine and New Hampshire linked to their original
French immigrant; also some
old family pictures from one branch of this family.
Chenard fmilies of North America: All
the known marriages of Chenards in the US and Canada are listed in a GEDCOM-like
file and over 99% are traced to the original French ancestor.
Catholic Churches: two tables containing
all the major Catholic parishes in Maine listing their name, date founded,
address, ZIP code, and county
all listed alphabetically by their town location.
Céline Dion: A page dedicated to
my favorite pop singer and a distant cousin of mine, includes some photos,
her Dion/Guyon lineage and one of her
songs in MIDI format.
Civil War Veterans: an alphabetical list
of all the known French-Canadians from Waterville who served in this
conflict. It also gives some
biographical information on many of them.
Corrections & Additions: to the marriage
catalogues of the Catholic parishes in the following towns: Auburn (all
three), Augusta (St.Augustine), Biddeford (St.Andre), Brunswick (both),
Jackman and Madison, Saco (both), Sanford (both), Skowhegan and Bingham,
So.Berwick, Berwick, and Springvale, Waterville (ND & SH), Westbrook
(both). IF YOU KNOW OF OTHER MAJOR ERRORS, PLEASE E-MAIL
ME WITH THE PARTICULARS AND I WILL ADD IT TO THESE PAGES. (added June 1,
1999)
Corrections & Additions: to the Dictionnaire
Généalogique de Madawaska (includes all the parishes of the
diocese of Madawaska, NB which includes all of northern Aroostook county,
Maine. (added 21 Aug 1999)
Dictionnaire Généalogique de
Madawaska: An updated version of this large genealogical work is now
available in book form or CD.
Family Associations: A list of French-Canadian/Acadian
Family Surname Associations, with their snail-mail addresses. ADD
YOUR FAMILY ASSOCIATION BY E-MAILING IT TO ME. (added
March 27, 1999)
Family Reunions: attached at the bottom
of Josée's page are some forthcoming family reunions.
Franco-Americans of the State of Maine:
A 1915 "Who's Who" of Maine Franco-American business men and professionals.
Original volume contains short biographies and many photos.
French-Canadians of Waterville(WTVL):
A historical perspective on the early French-Canadian immigrants.
French Surnames: a four-part table listing
nearly every French-Canadian name in Maine. Many of the surnames
in these tables contain one
or more links to web sites that concern some of these names (underlined
ones are links).
Genealogical Books of Maine: Father Youville
Labonte's numerous catalogs (répertoires) of Maine Catholic parish
marriage records may be purchased directly from him.
Genealogical Resources for Quebec: A list
of all published major French-Canadian genealogical reference works, microfilm
and microfiche records, and CD-ROMs.
Genealogy Links: a listing of general
and special genealogy links by category or region.
Genealogy Information: for those who seek
help or assistance with their French ancestral research.
Giroux Genealogy: the known marriages
of Giroux in Maine and New Hampshire linked to their original
French immigrant; also some
old family pictures from one branch of this family.
Given Names in French, English and some
other languages for men and women. Did you know Jacques in French means
James in English or that Thomas in French can be Damase and William can
be Guillaume? Find them all here.
Halde Cemetery: all the information published
about this cemetery in a 1995 booklet is presented here in five (5)
parts. The introductory page
is also in French.
History of Waterville: a chronological
capsule history of Waterville up to 1904. Includes some photos.
How to Begin: useful tips on how to begin
your own family genealogy research.
Ils se souviennent: The quiet presence
of New England's Franco-Americans by Michael Kenney of the Boston Globe
- a 21 October 1999 newspaper article of interest to Franco-Americans of
New England.
Josée Vachon: Popular New England
French folksinger and TV personality.
King's Daughters: also known in French
as "Les Filles du Roi" gives as brief introduction to these 17th century
ladies to whom all pre-19th
century French-Canadians are descendants of several of them.
Madonna: A web page dedicated to my 8th
cousin, Madonna, which gives her French-Canadian Fortin lineage connecting
to my Fortin ancestor.
Old Town Update: an update to the volume
"St. Joseph of Old Town, Maine" giving those who have a copy of
this book all new findings,
corrections, and additions.
Old Canada Road: An index of the French-Canadians
who migrated to Central Maine via the Old Canada Road prior to 1860 --
their towns of origin in Quebec; when and where they settled in Maine.
Origins: Towns of origin of our early
French-Canadian ancestor immigrants with maps. Many other useful files
such
as hundreds of the first immigrants to Quebec,
various maps of France at different periods, and other interesting facts.
St. Francis History: an unabridged history
(and pre-history) of St. Francis de Sales parish of Waterville, Maine.
Includes numerous photos,
a listing of pastors and assistants, some observations, and a bibliography.
St. Francis Update: an update to the three
(3) volume set of books on this parish for those who have these.
The Acadians: A brief history of the Acadians
- who they were, where they lived, their expulsion from their own homes
and land, and then scattered.
The Celts: Traces the Franco-Americans
genetically through history to pre-history and from Canada to ancient Europe.
Town Records Pre-1892: French-Canadian
marriage records from pre-1892 Maine town registers of Frenchville,
Fort Fairfield, Houlton, Presque Isle, Wallagrass, Winn and Winthrop.
Author & Webmaster
Check back regularly as I am always adding
new stuff.
Over
129,000 page hits in 2001
This
web site was initially launched on December 15, 1997
For those of you who would like to add a link to this web site on your
web site, please use the
small version of THE FRENCH CONNECTION's banner below and insert
the following link
to the banner: http://home.roadrunner.com/~frenchcx/
Thank you.
Special thanks to Mr. Roland
Grenier, former v.p. of SGQ
who translated this page into French.
This web site was one of the
highlighted Franco-American genealogy
web sites in Family Chronicle magazine issue
dated Jan-Feb 2004.
Also go to: Argus'
top genealogy sites
This web site is listed at
languages-on-the-web
for Canadian French
http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/gfaol/bsp.htm
In 1999, this web site was listed as the 25th
of the top 100 genealogy web sites on the Internet.
Mind-it is your personal web assistant.
Is there a web page you visit
here or at another web site to stay informed of changes to information
and content?
Mind-it will watch this page
for you and will automatically e-mail you whenever relevant changes occur.
Click on my e-mail link above (frog-mail)
to send me a genealogy query.
Green is the color of "la crapotte"
(old Maine French) & grenouille (real French). Un crapaud is a toad
- close enough!
(Joined 5/6/98)
Webmaster: Bob Chenard
EXCEPT BY PERMISSION,
REPRODUCTION OF ANY ARTICLES AT THIS WEB SITE
THAT WERE WRITTEN
BY THE AUTHOR OR WEBMASTER IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.
HOWEVER, COPYING FOR
PERSONAL USE IS GRANTED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
NAMES, DATES AND PLACES
IN RECORDS ARE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
This page revised November 2007
