Quebec Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a list and description of localities. Many gazetteers include the jurisdictions for a locality (for example: county, province, census division). There are some helpful gazetteers for Québec.

Gazetteers for Modern Localities
A useful modern gazetteer is:

Répertoire toponymique du Québec (Geographic Names of Québec). Saint-Cyrille, Québec, Canada: Éditeur officiel du Québec, 1978. (FHL book 971.4 E5r 1978.) Text in French. Localities are listed alphabetically. For each locality, this book lists the canton (township) if applicable and the division de recensement (the census division which in this book is the county). It also gives coordinates of latitude and longitude. Sources in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog are usually listed by the counties and provinces given in this gazetteer.

The recent counties and provinces for many localities are listed in:

Schindler, Marc A. Administrative Atlas of Canada ; Volume 2, Québec. Gloucester, Ontario, Canada: Schindler-Spring Family Organization, 1987. (FHL book 971 E7sm v. 2; film 1750799 item 7.) A gazetteer in this volume lists major towns and the counties and townships they are in. There are also maps showing boundaries of the counties and townships.

Gazetteers for Localities Before 1900
An excellent source for localities and their counties in mid-19th century Québec is:

Lovell, John. Canadian Dominion Directory for 1871. Eight Volumes. Montreal, Canada: John Lovell, 1871. (FHL book 971.3 E4L; films 856124–25; fiche 6046766.) Gives the township and county of each community. This is important information when you search census records, land and property records, local histories, and other records.

An appendix in the following directory gives more old place-names and their counties:

Elliot, Noel Montgomery. The French Canadians 1600–1900: An Alphabetized Directory of the People, Places and Vital Dates. Three Volumes. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Genealogical Research Library, 1992. (FHL book 971 D22f.)