Canada, Quebec, Quebec Judicial District, Guardianships - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada Quebec

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes guardianship records from 1639 to 1930.

This collection contains images and indexes of guardianship records. Québec notarial records are written in French. In Québec, notaires or notaries have registered contracts since 1626, including guardianships and other probate records. Guardianship papers or tutelle et curatelle, are records about orphans and the conservation of their property. Each document in a notary's minutes gives at least the name of the notary, the date and place the document was prepared, the names and addresses of the persons involved, and the names and addresses of the witnesses. The ages and relationships of the witnesses and the persons involved are sometimes included.

The persons involved in the contracts received the originals, the notaries kept copies. Notarial records are usually listed by the name of the notary and the dates he functioned. They are not normally indexed by the names of the persons involved in the contract. Notarial records are first sent to the judicial archives, but they are eventually deposited in the branches of the National Archive of Québec. Notarial records (actes notariés or minutes de notaire) are records prepared by a notary (notaire or protonotaire, but sometimes tabellion or scrivener). Notaries are important officials in Quebec, Louisiana, France, and other countries where a civil code based on Roman law is in force. Among other matters, notarial records deal with estates and inheritances. They are somewhat equivalent to probate records of North American states and provinces outside Louisiana and Quebec, but they include more document types.

More information about this collection is in the Quebec Notarial Records or Canada Notarial Records article.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Guardianship records may contain the following information:


 * Name of the deceased
 * Names of children of the deceased
 * Names of other relatives of the deceased
 * Information about the guardian(s) of the children
 * Ages and relationships of witnesses

How Do I Search the Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The name of a relative or date of the event

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select Record Type
 * 2) Select Year Range and File Number Range

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Make sure you've read the record correctly and that you have extracted all names and relations from the record. Use these resources to help:
 * French Wordlist, France Language and Languages, Quebec Genealogy, Quebec Names, Personal
 * Use the ages to calculate the year of birth and to find other records such as birth, christening, marriage, land and death records.
 * Use the children listed on the guardianship record will help you locate the family in the Canadian Census collection.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name, especially French versions.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Quebec, Canada Genealogy.
 * Search in the Quebec Archives and Libraries.
 * Search in the FamilySearch Library Catalog

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

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