Canada, Quebec Catholic Parish Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

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Collection Time Period
Priests maintained parish registers from 1621, when the French settled Quebec, to the present.

Record History
Between 1679 and 1993, priests were required to make two copies of all baptisms, marriages, and burials. The second copy was sent to civil authorities, and these are found in civil archives. In 1796 churches were required to index their registers. Prior to 1800, about 50 given names were used for 70 percent of the children. Further, most French Canadians descend from a small group of immigrants, so the population shares only a few thousand family names.

Why this Record Was Created
1960 church registration of baptisms, marriages, and burials served as a means to register civilly and thereby provide legal proof of the life events.

Record Reliability
While the form and content of the entries vary somewhat, the general quality of the records is excellent

Record Description
The great majority of registers have been well preserved by both Church and state institutions. A few have been destroyed by fire. Because the registers were made in duplicate, a copy may exist even if one was destroyed. Some of the information in the registers has been published. The earliest, covering events through 1760 and including information from records that no longer exist, is Cyprien Tanguay's “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes” (“Genealogical Dictionary of French Canadian Families”). The dictionary is available at http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/dicoGenealogie/ A supplement volume is J. Arthur Leboeuf’s “Complément au Dictionnaire Tanguay” (“Supplement to Tanguay’s Dictionary”), which is still in print.

Record Content
Baptismal entries contain:


 * Names of child, parents, and godparents
 * Names of parents (women are listed by maiden name)
 * Relationship of the godparents to the parents
 * Date of birth and baptism
 * Parish of baptism and residence
 * Later records include the parents’ marriage date and place

Marriage entries contain:


 * Names of the bride, groom, parents of each, and witnesses (women are listed by maiden name)
 * Relationship of the witnesses to the parents
 * Marriage date
 * Marriage place
 * Later records include the parents’ marriage place, if it differs from the marriage place of the couple

Burial entries contain:


 * Names of the deceased and spouse (women are listed by maiden name). Parents are usually listed if the deceased is an unmarried child.
 * Date of death and burial.
 * Parish of death and burial.
 * The death is recorded in the parish where the funeral took place.

How to Use the Record
Roman Catholic parish registers are the most accurate and helpful of all the French Canadian genealogical sources for identifying individuals, parents, and spouses and for tracing ancestry as well as descent.

Related Websites
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Sources of This Collection
Microfilms of these registers are also available at many archives and libraries in Canada and in the northeastern and midwestern United States.

How to Cite Your Sources
Instructions for citing this source can be found at: Cite Your Sources (Source Footnotes)