Canada, Quebec Index to Civil Copy of Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada Quebec

What is in this Collection?
This article describes two collections. One is the civil copy of Quebec church records. The other contains images of the original indexes of those same vital records. Both cover the years 1642-1900. Records after 1902 are not currently available due to privacy laws.

These collections are a copy of baptism, marriage, and burial records which were sent to the civil government. Up until 1994, the Quebec government did not keep its own separate vital records. Therefore, churches were required to send copies of their records to the government archives. These are those civil copies. Both Catholic and Protestant churches are included.

These records are in French. For help with reading the records, see the following resources:
 * French Word List
 * Quebec Language and Languages
 * French Handwriting Help

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Index records may contain the following information:
 * Names of those involved with event (usually sorted alphabetically by last name)
 * Date of event
 * Place of event
 * Where to find the original record (volume and folder, etc.)

Baptism records may contain the following information:
 * Birth date and/or baptism date
 * Name at birth
 * Parents’ names
 * Names and relationships of witnesses

Marriage records may contain the following information:
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Birth dates and/or ages of bridge and groom
 * Date of marriage
 * Parents’ names

Burial records may contain the following information:
 * Date of death and/or burial
 * Name of deceased
 * Location of grave
 * Cause of death

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of the birth, marriage or death event for your ancestor.
 * The place where the event occurred.
 * The names of family members and their relationships.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: ⇒Select “Browse through images” on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate “Denomination” ⇒Select the appropriate “County and City or Town” ⇒Select the appropriate “Record Type” ⇒Select the appropriate “Name Range, Year Range and Archival Number" which takes you to the images

Look at each image, comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Keep in mind that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name or your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life. You may also need to search in nearby parishes or other denominations.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s church record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * If the ancestor was Catholic, you may be able to find their original entry in the Quebec Catholic Registers collection online. Images are included as well as an index.
 * If the ancestor was Protestant, or Non-Catholic, you may be able to find their original entry in the Quebec Non-Catholic Registers collection. This collection only includes images, so if an index card was previously found, it will be very helpful in finding the date and page your ancestor's event was recorded on.

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

 * Spelling was not standardized, meaning that your ancestor's name or surname could be misspelled in the index. Try spelling the name how it is pronounced in the native language and then try variations on that spelling. You can also use wildcards when searching through an index. (See this FamilySearch Blog article for more information.)

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.

Collection citations:

Image citation: