French-Canadian Marriage and Death Consolidated Indexes - International Institute

Consolidated Index
Another recent addition to the available research material, divided into three sections of birth, marriage and death records, isL’index consolidé des mariages du Québec and L’index consolidé des décès du Québec. It contains a consolidated index of the marriage and death records from 1926 to 1996, available to the public.

The microfilms for the marriages include not only the index but also the certificates themselves.

All entries are in alphabetical order by the last name, and lists the date and place of the event.

For marriage records, they include the spouse’s name, date and location of birth. From 1975, the names of the parents are given.

The Consolidated Index of Marriages is available on microfilm at Archives Centres and available online on the Généalogie Québec website. This database is accessible by subscription only but it is well worth the expense.

Marriage Consolidated Index
L’index consolidé des mariages du Québec



Consolidated Index of Marriage Certificates
Certificate from L’index consolidé des mariages du Québec



Fichier
‘Fichier’ are card indexes. Some parishes have combined their registers together in a more regional format and have produced a Fichier. These collections resemble a card catalogue. Some have been microfilmed and are available in many libraries.

There are several Fichiers available:


 * Fichier Loiselle
 * Fichier Pontbriand
 * Fichier Rivest
 * Fichier Histor
 * Fichier Fabien

Fichier Histor is the newest and list Catholic and non-Catholic marriages from 1730 to 1825 in 44 volumes. This collection is from René Jetté’s archives and is basically a continuation of the Jetté dictionary.

The Fichier Loiselle is an index of over 500 parishes in Québec from 1642 to 1963. Some marriage from Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Manchester, Hillsboro County and New Hampshire are included. It contains over one million marriage records in alphabetical order by both the surnames of the bride and the groom.

The Fichier Rivest comprises the marriage records in Joliette, Saint-Jérôme, Mont-Laurier, Sorel and Québec from the 17th century to 1972. The collection is in alphabetical order by the last name of the bride, then alphabetically by the last name of the groom.

Unfortunately many records in these Fichiers are hard to read, some are handwritten. The alphabetical order is not always accurate which requires more reading than should be required. Many records are omitted.

When looking through any Fichier, do not assume the name will be found exactly where you think it should be. When looking for a surname, one must also check other surnames associated with the surname required.

Check with the following book for help in establishing links to other family names:

Jetté, René, and Micheline Lécuyer, Répertoire des noms de famille du Québec des origines à 1825 / Register of Québec family names from its beginning to 1825 (Montréal: Institut généalogique J.L., 1988).

And when looking through the alphabetical list for the first name, keep in mind that sometimes only the first name was listed and at other times all given names were listed. So if you don’t find what you are looking for, check the entire section for that particular surname. Sometimes, more than one group of names of a particular surname exists.

With the new research tools available, the FICHIERs are usually used only after other resources have been consulted without success.

Fichier Histor
Fichier Histor - Sample card index



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