Too few searchers are aware that many of these ge-nealogy publications and several books are available in Quebec, Montreal and Hull/Ottawa and other large cities. Thus, it is always worthwhile to visit libraries: SGCF in Montreal, SGQ in Quebec, ANQ in Hull, the Salle Gagnon and the first floor of the Central Library of Montreal and the Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec, the university li-braries, and your local French/Canada/Quebec/Acadia/ Franco-American oriented genealogical societies.
First, check the French publications, in particular those that relate
to the area of origin of the migrant. Good collections are available at
SGCF, SGQ and Salle Gagnon. Many marriage repertoires of the Indre-et-Loire
region are available at SGCF and SGQ; other repertoires are also available
for selected areas. Peerage books provide genealogies of noble families,
often the only means of jumping beyond the year 1500.
You should not only check the registers, but also verify that they
do, in fact, exist. The oldest registers are usually located at the
Archives communales (A.C.) and correspond to the copy kept by the priest
of the concerned parish. Those registers were transferred towards
the town hall (mairie) during the French revolution and when the town was
small, the documents were deposited at the Archives departementales (A.D.).
There is a second copy, known as the A.D. and which represents the copy
sent to the state. The A.D. have more recent records, in general,
and are centralized within each department. Certain peri-odicals
have published repertoires (called depouillements in France) or published
lists of registers existing in their respective areas.
One can also consult the “Paroisses et communes” series, from the CNRS; these indicate which registers are available at the A.C. and A.D. At this time (beginning of 1998), the following departements are covered: 01, 05, 07, 10, 11, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 26, 28, 30, 34, 35, 37, 38, 45, 48, 49, 51, 55, 58, 60, 62, 66, 67, 68, 69, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 84, 87, 90 (with 68), 91 to 95 (with 75). The best collection of these documents in Montreal is at the SGCF. The CNRS series does not have an index of parishes.
You can also examine the Quebec regional publications or those dedicated to individual families because several researchers have published their findings. Sometimes, an article suggests a more specific place to search for a baptismal record or tries to explain why the ancestor might be found at a given place. In MSGCF, members of the PRDH team regularly publish articles covering European origins. Marcel Fournier provides information on baptismal records found in France (which are also available in the Fichier Origine in the author’s Internet site).
If the baptism record is still not found, a careful ex-amination of the original marriage register may provide clues to other possible places of origin.
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