QUEBEC VITAL RECORDS & GENEALOGIES

The primary source is the Catholic parish register. These records are nearly complete from 1621 to the present, and most are accessible in the publications listed here. Most researchers will begin their search in the marriage index to the Drouin Collection or in the Loiselle Marriage Index, both described below. Locate an ancestral couple's marriage record and the names of both sets of parents will be given. Then locate the marriage records of those two couples, and so on, until an entire genealogical tree is constructed. Please keep in mind the following tips: 1. For abbreviations preceding vital record dates: b=baptized and s=buried. 2. Many families had dit names or aliases reflecting geographic origins, physical appearance, etc., which often replaced the family name. An ancestor's record may be filed under a variant surname. Lists appear in some of the sources given below. 3. As all children were given the additional name Joseph or Marie at baptism, an ancestor's record may be filed under that name, or the other half of these common combinations: