Public Online Resources
The SGNO has made an inventory of several free Internet sites that can help in French-Canadian genealogical research. These tools are accessible on this page by the public and members of the SGNO.
The BAnQ (Bibliothèque et archives Nationales du Québec), or National Archives of Quebec, contains most of Quebec’s civil registry from 1621 up to 1918 (of all spiritual denominations), which encompasses most individuals who lived in the province during that period. A search tool can be used to find the church records for a parish, but one needs to look at each image from the church parish in question to find a specific record.
1640-1945 Censuses
https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/genealogy-family-history/censuses/Pages/other-census-related-documents.aspx
1825-1926 Censuses
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has digitized much of its collection of Canadian censuses between 1640 and 1945.
Tanguay Dictionary: https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2021541
Complément Leboeuf: https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4302723
The Genealogical Dictionary of Canadian Families (i.e. Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes) is the work of Abbé Cyprien Tanguay. The dictionary in 7 volumes, was produced between 1871 and 1891 for information from the beginning of the colony until 1763. The information contained in the Tanguay covers a greater period than the Jetté, but is less reliable. The Dictionary is supplemented by the Complément (i.e. additions and corrections) to the Tanguay dictionary (1 volume, 2 parts) by J.-Arthur Leboeuf
https://www.familysearch.org/en/
FamilySearch has a fairly large collection of French-Canadian and Quebec vital records (however not as extensive as Ancestry or Généalogie Québec).
It has a collection of Church Records (see next section), Censuses, and extensive collection of Notarial records. The image quality tends to be very Good. The FamilySearch site is home to the largest online family tree in the world (over a billion people!). Note that a free account must be created and used to access the site.
https://www.fichierorigine.com/
Fichier Origine is a directory of indexes of records of pioneer immigrants from France and other countries established in Québec from its origins to 1865. When available, the index files will include the names of the individuals, birth and marriage information, siblings, year of arrival or first mention in the country, occupation and links to original birth or marriage records from France. It is know for very accurate information as it was created by the Quebec Federation of Genealogy Societies and run by accredited genealogists.
https://www.francogene.com/genealogy/
Francogène is a gateway website (that exists since 1995) to Franco-American and French-Canadian genealogy on the Internet. It includes a database section of birth, marriage and death indexes of French-Canadians, covering the beginnings to 1721. It includes DNA signatures for many of the ancestors listed. The data listed is fairly accurate and the author/owner of the website is the well known genealogist Denis Beauregard
https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/genealogie.aspx?lng=en
The goal of Nos Origines is to reconstruct the entire family tree of Quebec descendants up to the origins of New France. It is a participatory community based free website, relying on users to add BMD info and family reconstructions. In general, is of ok accuracy (at times has errors), with a number of references sources added, along with links to some original records in the Family Search collections. It is a good source for getting clues towards finding original documents on other websites/
Please note that the migrations.fr site hasn’t been working since May 2023, therefore the link included is pointing towards a saved version on the Internet Archives Way Back Machine.
On the Migration.fr site you will find a lot of texts and information on the Carignan Soldiers, the King’s Daughters and the Daughters to Marry, as well as the records concerning them (baptisms, marriages and burials). There is information on the Acadians with lists and maritime surveys
The goal of WikiTree is to reconstruct the entire family tree of the world. It is a participatory community based free website, relying on users to add BMD info and family reconstructions. In general, is of good accuracy, with a number of references sources added, along with links to some original records in the Family Search collections. A significant amount of information about French-Canadian ancestors can be found on the tree
https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/
Origin, etymology and popularity of your last name
"How much do you really know about your name? Discover the origin and the meanings of your name." - Geneanet
Officially launched in 2019, the objective of this bilingual database is to record every man and woman who entered a religious order in French North America and to identify their parentage (with an emphasis on Quebec, but which contains a few hundred people from Alberta). This is particularly important since men and women who enter a religious order often disappear from civil registers after their baptism
https://www.patrimoinequebec.ca/naviresnouvellefrance/
Information (in French) on ships that came to New France, from the origins to 1699. It contains lists of crew and passengers. Compiled using recognized sources such as the works of Marcel Trudel, Delafosse, J.F. Bosher, Yves Landry, René Jetté, also the Relations des Jésuites, parish records and notarial acts and especially from the Archives Canada-France website. There is also a link at the bottom of the main page to information on ships that came to New France from 1700 up to the Conquest.
https://library.ualberta.ca/peel/newspapers#filter=.French
The University of Alberta has digitized historical collections of Francophone newspapers from Western Canada and they can be found in their Peel’s Prairie Provinces online archives (with the Internet Archives as a search and reading interface).
https://shsb.mb.ca/traveler-contracts/?lang=en
The Centre du patrimoine in Manitoba, guardian of the French-speaking and Métis heritage of Western Canada, hosts on its website a database indexing Voyageurs contracts with more than 36,000 entries indexed contracts for the fur trade signed in front of Montreal notaries between 1714 and 1830. To search the travelers’ database, choose Voyageurs as Source in the collections browser.
https://archiv-histo.com/pionniers.php
The Société de recherche historique Archiv-Histo, hosts a database on their web site entitled : Les pionniers et pionnières établis par mariage au Canada 1617-1825 (ie Pioneers who settled in Canada (that is, New France or Quebec), through marriage from 1617 to 1825)
This database is comprehensive for all pioneers, from the earliest days up to 1825—and in some cases beyond—excluding Anglophones who arrived after 1760. Each entry includes the place and country of origin, year of birth, place and year of marriage, name of spouse, year of first mention in New France / Quebec, as well as the occupation upon arrival.
The Plamondon District Museum contains genealogy materials such as Métis binders containing rare portraits and photos of the Métis from the late 1800s and early 1900s, as well as a genealogy computer with 8,000 Métis names and thousands of settler names and their descendants. Anyone requesting information on families from this area is encouraged to e-mail the following email address: plammuseum@gmail.com. The museum website features a Research Digital Library section to search text online in many historic family/community books and articles.
