Alcina Furkey’s birth name and her parents’ identities were unknown in 19C Vermont. Alcina had many forenames: Alcenia, Arsena, Christina, Elcena, Elena, Jane, Josephine, Julia, Lucy, and Reusta, and Rosanna. But none of them was her baptismal name. Reconstructing her birth family, together with a connection found in deeds and the clues in Catholic records, led to her real identity.
In A Dozen Names for Alcina: An Identity Case Study, genealogical researcher Margaret Fortier walks through a real-life “who was she, really?” problem that many family historians recognize: an immigrant woman in 19th-century New England whose identity is scattered across records under a bewildering mix of given names and surnames. Centered on a French Canadian woman known in Vermont as Alcina (and several other names), the webinar demonstrates how identity in genealogy is proven not by a single record, but by building a persuasive, systematic body of evidence—especially valuable when direct records (a clear birth or marriage record) are missing or misleading.
Identity is an evidence “assemblage,” not a name. The case study shows how age, place, religion, associates, and family structure can outweigh inconsistent spellings and shifting first names—particularly for immigrants and illiterate ancestors whose names were recorded by others.
French Canadian naming practices are predictable once understood. The webinar highlights dit/dite names, translation/anglicization patterns, and why pronunciation often mattered more than spelling—turning what looks like chaos into solvable methodology.
A practical roadmap for tough cases emerges. Instead of fixating on one elusive record, the research expands outward: children’s baptisms and marriages, godparents, neighbors (the FAN principle), land deeds, and original church registers—plus an important reminder to treat record extracts cautiously and seek the full entry when possible.
To get the full benefit, view the complete webinar to see how the evidence is organized, compared, and weighed across dozens of records—and how small clues (a neighbor, a sponsor, a single wording in a church register) can unlock a stubborn identity problem. The session offers techniques that transfer directly to other “many-named” ancestors, especially women, immigrants, and anyone living in a record-sparse time and place. The syllabus adds extra value beyond the presentation itself, guiding further exploration of French Canadian resources, naming guides, and reference works that can accelerate similar breakthroughs in future research.
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Excellent presentation! Name changes in Vermont are always challenging.
Very useful ideas for anyone. THANK YOU!
Outstanding presentation detailing correlation and analysis of French Canadian naming patterns and records. Don’t you love a great case study?
Another top notch webinar with an excellent teacher, Margaret Fortier! The devil is in the details and Margaret shows us some of the best research and analytical methodologies. She also reminds us that pronunciation is more important that spelling not only in French but in many languages.
Having amassed, over the last 20 years, around 3,000 relatives, the French Canadian family has been fascinating. This last year, when My Heritage acquired MY Friends, it doubled to over 6000 people. And this study of Alcina today puts insight into the work I still have to complete!
WOW! This was quite the puzzle and Margaret not only showed us how she solved who Alpine was, but she explained a lot of variations of name spellings, their pronunciation, and ways they were changed to sound less French. She shared a lot of great methodology tips.
I have researched my own ancestors who lived in Quebec as well as the ancestors of other people who lived in Quebec (the ancestors, not the descendants), and I have frequently encountered the issue of differences in how names were spelled, including variant spellings, dit/dite names, baptismal names vs names used regularly, and also differences due to first name variations for people of Irish ancestry (e.g. alternations between Owen and Eugene, as well as between Delia and Bridget.
A wonderful presentation. I have a 3 x great grandfather that may ‘give up’ his identity if I follow the steps used by Margaret Fortier, I hope. Thank you from Clara in NE.