Finding French Ancestors

Did you know FamilySearch has a wealth of Quebec records that are not widely-known? These records have no search index so you would not be able to access them using the Search Records functionality and entering an ancestor’s name. FamilySearch has images of non-indexed Quebec non-Catholic parish registers from 1763 to 1967; images of Quebec non-indexed Catholic and non-Catholic church records from 1642 to 1902; images of Quebec guardianships from 1639 to 1930; images of Quebec notarial records from 1800 to 1920; plus many more hidden Quebec records. This session will show you step-by-step how to access these Quebec records on FamilySearch.

Information on fur trade and Indigenous ancestors can be found in the Hudson Bay Company archives. These records contain information on over 300 years of fur trade employees in Canada. Archivists have indexed, microfilmed, and digitized them. This presentation will cover what records are available, where they are found, how to use them, and what genealogy information may be found in them.

You loved her last webinar on this topic and requested six more! In this webinar, Janice will introduce you to her next favourite online sources for Ontario family history.

This session will show how MyHeritage can help you find your Canadian ancestors through filters while searching through the records. A list of which Canadian records are available will be provided.

With the right tools, searching for your French Canadian ancestors in Quebec has never been easier. French Canadians are passionate about their ancestral lineage, consequently a large number of repositories exist, both public and private, to help trace your French Canadian ancestors. Although the well known Drouin Collection is a wonderful source of genealogical data, many more databases exist on French Canadian ancestry. This presentation will focus on lesser known databases and websites to help you find your elusive French Canadian ancestors or to add valuable information to your ancestors’ lives.

One of the great difficulties for people researching their French immigrant ancestors’ roots is that so little is known outside of France about when and why the French left their country. This dearth of knowledge has led many family historians of the 19th century to presume Huguenot, noble émigré or Alsace-Lorraine ancestry for any ancestor with a French name. The supposition became a family legend that then became a research frustration as more recent family historians attempt to prove what was never more than a misguided supposition. This webinar looks at the many waves of French migration, as well as the three mentioned in the title, from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The historical reasons for when, why and to where they emigrated will provide the key points to bear in mind when conducting research. The bibliography, in English and French, contains not only books and articles concerning French emigration but a list of websites to aid the researcher.

How exciting it is to find French ancestors! But finding them in records can be tricky if you don't know what archives are available nor the language. Using MyHeritage collections, tools and features, French research will have no mystery for you after this webinar.

The landscape of Canada is extensive, and so are our genealogy resources! In this presentation we'll take a look at accessing some of the most common Canadian genealogy documents available online including census, immigration, military, and vital records. We'll also explore the abundant number of Canadian Jewish specific resources including archives and heritage organizations, newspapers, and digitized books.

Did you know that the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives is the largest private archives in the world? Let me show you one very special resource this archive has made available online: the Biographical Information Sheet. These goldmines provide a window into the HBCA’s records pertaining to 1000s of historical employees.