The Catholic Church parish registers for Québec from the 1620s to the early 1900s were microfilmed (mostly in the 1940s) by the Institut Généalogique Drouin. These registers contain baptisms, marriages, and burials for the families that lived in the parishes. They are an excellent primary source for those who are researching their French-Canadian ancestry. The entries, typically recorded by the local parish priest, are mostly written in French.
1. Have you encountered a "brick wall" with your Québec research?
2. Have you seen a published genealogy with an event (baptism, marriage, or burial) involving your ancestor or other relative and would like to see the source for yourself in the original handwriting (perhaps with signatures of family members and their friends)?
3. Can you find the event online but can't translate the entry from French into English?
If so, I can help. Through this web site, I will do a lookup in the registers (free of charge) for an individual record (baptism, marriage, or burial), using information supplied by you. If I find the entry you are looking for, I will let you know and will offer to provide you with an image of the entry along with an abstract (translated from French to English) for $5 per entry. Payment is via PayPal only. Once payment is provided, I will e-mail you the abstract (in Adobe Acrobat .pdf, format) along with the image in .jpg format. (For an additional charge to cover postage and handling, I can send in hardcopy via postal service instead.)
See Steps below for how to obtain the abstract and image of the parish entry you seek.
Sample baptism abstract (.pdf)
Sample marriage abstract (.pdf)
1. Provide search information.
Send an e-mail to contact@arslanmb.org, providing the minimum amount of information necessary to perform the search. The information to be provided depends upon the record type (baptism, marriage, or burial). Just copy-and-paste this information into an e-mail with the subject line "Québec Parish Register Lookup - Search Request". Without this minimum information, I can't be sure I'm finding the right record. Approximate names, dates, and places are okay. (Please, don't send me a search request unless you are serious about ordering an abstract and image!)
Record type: Baptism
Name of infant:
Approximate year of birth:
Approximate place of birth (if known):
Names of parents (at least one of them):
Anything else known about infant later in life (where lived, who married, etc.):
Record type: Marriage
Name of groom:
Name of bride (including maiden surname, if known):
Approximate year of marriage:
Approximate place of marriage (if known):
Names of parents of groom (if known):
Names of parents of bride (if known):
Anything else known about bride or groom (where lived, when born, when/where died, etc.):
Record type: Burial
Name of deceased:
Approximate year of death:
Approximate place of burial (if known):
Names of parents (if unmarried) or name of spouse (if married):
Anything else known about deceased (where lived, when born, etc.):
2. Receive results of record search.
I will reply to your e-mail indicating whether or not I have successfully located a record matching your search criteria. If found, I will provide the exact date and place of the event (baptism, marriage, or burial) and the name(s) of infant, bride/groom, or deceased found in the record. The e-mail will contain a link back to this page so you can execute step 3. Please allow 2-3 days for my response.
3. Order abstract, pay with PayPal. Fee - $5 per abstract.
Please perform this step only after I have confirmed to you via e-mail that I have been able to locate the record (Step 2).
Indicate the type of record (baptism, marriage, or burial) and the name of the individual in the record (in the case of baptism or burial) or the names of bride and groom (in the case of marriage). (The names are important, as they will allow me to associate the payment with the record requested in Step 1.)
Fortier
Gaudet
Michel/Taillon/Lataille
Richard
Toupin
Here is page of links to sources that I find particularly useful in my Québec research.
French-Canadian & Acadian Genealogy Sources
Mark B. Arslan