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From: <>
Subject: RE: [QUEBEC] French Canadian Book
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:31:58 -0700
In-Reply-To: <48a.6c78e4d.320a0f3b@aol.com>


I purchased this book after hearing about it:

French-Canadian Sources: A Guide for Genealogists
Geyh, P. K., J. S. Banachowski, et al.
2002 MyFamily.com, Inc.
ISBN 1-931279-01-2
$36 List. Available from Amazon.com for $27.17


Comments:
Written by members of the French-Canadian/Acadian Genealogists of Wisconsin.
Covers the basic, readily available French-Canadian sources, most of which
could be found looking through the FHL index for Québec. (I suspect that a
lot of the book content could be found in the archives of this list.) The
sections are often sketchy. E.g. the "naming patterns" chapter touches on
"dit" names and the Marie-/Joseph- issue, but ignores the significance of
naming after godparents, grandparents, or other family members, especially
for 19th-century first-borns.

(It might make an interesting thread in this list to see what general
sources people have found that are not covered in this book -- a chapter
listing follows.)

There is also a lack of balance. A hundred pages are spent outlining
secondary sources, while less than half that for primary sources. Given the
equivalent ease of physical access to both from the FHL as well as the
greater importance and validity of the primary sources, this is a distorted
perspective. More space should have been spent upon the reading and
interpreting the primary records. The exception to the sketchy treatment is
the coverage of censuses in the appendices which seems to be a fairly
thorough overview of the subject. The appendices also contain a nice French
vocabulary. Overall, it's probably a good book for beginning/intermediate
Québec genealogists, but nothing new or exciting for those who have working
Québec for a few years.


Chapters:
INTRODUCTION
1/ "It Is Time You Come Home"
2/ A Timeline for French-Canadian Genealogists
3/ French-Canadian Naming Patterns
4/ Feudalism and the Seigneurial System in New France

SECONDARY SOURCES
5/ The Loiselle Quebec Marriage Index
6/ Using Répertoires
7/ Tanguay's Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Canadiennes Depuis la
Fondation de la Colonie Jusqu'a Nos Jours
8/ Leboeuf's Complément au Dictionnaire Généalogique Tanguay
9/ Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles du Québec des Origines à 1730 by
René Jetté
10/ Le Fichier Histor, Fichier des mariages Catholiques et Non Catholiques
du Québec, 1731-1825 by René Jetté
11/ Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Francais 1608-1760 "The Red Books"
12/ Répertoire Alphabetique des Mariages des Canadiens-Francais 1760-1935
"The Blue Books"
13/ Répertoire des actes de baptême mariage sépulture et des recensements du
Québec ancien
14/ Programme de researche en demographic historique (PRDH) Internet
Database
15/ French-Canadian Genealogies
16/ French Canadian Families of the North Central States
17/ The French Canadians 1600-1900: An Alphabetized Directory of the People,
Places, and Vital Dates
18/ An Annotated Bibliography of French-Canadian Research Sources
19/ The Periodical Source Index (PERSI)

PRIMARY SOURCES
20/ French-Canadian Church Records
21/ French-Canadian Church Records Transcribed and Translated
22/ Civil Registration in the Province of Quebec
23/ Canadian Census Records
24/ Notarial Records

SPECIALIZED AREAS OF RESEARCH
25/ Les Filles du Roi -- The King's Daughters
26/ Finding Fur Trading Ancestors
27/ Military Records
28/ Genealogy and the Internet

APPENDIXES
A/ Map of Quebec
B/ French Vocabulary: Words and Phrases
C/ Dates in French
D/ Charts of Canadian Census and Census Substitutes
E/ Descriptions of Census and Census Substitutes
F/ Sources for Locating Census Records in Appendix E
G/ French-Canadian Research Addresses
H/ Family History Library Microfilm Numbers for the Loiselle Marriage Index


> -----Original Message-----
> From: [mailto:]
> Sent: Tue 8 Aug 2006 9:01 AM
> To:
> Subject: [QUEBEC] French Canadian Book
>
> Has anyone read this to be able to give a review on it? Thanks Brenda




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