Hémond & Soucy Genealogy

And also Lazure, Aveline, Aidus…

A fascinating journey discovering my origins.

Registres de l'état civil du Québec

Quebec's civil registers is one of the most comprehensive in the world. This is due to the measures taken by public and religious authorities since the beginning of New France, and the fact that it has been spared natural disasters or armed conflicts. The civil registers hold record of births (baptisms) as well as marriages and deaths (burials). In New France, following the common practice in France, Catholic priests filled out two copies of each of the registers of civil status: the religious copy, kept at the parish, and the copy of the State, deposited each year at the courthouse. After the British invasion of 1760, the obligation to keep civil registers was gradually extended to other religious denominations (Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Evangelical, Jewish, Lutheran, etc.).

The Québec civil register therefore contains sources of information on births, marriages, civil unions and deaths that took place in Québec and sometimes in Ontario, or that took place outside Québec and concerns persons domiciled in Quebec. The records of the Registers are available in the original language of the individuals concerned, usually French, but also in English for bilingual or English parishes.

Individual entries in he Register can be viewed, copied, or printed by visiting one of the following sites:

• BANQ Numérique: Registers available free of charge, covering acts from the first settlements in New France, to the beginning of the twentieth century. The register is divided by judicial district and by parish.
• Familysearch.org: Registers available free of charge with free registration. The register is divided by cities and parishes.
• Ancestry.com, Ancestry.ca: The Register is available on a subscription basis. The copy of the Registry on Ancestry is sometimes of very poor quality.

What to consider when searching the Registry:

• The register is written in cursive, often using archaic formulations. Getting familiar may require some practice.
• In Quebec, until the beginning of the twentieth century, very few individuals knew how to read or write. As a result, the spellings of names have undergone many variations. For example, Emond is sometimes inscribed Hemond, Aimond, Aymond, etc.
• On BANQ and Familysearch, the Registry is generally not indexed. To find a record, you will need to know the date and the city or parish where the event took place.
• On Ancestry, the records are indexed, but the index contains errors due to the poor spelling of the officiants or the mispronunciation of the participants.