Sources
Every claim on this site is grounded in original records: parish registers, notarial acts, census returns, and peer-reviewed published research. No ancestor is listed as verified unless confirmed through at least one primary archival source.
Primary Archives
The original record repositories on which every verified ancestor claim rests.
PRDH / Nos Origines (Université de Montréal)
Programme de recherche en démographie historique. The most comprehensive database of Quebec vital records from 1621 to 1849, cross-linked with demographic analysis. Every ancestor in the tree has been checked against Nos Origines.
www.nosorigines.qc.caDrouin Institute
Digitized parish registers, notarial records, and civil registers for Quebec and Acadia. Used as the second independent verification source for dual-source confirmation.
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ)
Provincial archives holding original parish registers, notarial acts, census records, seigneurial documents, and judicial proceedings.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC)
Federal archives holding census records, immigration records, military records, and land grants for New France and later periods.
Key Published Works
Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle
Yves Landry (1992). The definitive list and biographical dictionary of the approximately 770 Filles du Roi sent to New France between 1663 and 1673. Primary source for identifying the 10 verified Filles du Roi in this ancestry.
Orphelines en France, pionnières au Canada
Yves Landry (2013). Updated and expanded research on the Filles du Roi program. Confirms Françoise Durand as #117 on the definitive list.
Les Filles du roi en Nouvelle-France
Silvio Dumas (1972). Early comprehensive study of the Filles du Roi program.
The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660
Bruce G. Trigger (1976). Authoritative ethnohistory of the Wendat (Huron) Confederacy. Provides context for Catherine Annennontak’s Bear Clan (Attignawantan) origins and the destruction of Wendake in 1649.
Hélène’s World
Susan McNelley (2013). Historical narrative on early Quebec colonial life.
Louis Hébert: premier colon canadien et sa famille
Azarie Couillard Desprès (1913). Biography of Louis Hébert, the first farmer in New France, and his wife Marie Rollet. The Hébert line runs fourteen generations to the present.
Oeuvres
Samuel de Champlain. The collected writings of the founder of Quebec, documenting the earliest years of the colony including the Hébert settlement.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents
Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed. 73 volumes of reports from Jesuit missionaries in New France (1610–1791), documenting Indigenous peoples, colonial life, and the Wendat diaspora.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Various entries. Peer-reviewed biographical dictionary covering figures from the earliest period of New France to the twentieth century.
www.biographi.caBiographies in Nos Origines
Marcel Gagné. Detailed biographical notes attached to individual records in the Nos Origines database.
Original Records
Parish registers, notarial acts, and census documents cited for specific ancestors.
Parish registers
Notre-Dame de Québec, Sainte-Famille (Île d’Orléans), Saint-François (Île d’Orléans), Saint-Jean (Île d’Orléans), L’Ange-Gardien, Château-Richer, Beauport, Boucherville, Trois-Rivières, Champlain, Varennes, and others. Baptisms, marriages, and burials from the 1620s onward.
Notarial records
Paul Vachon dit Pomerleau — marriage contract of Jacques Baudouin and Françoise Durand, March 24, 1671. Other notarial acts for land grants, inventories after death, and marriage contracts across the ancestry.
Census of New France
1666 (first census in North America), 1667, and 1681. Used to confirm household composition, ages, and settlement locations for seventeenth-century ancestors.
Admiralty records
Archives départementales de la Charente-Maritime. Records for the ship La Nouvelle France (14 cannons, departed La Rochelle April 30, 1670) carrying 120–128 Filles du Roi including Françoise Durand.
Guy Perron blog
Original transcriptions of notarial and admiralty records relating to New France immigration and settlement.
lebloguedeguyperron.wordpress.comDNA Evidence
Y-DNA testing
Jacques P. Beaugrand (2017). Y-DNA haplogroup G2-S18765. Provides molecular confirmation of patrilineal descent independent of documentary records.
Verification Methodology
How the ancestry was verified and what standards were applied.
Dual-source verification
Every ancestor was verified through at least one of two independent sources: PRDH/Nos Origines (Université de Montréal) and the Drouin Institute. Many ancestors are confirmed by both. This dual-source approach ensures that no claim rests on a single database or family tree.
GEDCOM data treated as hypothesis
Data from FamilySearch, Ancestry.com user-submitted trees, and other GEDCOM exports is treated as hypothesis, not evidence. These sources are used only as starting points for investigation. No ancestor is considered verified unless confirmed by original parish, notarial, or census records accessible through PRDH or Drouin.
Scope of verification
507 total verified ancestors across 75 lines. 35 Atlantic crossers confirmed. 10 Filles du Roi identified against Yves Landry’s definitive list. Deepest line reaches 16 generations.
Other References
Michigan’s Habitant Heritage
Moreau-DesHarnais & Sheppard (2007). French-Canadian genealogical records relevant to migration patterns from Quebec into the Great Lakes region.
NEHGS Notable Kin
Gary Boyd Roberts, New England Historic Genealogical Society (2008). Identifies shared ancestry between the family tree and Hillary Clinton through Étienne Charles and Madeleine Niel (Fille du Roi, arrived 1667).
FamousKin.com
Ahnentafel reference for tracing notable kin connections through verified genealogical lines.
famouskin.comCensus of New France: 1666, 1667, 1681
Transcribed and indexed census records used to confirm household compositions, occupations, ages, and settlement locations throughout seventeenth-century New France.