Re: Eldridges' of Maine
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In reply to:
Eldridges' of Maine
6/30/99
Cortney:
Your Elizabeath FOURNEA would have had the French surname FOURNIER (pronounced "FOOR-nee-ay) and more than likely came from Québec (or maybe New Brunswick, but not so likely).
She would have been from a family that was one of the 1 million from Québec who settled in the N-E USA between 1860 and 1960. If you have her in the Bangor/Brewer area for her marriage around 1900-1910, try going back 20-25 years before that and see how many FOURNIER or FOURNEA surnames were in the area then. There will be some kinf of birth record for her, wither in MAine State Archives or the Québec National Archives.
If you have to go to Québec records:
From 1765 to 1900 you have to consult individual parishes on microfilm. This again may be available from your local genealogical society or obtained on loan from the Mormons in UTAH. These microfilms are generally at the Québec National Archives (ANQ - Archives Nationales de Québec) and there are six ANQ branches spread around the province. Be prepared to read French and odd hand writing. Generally each year is preceded by an index and the acts are grouped, ie: birth, baptisms, deaths, etc. are together.
In February each year, a “Canadian Catholic Church Directory” is issued which should be available in Canada at the Bishop's Secretariat. The local parish priest could have one that is not quite up to date. This has names, fax, e-mail and even occasional website listings.
Although the Government of Québec has taken over the maintainence of birth, marriage, and death records going back to the earliest days of settlement, it is still useful to check with the parish church from time to time - if you know where to find it.
Denis Beauregard - http://www.cam.org/~beaur/gen/index.htmlhttp://www.cam.org/~beaur/gen/index.html - is available in English and French, and includes full addresses, tel and fax (télécopieur) numbers for all branches of the Québec National Archives (ANQ - Archives Nationals de Québec).
In Quebec, notarial records exist because Quebec, being a colony of France, ran under the principles of French law and all civil or non-criminal matters were handled by notaries. They drafted many commercial transactions such as land sales/purchases, mortgages, leases, powers of attorney and loans. Notaries also were responsible for papers of great interest to genealogists such as marriage contracts, wills, discharges of bequests, and applications for tutorships for insane individuals or minor aged children, among others.
Besides wills or marriage contracts, land transactions should be scanned because they sometimes note a familial link between the seller and purchaser. Married women were almost always referred to under their maiden names, making notarial records often the only source for this all too rare information.
Some notaries even made a practice of refering to previous husbands if a widow was remarried, sometimes proving a link which is very difficult to establish through church records. Thus, you might see a land sale refering to a woman as Mary Smith, wife of John Baker and widow of Thomas Best. It is important to read the little scraps of paper salted in among the legal documents.
Most pre-1900 notarial records are available to researchers on microfilm at the regional branches of Les Archives Nationales du Québec, grouped under the old system of judicial districts just as church records are.