Family Tree Research

YOUR NATIVE ANCESTORS

One way we maintain the organization and its costs, is to do research of other peoples' Native genealogy (for a small fee).

Need help finding your Native ancestry?

Our Researchers

We also know the areas of French Canadian and Metis towns and villages, so if we're looking for a specific record, we know where we might find it.

What we Do

While we cannot promise we will find everything you need to prove your Native ancestry (since we cannot invent records for an event that never happened), we will provide you with everything we do find, and, if it happened, we'll find the record for it.

Because we can read old French script records and understand their contents, we are very fast at finding records. We do research in 5 hour chunks, and send you all the information and records we've found in that 5 hrs. That way you can see the progress and decide if you'd like us to continue (if needed).

How Much Time does it Take?

The average French Canadian family tree takes between 5 - 15 hours to complete. Every person has 2 biological parents, so each generation doubles in the number of people in that generation. In generation 10 alone, there are 1024 persons!

Your family tree information is put into a large template so you can see the whole tree at one time. We do not use Gedcom or Family Tree files (where you need to jump back and forth between generations to see all the names). We believe you should be able to see the whole tree at the same time.

Compiling Your Family Tree to Find Native Ancestry

You will need to compile a family tree in order to find Native ancestors. If and when they are found, it is then needed to document the line by finding copies of legal records for each generation, to prove that a child descends from their parents. We are the ONLY organization that will give you these copies of legal records, so you can see the information is validated for yourself. Finding these records usually takes between 5 - 20 hours, depending on if there are road blocks, and depending on how far back the ancestry goes.

For Acadian ancestry, the compilation of a family tree takes much longer, since there are more generations, so we won't provide all of the tree (or it would take too long) but we will provide Native ancestral lines if we find them.

What We Need From You

What we ask is that you send us the names (and maiden names) of your grandparents and possibly great grandparents by email, so we can get started. We also ask that you let us know if you already have more information or records, so that we don't use your time to duplicate efforts.

We will then send you a PayPal invoice by email for the first block of time (5 hrs), which is easily paid using online banking. Once paid, we will do the research, and then send you all the information we have found in that 5 hour block.

Can you read and understand the following records?

This is what sample church records in old French script might look like (some are easier than this, and some are harder to read).

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marriage record for Jean Reaume and Marie Anne Chamaillard

L'an mil Sept cent trente et trois le trente unieme aoust Je Soussigné Curé de la
pointe claire après avoir publié trois bans aux messes paroissiales entre Jean réaume
fils de robert réaume et d'isabelle brunet, ses pere et mere d'une part et entre -----
marianne chamaillard fille de Jean chamaillard et de marie maton ses pere et mere
d'autre part de la paroisse de la pointe claire sans qu'ily ait en aucune empechement
? recu leur mutuel consentement et leurs ay donné la benediction nuptiale --
ansi les ceremonies présentés par l'eglise Catholique apostolique et romaine en
présence de Joseph charllebois, de mathieu pilon, thomas rhéaume et alexandre
boilon Lesquels ont déclaré ne Scavoir Signer de ce requis Suivant L'ord
Breuil ptre
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Baptism record for Marie Louise Prejean

L'an mil sept cent trente et trois le onzieme Septembre Je Soussigné Curé de la pointe----
claire ay baptisé marie louise préjean née le neufieme du meme mois elle est fille naturelle et
legitime d'andre prejean et de marie louise pilon ses pere et mere. le parrain a ete J. baptiste-----
gautier et la maraine marie Jeanne la plaine Lesquels ont declaré ne Scavoir Signer de ce requis
Suivant L'ord-------
Breuil ptre
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Can't read French or old Script Records?

We also offer transcription and translation services if you need them. Just ask how we can help.

NOTE -- Our organization does not get government funding to maintain its registry, do research into our community's heritage and culture, or advocate for our members. This is all done on a voluntary basis, with a great team of researchers and others who spend much of their free time doing research for our community. This is because we see the value in coming out of hiding, collecting our stories, songs, photos, recipes, cultural information, archived documents and so many other pieces of the puzzle that make up our communities. Your asking us to help find your Native ancestors helps us keep this organization running, and helps us to do more research for our communities and others.

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