Quebec, Genealogical Dictionary of Canadian Families (Tanguay Collection), 1608-1890

Genealogical Dictionary of Canadian Families from the Foundation of the Colony to the Present Day, or the "Tanguay Collection", is the premier genealogical dictionary of French-Canadian families. This large, seven-volume collection was published by the French-Canadian priest and genealogist Father Cyprien Tanguay from 1871 to 1890.

Fr. Tanguay devoted much of his life to researching archive and parochial records throughout Quebec, the Maritime Provinces, Ontario, the old French settlements in the United States, and France. Through his original research, he successfully traced the ancestors of many early French-Canadian colonists back to Normandy and other parts of France.

Entries detail family pedigrees, with baptism, marriage, and burial dates and places (as applicable) for husbands, wives, and children. Although the dictionary does contain some errors and occasional speculations, it has proven to be a fundamental reference work and one of the most comprehensive resources for French-Canadian genealogy. Volume 7 contains lists of surname variations and dit names.

Using the Records

Entries are organized alphabetically, by husband's surname. The dates in large, bold type mark the beginning of a new family record. That date is the date of the husband's first marriage. The entries may contain the following details as applicable:

• husband's name
• husband's baptism or christening year and place
• year and place of marriage
• year and place of burial
• parents' names
• wife's name (if there were multiple marriages, each wife will be listed in order)
• wife's baptism or christening year and place
• year and place of marriage
• year and place of burial
• parents' names
• children's names (these are in italics)
• baptism or christening dates and places
• marriage dates and places
• spouse's names
• years and places of burial

Roman numerals represent the generation distant a person is from the family's original immigrant ancestor. Entries also include the following abbreviations:

• b = baptism or christening date
• m = marriage date
• s = burial date
• III, IV (etc.) = generations away from immigrant ancestor
• superscript numbers = these represent a place within the family record; for example if a superscript 3 follows Quebec at the beginning of the record, whenever a superscript 3 appears in that record, it means the event took place in Quebec. Note that this is only applicable within the particular family record and not throughout the book. In another family record, a superscript 3 might stand for another place.