Parish Registers in Quebec's Chateauguay County

Quebec Parish Records Have French Canadian Baptisms in NY & VT

May 17, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

Parish registers of St-Jean-Chrysostome in Chateauguay Co., Quebec, include French Canadian families living in nearby New York and Vermont.

These parish register entries, as abstracted by Virginia Easley DeMarce prior to 1989, include baptisms performed in the United States for French Canadians, starting in 1838. Genealogists tracing the ancestry of U. S. based French Canadians owe DeMarce a debt of gratitude for making their family research easier.

Canadian Missionaries Performed Baptisms and Marriages in Vermont and New York

According to Ms. DeMarce, although the parish registers open in 1838, the first entries are actually missionary records kept for the entire Canadian-American border area in that region of Quebec.

From 1838 through 1840, missionaries John Moore, John Falvey and Joseph Dallaire covered the entire territory from Ormston, Quebec, south to Malone, NY, east to Derby in Orleans Co., VT, north to the St-Armand area of Quebec, and back to Ormstown. Some records were signed by Father Etienne Blythe of Ste-Martine. Missionaries walked dozens of miles to baptize a child in the family home.

The records probably arrived at St-Jean-Chrysostome when Father Dallaire took the curacy there.

Quebec's French Canadian Families in Same Parish Registers

Those records not abstracted cover events in the lives of French Canadian families for at least two dozen Canadian locations where these same missionaries were ministering to their families. These Canadian locations were in both the “Eastern Townships” and the “Western Townships”, large regions of Quebec located south of Montreal.

Mission Territory Halved About 1841

By 1841, the missionary circuit had been split. Father Dallaire, then stationed at St-Jean-Chrysostome, was traveling in Canada only to those mission stations west of the Richelieu River, the boundary between the eastern and western townships. He no longer visited in Vermont, but still continued to visit in Franklin Co., NY, and western Clinton Co., NY. There are also a few baptism records pertaining to people in St. Lawrence Co., NY.

During this second period, most baptismal records only give the location as “in the United States,” but associated marriage records for these trips make reference to Malone, Chateauguay and Ellenburg. (There is a Chateauguay on both sides of the border.)

Some Baptism and Marriage Records in French, Others in English

Some of the original records are in French, but others are in English. The baptism records give the names of Godparents, called “sponsors” in some entries. They often list the father’s occupation. There are also a few English and Irish surnames in these records. Yet, they remain a genealogy treasure trove for some Americans tracing their French Canadian ancestry. The problem is that most descendants will never find these records because, quite simply, they wouldn't know where to look.

These baptisms are listed in a four-part series. Researchers may wish to begin with the first part.

Source: Lost in Canada? (Vol. 14, No. 3, August, 1988)

The copyright of the article Parish Registers in Quebec's Chateauguay County in Genealogy is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish Parish Registers in Quebec's Chateauguay County in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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