Library Holdings

The holdings of the FCGSC library include approximately 3,000 books in both French and English, including numerous repertoires of Quebec parishes; the extensive collection of books, notes and miscellaneous source materials compiled by the specialist in Acadian genealogy, Father Hector Hebert; and Connecticut births, marriages and deaths of descendants of French-Canadians and Acadians, extracted from many local newspapers, town and parish records by Society members.

Library Use Rules (Click HERE)

Parish Repertoire Collection

The most widely used materials in our library are published compilations of baptisms, marriages and burials recorded in the sacramental journals kept by the priests of individual parishes. These records exist for nearly all parishes and time periods back to the beginnings of New France in the 1600s. Because baptismal records normally contain the date of the person's birth, and burial records contain the date of death, these are valuable substitutes for state or federal vital records which do not exist for Canada before the 20th century. Our records are indexed alphabetically by county and then by parish. If your information only includes the name of the town where an event took place, you can search the internet for the town name to find the county. Use this link to go to the Repertoire Collection listings.

Indexed Family Collection

Are you having trouble finding Auntie Emma or Grandpere Maurice? So you thought your family was the only one with that surname? Have you considered alternate spellings, or even dit* names? We have family resources that many folks do not know about. FCGSC has 485 Family Genealogies now completely indexed for your use. This newly created alphabetical list includes family names, cross references, alternate spellings, dit* names, and other prominently associated family lineages. Some of these Family Genealogies are lists of names, while some have family lineage sheets. Others record family reunions. Some include photographs; some include stories; and some include maps. For instance, REF FAM LAMONT tells story of family life on a farm in Charlotteville, NY in the early 1800s. REF FAM VIOLETTE III includes a map of land owners in the Van Buren area 1845-1848. Using these family references may offer insight into your own family and maybe even solve a family mystery. Think about adding your own family information into our collection! *Dit name and what is this? “Dit” in French means “say.” For genealogical purposes, dit name means an alternate surname. This practice became popular in the 1600s. In order to distinguish men from different families with the same name, one would assume a dit name. This might be the mother’s maiden name, a location (Poitevien—Poitou region), a physical attribute (Le Brun— brown hair or complexion), a personal trait (Sanssoucy—carefree), a trade (Lauzier—worker in slate quarry), reflection of nature (Laviolette—violet or LeBois—trees or wood). In addition, French men entering the military were assigned a “sobriquet” (translated as “nick-name” or “nom-de-guerre”—really a dit name). This nom-de-guerre provided each soldier a unique name, as no two soldiers in a company could have the same name. It also provided anonymity if the soldier was captured. An extensive list of dit names is provided in FCGSC reference resources by René Jetté and Father Cyprien Tanguay. Indexed by Frances Nadeau, French-Canadian Genealogical Society of CT, 2025. Use this link to go to the Indexed Family Collection.

Main Reference Materials

Bona Arsenault - Histoire et Généalogie des Acadiens (6 vols)
Adrien Bergeron - Le Grand Arrangement des Acadiens au Québec 1625-1925 (8 vols)
Claude Drouin, ed.- Dictionnaire National des Canadiens-Français 1610-1760 (3 vols)
Gabriel Drouin, ed.- Marriages 1760-1935 (74 vols, male & female series)
Rene Jetté, Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles du Québec, (1608-1730)
Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Canadiennes 1608-1800. (7 vols) [Consult online]
Programme de Recherche en Démographie Historique (PRDH), 45 vols., 1621-1765. [Consult online]

Biographies and Dictionaries

Nos Ancêtres, Vols. I-XXI
Laforest. Our French-Canadian Ancestors, Vols. 1-30
Dauzet, Albert. Libraire Larousse Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prénoms de France.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vols. I-VI Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [Consult online]
Déziel, Julien, 2 vols. Médaillons d'Ancêtres.
Dumas, Sylvio.Les Filles du Roi en Nouvelle-France.
Gagné, Peter.King's Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673.
Reisinger, Joy, trans.Daughters of the King.
Godbout, A. Origines des Familles Canadiennes-Françaises.

Special Collections

Brown Collection. Over 500 volumes of English, Scottish, Irish and American reference and research aids donated by Prescott Libbey Brown. Many works on New England history, family genealogy, and the history of towns and villages of eastern Connecticut.

Hebert Collection. Extensive collection of books, notes and miscellaneous source materials compiled by Father Hector Hebert and donated to FCGSC by his family after his death. The collection includes tens of thousands of file cards of births, marriages and deaths in alphabetical order by surname and/or locality and surname; handwritten copies of many New England parish records in over 100 notebooks; family data sheets, notes and letters from Canada and New England; Acadian history books; repertories; periodicals; some microfilms of parish records; and many miscellaneous items.

Local History

City Directories: Incomplete runs for a number of Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts towns.

Town Histories from New England and Canada.

Maps: Old and new maps of France, New France, Acadia, Canadian provinces and towns, all fifty US states and most New England towns.

Periodicals: Complete runs of 22 active serial titles and 30 inactive periodicals, including the Connecticut Maple Leaf, Mémoires, Le Cahier des Dix, Je Me Souviens and dozens of others.

Information Files

Connecticut Vital Records Card File of French Surnames from 1850-1993. FCGSC collection of Connecticut births, marriages and deaths of descendants of French-Canadians and Acadians, extracted from many local newspapers, town and parish records by Society members.

French Surname File. Arranged alphabetically by surname, this is a vertical file of pedigree charts, family group sheets, newspaper and magazine articles, out-of-state obituaries, miscellaneous family data.

Loiselle Marriage Index. Microfiche copy of a vast collection of index cards containing over one million records from 520 parishes in the Province of Quebec. Covers 1642-1963.

Miscellaneous Reference Materials:

Inventaire des Greffes des Notaires de Régime Français. 27 vols. (incomplete), Archives Nationales du Quebec..
Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region 1701-1911. Denissen

Archange Godbout, Emigrants from La Rochelle.