Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Kindof a funny new development

Alright, so I've been working on the initial records survey for a project focusing on finding the origins of Moise Dellibac, and hopefully proving his parentage in the process. My first step here is usually to scour the web for info and resources and that includes checking the website of the local genealogical society. The earliest confirmed location in the US that I've found for Moise is in Iroquois County, IL and as it happens the county has their own society with a pretty informative website . In the database section, they have included indexes to several collections of county records. So, like the diligent family historian that I am, I figured I should probably check all that could apply to my Dellibac family. For the most part, I came up empty which isn't really surprising since it looks like they were only technically in Iroquois County for perhaps the first few years of the 1850s before their home became part of Kankakee County. But I did come up with one rather interesting hit. Of all the records that they could have shown up in on this site, the potential father of Moise (the man who has been believed to be his father by the descendants of Moise's daughter, Josephine) appears in the Index for Criminal Cases. That's right. They don't appear in the tax list, they don't appear in the marriages section, or the online grantee-grantor index, not even the probate or civil court records. The criminal case files. The online index doesn't give any specifics about what Alex Dellibac was being charged with, but there are two continuous case numbers given in the index so I'm hoping there may be some interesting information included within at least one of those files.

It's just funny to me. In all of my initial searching during this first step, I get a hit in the criminal case files for the county. Yeah, that sounds about right for my family :)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Great new resource for Quebec research

So as I'm beginning a new research project for my Dellibac ancestors from Quebec, I woke up this morning to the following posts from the Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter and Dear Myrtle about a new website for the Quebec Family History Society:

LinkThe Quebec Family History Society Launches New WebsiteLink

Quebec Family History Society Launches New Website

Being a complete newbie to Quebec research, I was unaware of this group so I decided to poke around the website a bit. For the most part, I saw a lot of advice to come in to takeLink advantage of the collections in the research room, with some brief description of a small number of what is available, and names of contacts to look up in case on-site research is unavailable. So initially I wasn't really too impressed. But then I found this page on the site, Research Tips . The page is broken down into topical categories such as Immigration, Quebec Church Records, Land Records, Court Records, Census, Military and Notary. Within each category are a selection of useful bites of information to help you understand what you might be able to find in each categorical grouping, as well as where you might find what you're looking for. In the Quebec Land Records section, the first tip tells you that there are three different land registration systems in Quebec and then gives a brief discussion of usage for all three. The tips section also tell you that the Cadastre system is the only one currently used in Quebec, so if you're looking for more modern subjects, chances are good that you're going to want to consult the Cadastre records. As the three systems did not replace one another, depending upon what time period you're looking at, there could be more than one set of land records for you to consult - one for each of the land registry systems in usage at that time and in that place, up to three sets! Why couldn't we in the US be so lucky!

There is a great array of information available on this page alone, which makes me wonder what may be available to those who decide to become a member. On the "Join Us" page, there is a run-down of the member benefits, which include discounts on research services, free lookups in commonly used collections, free issues of the member periodical, Connections, and various on-site benefits including discounts on registration fees for their workshops and events. The membership fee for an individual is $65 (not sure if that's Canadian or US) but that's right up there with the membership fees of the NEHGS, so that's one of the larger membership fees I've seen. Usually, I alternate my memberships to help with the cost issue so I'm not sure if I'll be able to swing this one anytime soon. But they do offer some nice benefits, and it would be nice to learn more about research in the are by reading their journal, so who knows. Either way, they've already set me up with a good deal of useful, beginning information on how to navigate records for Quebec so if I can ever find out where exactly my Moise Dellibac came from, perhaps these tips will help me find the most information possible.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Great tip from Michael John Neill

Are you a regular reader of the blogs of Michael John Neill? If not, you should be and here's one example why:

Link
Can the Minister Help with Two Places at Once?