Section II., 1897. [ 309 ] Trans. K.S.C. 



IX. — Materials for Canadian History — The Annals of Towns, Parishes,. 

 d:c,, Extracted from Church Registers, and other soxirces. 



By Sir James M. Le Moine. 



(Read June 23, 1897.) 



In my recent presidential address before the Eoyal Society of Canada, 

 I drew attention to the wealth of historical information yet unrevealed 

 to the general public — in our archives office — over which our colleague, 

 Dr. Brymner, watches with such paternal care — pointing out how valu- 

 able — nay, I may say — how indispensable the knowledge of its contents 

 is to all those engaged in historical pursuits. 



There are, however, other sources of information quite as valuable — 

 «8 indispensable, I may say, to the compiler of the annals of each pro- 

 vince of the Dominion — which I omitted then to mention, and which with 

 your permission it will be my mission to briefly supjJly ; I mean the 

 chronicles of towns, counties, villages, townships, parishes, etc, as dis- 

 closed by reliable church registers, charters, land patents, &c. 



Such histories, not only throw light on ethnological inquiry into the 

 origin of the divers races, constituting the component elements of our 

 population, but also help to illumine the onward path of the general his- 

 torian and of the statist in their arduous quest. 



This field of research, especially that based on the contents of church 

 registers, has been for close on fifty years most industriously cultivated 

 in the province of Quebec. 



It may be said to have originated in that province with the late his- 

 torian, Ferland, who, after an exhaustive examination of the dry-as-dust 

 and crabbed old parish church registers at Quebec, published the results 

 in a volume which has gone through more than one edition. 



His example was followed by man}' minor lights in literature — whose 

 works are to be found in our public libraries for consultation. 



The mantle of the learned man fell to a worthy successor — the Abbé 

 Tanguay,' one of our colleagues — who has devoted twenty 3'ears of his 

 life, travelling through Canada, consulting every available church regis- 

 ter previous to publishing his voluminous Genealogical Dictionary — a 

 comprehensive record of the early emigration to Canada — in fact the 

 genealogy of French Canadian families, from the foundation of Quebec, 

 in 1G08, to our own day. 



The abbé has accomplished his gigantic task with the patience and 

 industr}^ of a Benedictine monk of long ago. 



In the province of Quebec, church registers, from the regularity with 

 which the entries are made daily, in the handwriting of the parish priest, 



• Dictionnaire Généalogique par Mgr. C. Tanguay— 7 volumes. 



