42 FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2019
The French were among the earli-
est Europeans to arrive in North America, with
Samuel de Champlain founding the fi rst perma-
nent French colony at Quebec in 1608—only one
year after Jamestown.
French settlers left their mark from Mon-
treal to Natchez and St. Louis to New Orleans.
Famous French-Americans include Louis Chev-
rolet, Davy Crockett, Paul Revere, John James
Audubon, the Du Ponts, Anthony Bourdain
and Madonna. Even George Washington had
some French ancestors. Today, with 10.3 mil-
lion Americans claiming French or French-
Canadian roots, this ethnic group ranks behind
only German, English, Irish, Italian and Polish
among European ancestries.
If you’re among that number, it’s never been
easier to research your French family history
without having to go to France. (Feel free to use
genealogy as an excuse to visit la belle France,
however.) Although privacy restrictions make
it tough to fi nd French ancestors born in the
20th century, earlier records—dating back to
the 1500s—are increasingly going online with a
push from the French government. PE
TERZELEI
IMAGES/MOMENT
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ET
TY^IM
AGESPARLEZVOUS “GENEALOGY”?
You’ll need a few basics to get started. First,
obviously, most French records are written in
the French language. You can copy and paste
unfamiliar phrases or even web addresses into
Google Translate <translate.google.com> or
Bing <www.bing.com/translator>. French is
also one of the languages covered by the high-
powered DeepL <www.deepl.com>, and Family-
Search has a handy guide to French words you’re
likely to encounter in your research <www.
familysearch.org/wiki/en/France_Languages>.
You may also fi nd early Roman Catholic regis-
ters are written in Latin, and areas that went
back and forth between France and Germany
(Alsace-Lorraine) and Italy/Sardinia (Savoie,
Haute-Savoie, Alpes-Maritimes, Corse) have
some records in German and Italian, respec-
tively. (Records might similarly be displaced.)
Be aware, too, that French dates are usually
written with the month (not capitalized) in the
middle, as in 4 août 1789 (August 4, 1789), which
would be abbreviated 4/8/1789. You may also see
dates written out, rather than in numerals, with
the year given fi rst.
The good news about French names is that
women typically were listed under their maiden
names in records. But you might be confused by
“dit” names (more common in French Canada
than in France itself ), which were second sur-
names inspired by geography, nicknames or
physical characteristics. For example, Pierre
Guillet dit Beaulieu would be “Pierre Guillet
called (dit) Beaulieu,” with Beaulieu meaning
“beautiful place.”CENTURIES OF IMMIGRATION
The French—unlike many groups who came in
large waves—immigrated as part of a slow but
mostly steady trickle that spanned centuries. A
few historical events did temporarily increase
the fl ow.
French Protestants, called Huguenots, fl ed
persecution, which culminated under Louis
XIV’s Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685. In a simi-
lar vein, the British expelled French residents
of Acadia (today’s Maritime Provinces, eastern
Quebec and part of Maine) beginning in 1755 if
they refused to swear allegiance to the crown.
This Le Grand Dérangement, immortalized in
Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline,” led some Aca-
dians to settle as far away as Louisiana. TheLook for references
to your ancestors’
French hometown
in home sources
such as letters and
family Bibles.