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Sherlock's Genealogical Adventures

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Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal, Canada

French-Canadian Genealogy

Tim Firkowski

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

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Entrance to the Grande Bibliotheque in Montreal CanadaI do plenty of French Canadian genealogy research, but have yet to write anything about it. It has been three years this month when an amazing event occured for me, which required a trip to Canada. I live in New Hampshire now and was born and raised in Wisconsin, but had yet traveled to Canada, despite my close proximity.

In 2011 I made a trip to Canada for a book launch by one of my relatives in my Great Grandmothers Croisetiere family line. Gaston Croisetiere had been researching the Croisetiere family for many many years and had encountered some brick walls while trying to work his way forward in the family. I had been researching the same family but I was working backwards from the family I knew. Gaston found my Croisetiere family data and was able to fill in the many missing pieces of his research. He put all this information together in a wonderful book and had invited me to the books launch.

I wanted to take the opportunity to take a look at the Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal, Quebec, Canada while I was there. The Library is part of the National Archives of Quebec and holds a huge collection of documents. You don' have to worry about having to know French when visiting the library as the employees are DSC04360GrandeBibliotheque

The open and airy space of the librarybilingual, but you may have to have a handle on your French if you are going to go digging into the old records as the majority of the library's collection is in French.

The library is Huge, and yes I said Huge with a capital "H". It has a very open and airy feel to it. There are 4 floors that can be accessed by a central glass elevator. The large surface area of glass on the outside walls brings in diffused light from the outside. The library boasts that about 10,000 people a day use the library, and I believe it, as there were a lot of people there. I was not going to be there for any research, but instead wanted to check out the library and relax a bit after my four hour drive. I went to the front desk and requested some free minutes for their WiFi, then proceeded to find a place to relax and do some work on my computer, all while watching the people. I found it very relaxing despite all the people. The architects did a good job in designing the building. I look forward to the day when I will have the need to do some ancestral research in this library.

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About the author

Tim Firkowski

I have been doing genealogy research since 2002 & have worked full time as a Professional Genealogist since 2008. I specialize in Polish and American-Canadian Genealogy. As a member of APG, I was the 2010/2011 President of the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG). I have Certificates of Completion for studies in "Foundations of Forensic Genealogy" and "Advanced Forensic Genealogy Techniques". I have been a volunteer librarian at the local Family History Center, and a genealogy research consultant at “Ask the Expert” Ancestry Road Shows. I have traveled to Poland numerous times & researched in churches and archives. At conferences and special events, you may find me dressed up in my Sherlock Holmes outfit, or my Kujawy (the folk costume from the region in Poland where my ancestors came from).