Maple Stars and Stripes: Your French-Canadian Genealogy Podcast

We introduced a brave group of women known as the Filles du Roi in episodes 7 and 44. They journeyed from France to the New World in an organized governmental program. But for the three previous decades, other (arguably braver) women also made the journey. Known today as the filles à marier, these remarkable women […]

Do you need that special gift for a fellow genealogist? Or is your family looking for ideas of what to get you? Today we look at a collection of works by author Timothy J. Kent. His books cover life as a voyageur, the social history of forts located in the Pays d’en Haut, as well […]

It’s difficult to get the younger generation interested in genealogy when you show them a list of names, dates, and places. But stories of adventures and misdeeds can really spark an interest. So where do we get these tales of adventure and misdeeds? A good place to start is in the notary records. Here you’ll […]

In 1759, where were your ancestors living? Were any in Quebec City? Or Beauport? Did they live on the Île d’Orléans? Or on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River? Were they part of the Montreal or Trois-Rivière militia? If so, they had a front row seat during a pivotal moment in our ancestors’ lives. […]

French-Canadian genealogists have an almost unheard of wealth of records with which we can trace our lines back hundreds of years. The Drouin Institute provides us with easy access to these records by publishing the original parish register pages online at a nominal fee. It also publishes the reconstituted families produced by the University of […]

Who were the early settlers of Fort Ponchartrain/Detroit? What records did they leave behind? Co-authors Suzanne Sommerville, Gail Moreau-DesHarnais, and Diane Wolford Sheppard answer those questions and many more in their award-winning book, Le Détroit du Lac Érié. Cadillac established the fort with about fifty soldiers and a group of tradesmen. Thanks in part to the […]

Did any of your Acadian ancestors migrate to Quebec after the deportation and become voyageurs? I had never considered such a thing until speaking with Claude Ferland, today’s guest. Not only did some become voyageurs, but some also held very responsible positions in these ventures. Monsieur Ferland shares with us the stories of Alexander Mackenzies’s […]

Education is important to genealogists. You know that. And there are so many ways and places where you could invest your dollars to increase your knowledge. How do you decide which is right for you? Today Louise St. Denis helps you to answer that question. After her in-depth explanation of the educational opportunities at the National […]

The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark Expedition–two important American historical events. We all learn about the Anglo adventurers who took part in these events. We learn about Sacajawea and maybe her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau. But we rarely learn about the other French and Métis who participated in and were crucial to the success […]

Many mid-western and western town/city histories tell stories of their Anglo founders. But in many instances, the real founders were Canadiens or Métis families, often erased from the history books. In Part 2 of Settling the American West, Rob Foxcurran, co-author of Songs upon the Rivers, introduces us to some of these invisible founders from […]

French-Canadian voyageurs and soldiers spent parts of their careers in the Pays d’en Haut. Some stayed, and some went west. This is their story. Rob Foxcurran, co-author of Songs Upon the Rivers: the Buried History of the French-Speaking Canadiens and Métis from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi across to the Pacific, takes us on […]

I’ve often said that the best way to make sure that all our hard work as genealogists is not in vain is to publish our families’ stories. Today’s guest, David Vermette, tells his ancestral stories in an unusual context–that of the land they live on. (Is this something you could try?) Join us as David […]

The “filles du roi” is one of the most popular topics covered on this podcast. In previous episodes (#7 and #44), we covered these women in a general way. But today, we get down to specifics. What was a particular fille du roi’s life like? Lynne Levesque (episode #40) is a direct descendant of fille […]

To whom did our ancestors turn when they were sick? What treatments were available? How can we tell whether we had sickly or healthy ancestors? Susan McNelley, author of Hélène’s World: Hélène Desportes of Seventeenth-Century Québec, joins us in part 4 of a series examining the lives of the pioneers who bravely settled in New […]

French-Canadian genealogy is easy, right? Within hours, a knowledgeable genealogist can trace his or her ancestry from 21st-century America or Canada back to 16th- or 17th-century France. Usually. We all have a line or two that gives us trouble–an ancestor who shows up in the US from who-knows-where. Today’s episode addresses that problem. First, we’ll […]