Maple Stars and Stripes: Your French-Canadian Genealogy Podcast

Genealogists love repositories with one-of-a-kind collections. One can only imagine what’s hiding in those stacks! Today we explore one such repository. The collections at the French Institute (on the grounds of Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts) include records from schools, religious organizations, and social organizations among others. There is shelf after shelf of books about French […]

Several of the elder members of the Franco community, especially those in the northeast United States, might recall dealing with prejudice in their earlier years. Many were made to feel “less” because they were French-Canadians. Today’s return guest, Jeanne Douillard, was one of those people. She observed that not only outsiders said things that made […]

Many of our Québec ancestors crossed the border into Vermont. Some stayed. Some moved back and forth. Others passed through on their way someplace else. If you’re looking for those Vermont ancestors, the Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society may have just the resources you need. Join president Sheila Morris for a look at what’s available for locals […]

French-Canadians are one of the largest immigrant groups to New England, yet, according to today’s guest, they remain relatively silent. Jeanne Douillard has made it her mission to explore the reasons for this. Today Jeanne fills in the historical background of the two largest French groups to settle in North America, the Canadiens and the […]

Governor Lawrence declared it “a great and noble scheme.” Coming at it from the point of view of an Acadian descendant, it doesn’t seem in the least “grand” or “noble.” Lucie LeBlanc Consentino continues her series on Acadian history with this interview focusing on the deportation itself. Acadians suffered through the loss of land, their livelihoods, […]

Québec records often list home parish in France for our immigrant ancestors. Are you ready to take that information and extend your family lines back a few more generations? Today’s guest Anne Morddel, professional genealogist and author of The French Genealogy Blog, shares her expertise with us. Anne leads us from online research to in-person […]

Welcome back to the conclusion of our interview with Muriel Normand. Join us as Muriel explains the other common dominant diseases, as well as the recessive, mtDNA, and x-linked diseases. Knowledge is power, and this is one topic with which familiarity could mean the difference between a correct and a delayed diagnosis. Then we’ll share […]

With such a small number of immigrants coming to Québec in the 17th and 18th centuries and the fact they they remained fairly isolated from other ethnic gene pools, descendants of these pioneers often face medical problems caused by genetic inheritance. Today’s guest Muriel Normand takes us through Genetics 101 to help us understand the […]

Since northern Vermont borders Québec, French-Canadians have played a role in the settling of that state since early colonial times. With a second influx during the Industrial Revolution, many of us have ancestors who lived in Vermont at some time. Today’s guest, Ed McGuire, explains the history, geography, records and repositories of the Green Mountain […]

If you live in or visit southern California, you have to schedule a visit to the French-Canadian Heritage Society of California. Other than the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, this is the West Coast’s largest repository for French-Canadian resources. Suzy Goulet takes us through the collections, projects and benefits of the society, whether […]

Anyone with French-Canadian ancestry has multiple Filles du Roi ancestors. It’s a given. And we seem to be fascinated with these strong girls who faced so much and survived long enough to produce children whose descendants have spread out across Canada, the United States, and the world. In today’s episode, Bill Kane from the Society of […]

The religious orders that established themselves in New France did more than just tend to the spiritual needs of our ancestors. Susan McNelley, author of Hélène’s World: Hélène Desportes of Seventeenth-Century Quebec, rejoins us for an in-depth look at the theme of religion as it applied to 17th-century Québec. We also discuss location and use […]

Is it possible to go to bed a Canadian and wake up an American? Sure is! It happened to our ancestors thanks to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. Guest George Findlen shares the story of this uncertain period of time and the depositions created by our ancestors to prove the land they had farmed for years was […]

Most French-Canadian genealogists will find that they have several soldier ancestors who were members of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, a unit sent to the young colony by King Louis XIV in 1665 to protect it from the attacks of the Iroquois. In episode #41, Bill Kane, vice-president of La Société des Filles du Roi et Soldats […]

Today’s guest, Lynne Levesque, is writing a book about her ancestor, Jeanne Marguerite Chevalier. But as an intermediary step, she has created a blog to present snippets of Jeanne’s life one piece at a time. Lynne candidly discusses the pros and cons of following this path toward publishing a book. She also offers tips for […]