The release of Ancestry’s Quebec Notarial Records 1626-1935 database in early October generated a tremendous amount of interest and a higher than usual number of requests for notary records at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.
Those of you who have ordered some of these records, or are thinking about doing so, may enjoy watching tomorrow’s free Legacy Family Tree webinar, Civil Law Notaries – Using Notarial Records to Build a Family History, presented jointly with the Board for Certification of Genealogists.
Although the webinar will not address Quebec records specifically, it may provide you with a better sense of the wealth of information available in notary records.
Webinar presenter Melanie D. Holtz told me, “The webinar will discuss the differences between a civil law notary and a notary public. We will look at six examples of Italian or French/Corsican notarial records to learn how they can help us ‘flesh out’ a family history and, in many cases, meet the definition of reasonably exhaustive research.”
Ms. Holtz also said she will include some information about notary records in New France.
Here’s the webinar description:
Notarial records are a valuable resource in those areas of the world where civil law notaries recorded all legal transactions. Property deeds (land, personal, or agricultural), mortgages, wills, dowries, late birth registrations, marriage permissions, and many other types of documents can be found within this record set. These records often provide key details about a family, their relationships, and financial transactions which cannot be found within any other type of genealogical resource.
Understanding the procedures behind the preparation of these documents is key to understanding their method of conservation, the formats the documents will be found in, and the contents therein. This lecture will provide examples of several Italian and French documents that were particularly descriptive and which provide key details on the families being researched.
To watch the live webinar on Tuesday, November 15, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, you must register here. I expect the webinar will be recorded and available to watch for six or seven days afterward.
