There’s a free database, called Parchemin, that saves genealogists days, if not weeks, of time researching their Quebec ancestry.
It’s a tool that helps researchers find notarial records of early Quebec, from the earliest days of France’s colonization of North America until the end of 1801.
The history of the database goes back more than 30 years.
In 1986, the Société de recherche historique Archiv-Histo joined forces with the Chambre des notaires du Québec and the National Archives of Québec (today, BAnQ ) to produce a notarial database, called Parchemin.
From 1993 to 2014, Parchemin was distributed on CD-ROM to a few dozen public libraries, archival centres, and historical and genealogical societies in Quebec, the United States and France.
But there’s a wee catch with Parchemin.
It’s a subscription-based database that is only available to institutions. Individuals cannot purchase a subscription. Instead, researchers must visit an institution in person if they want access to it.
Parchemin is available in Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) centres, Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, and a few university libraries in Canada and the United States. (It’s possible a handful of municipal libraries and genealogical societies in Quebec also provide onsite access.)
Onsite access can be inconvenient in the best of times. During a pandemic, it has become impossible.
But now there’s good news.
At-home access available to Quebecers
If you’re a resident of Quebec and your ancestors lived in the province between 1626 and 1802, you’ve just won the genealogy lottery.
During the past week, the Quebec Archives made an agreement with its supplier to unlock Parchment on its website and make remote access available to BAnQ cardholders.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Quebec residents had to apply in person at BAnQ for a free card. It’s possible that may have changed and residents can submit an online request. Non-residents, unfortunately, cannot access any of BAnQ’s subscription-based online resources, including Parchemin.
As for whether this at-home access will continue after the pandemic, BAnQ said in an email message they will review remote access to Parchemin when the annual subscription expires.
The indexed descriptions of the notarial records, however, are written in the language of the original documents, which are usually in French.
What is Parchemin?
The Parchemin database is an index of more than 559,168 notarial records that were created by 275 notaries from 1626 to 1801.
Each document on Parchemin provides the researcher with details to make it possible to find the original document, such as type of document, date, notary’s name, parties involved, their function or profession, their marital status, and their places of origin and residence.
Documents indexed in Parchemin are:
- Notarial minutes recorded in early Quebec between February 12, 1626 and December 31, 1801
- Notarial minutes pertaining to Western Forts (1700-1800) (Detroit area and Midwest) microfilmed by the Drouin Institute around 1940
- Notarial minutes of Acadia (1699-1759) preserved in the departmental archives of Charente-Maritime in La Rochelle (France)
- Notarial minutes in the Baby Collection (1620-1900), from the Documents and archives management division of the Université de Montréal
- Notarial minutes in the records of the Bailiff’s Court, in the royal jurisdiction of Montréal (1647-1734)
- Private writings from the Montréal area (1648-1790)
- Actes des insinuations de la Prévôté de Montréal (1684-1760) [official record of registrations in the Prévôté de Montréal (1684-1760)]
- Notarial minutes of the Principality of Liège, preserved in the State Archives in Liège (Belgium)
- Notarial minutes of the Province of Walloon Brabant, preserved in the State Archives in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium)
Part two — How to access and search Parchemin
As for how to how to access Parchemin through the BAnQ website and how to search the database, there will be a blog post on it tomorrow that will take you through the steps with plenty of images and tips.
In the meantime, if you want to explore Parchemin on your own, visit the BAnQ home page. Select Catalogue in the right margin. On the Search the catalogue page, enter parchemin. The access point to Parchemin should appear at the top of your results. Click on that link. You will then need to enter your BAnQ card number and password.
Many thanks to Simon C. Tremblay for telling me about this new remote access to Parchemin through the BAnQ website — and for keeping me away from my chores.
One of the best things about genealogy is that we collaborate with each other and share our knowledge.
Kudos to BAnQ for responding within a couple of hours to questions about the at-home access to Parchemin. If only all archival centres were as quick to respond.
Read also How to access and search the Parchemin database of Quebec notary records.
