Useful Links
The following sites contain useful and varied information to extend the understanding or knowledge of the Acadian experiences. Some contain transcriptions of pertinent documents, lists, censuses or parish register entries.
Three of the best historical I’ve found, all quite extensive so take your time to explore:
Acadian & Cajun Genealogy & History at:
http://www.acadian-cajun.com - Tim Hebert’s site has loads of historical info for the Acadian and Cajun time periods. There are also sections on every exile destination. This site is a must.
Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home at:
http://www.acadian-home.org - Lucie LeBlanc Consentino’s site also has wonderful historical coverage of both the Acadian and French Canadian time periods. Also quite extensive, but the time is well worth it, another must visit.
For more history try Peter Landry’s “Blupete” site at:
http://www.blupete.com/History.htm particularly the section titled “A Table of Seven Parts”.
For general searching and pointers towards specific censuses or registers:
The LDS site (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) is always a useful finding aid..
http://www.familysearch.org. It now has online, searchable censuses for 1881 Canada, 1880 United States, and 1881 British Isles.
The National Archives of Canada:
http://www.archives.ca It now has online the scanned pages censuses for 1851, 1901 & 1911.
Automated Genealogy: Click on '1901' in the upper right-hand corner to access searchable transcriptions of the 1901 Canadian census. 100% transcribed.
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB): Select your language and then 'government records' under online research, then RS141. Gives a good collection of births, marriages and deaths (incomplete). There are also sites for the other provinces.
http://archives.gnb.ca/Archives
http://www.ogs.on.ca/resources/first.html - Ontario Genealogical Society. Click on OGS Provincial Index to access a wealth of transcriptions from Ontario censuses plus.
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/cap/acadian/surnames.asp - Public Archives of Nova Scotia. This site contains the registers of St. Jean Baptiste, Annapolis Royal 1702-1755 (Port Royal to Acadians, and is easily searchable)
Other sites with a more narrow or particular focus:
1752 Sieur de la Roque census of Ile St. Jean (now Prince Edward Island) at:
http://www.islandregister.com/1752.html/ - This is the complete transcription of the entire 1752 census of Ile St. Jean.
PEI Baptismal Database Index is available on the official website of the Government of Prince Edward Island: http://www.edu.pe.ca/paro/ . It also contains a census documents data search.
If you are a descendant of Jean Baptiste Pitre / Cecile Boudrot (Acadia/Quebec) then have a look at Diane Pitre Werner’s “Pitre Family History” site at
http://www.geocities.com/pitre_family. She has been gathering more detailed information on her particular line and has set this within its historical context.
Passenger lists for ships from England to France in 1763, Chatellerault to Nantes in 1775-6, and France to Louisiana in 1785, are all included in Francois Roux’s site at:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froux/divers/histoire.htm
Need help with a translation? Try:
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/
Pasting in the paragraph that you need translated will give you a straightforward translation, sometimes with a bit garbled syntax. Very helpful. Item of trivia: Pitre (when doing French to English) translates as clown.
If your ancestor is from the Lafourche / Terrebonne area of Louisiana, Brian J. Oster has compiled a good collection of ancestral trees at http://www.vienici.com Well-presented, easily-searchable cemetery transcriptions compiled by Robert B. Looper are a valuable addition to the site.
http://www.pitre.info/Genealogy - If your Pitre ancestry is from one of the St. Landry, Louisiana branches, try Boisy Pitre's site, which concentrates on his 2xgreat-grandfather Joseph Artemon Pitre of Opelousas.
To better understand how degrees of consanguinity and/or affinity can help your research, try
http://www.islandregister.com/consanguinity.html . The explanation is provided by Dan MacDonald.
http://www.notredamedesneigescemetery.ca/en/research - Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery, Montreal. Burials since 1865. The link seems to have changed and the ability to search burials also seems to have been taken offline.
http://www.ldaf.state.la.us/divisions/marketing/marketbulletin/on-line-issues.asp - Click on the issue for 9 June 2005 to read article about my great-grandparents' house. Article starts on back page (p. 12) and is continued on page 10.
If your line is from the L'Ardoise, Nova Scotia area then the site begun by Patrick Burke and now continued by Paul C. Landry is a must: http://lardoise.netfirms.com/index.html#L'Ardoise%20index
The Acadian Roots site at www.acadian-roots.com by Aline Cormier has quite a few searchable censuses, parish registers, cemetery lists and other goodies not usually found online or at no charge. The concentration is mainly New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, but there are other areas. Have a look!
Northern New York Historical Newspapers at http://news.nnyln.net/ are great just for the historical read. Even better though is the search facility. While it isn't perfect you're sure to find a lot of people you seek.
For Massachusetts try http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/SearchWelcome.html to access the Massachusetts Archives searchable collections.
For Michigan try http://seekingmichigan.org for online death certificates.
For locating a grave try: http://www.findagrave.com/ If you're lucky your ancestor's cemetery will be included. If you're really lucky a photo of the tombstone memorial will also be online.
For 'Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records' try: http://www.deathindexes.com/
United Kingdom:
The British Newspaper Archive - subscription: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk - coverage in some counties/areas better than others
General Register Office: certificates for births, marriages, deaths in England & Wales, government website. Free to use site, but £7 to order a PDF birth/death certificate and £11 to order a marriage certificate. - www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates
Free BMD Search: Easier to use for searches than above site as you can search a larger timeframe in one go. Once you find the item you want, enter the details into the GRO site. The GRO site will also give you the maiden name of the mother for a birth, and the age for a death certificate. If you're searching for a marriage, this site will let you click on the item to see who else is listed on the same page. This helps narrow down if you have the right marriage, particularly if you know the first name of the spouse or can cross-check against a census. - www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
Dusty Docs: Provides links to free genealogical websites containing Parish Records. Can search by county and then town. http://dustydocs.com/
FreeReg: Search Parish Registers by county and town and timeframe. Not exhaustive but often helpful in locating baptisms, marriages and deaths. - www.freereg.org.uk
Last updated: 16 October 2020.