Getting Started
The first step for anyone interested in tracing their family is: Start with yourself and work back. Get a basic family chart like this, and start filling in the blanks with you as number 1. Fill in as many dates and places as you can, because this information will be helpful to you down the line. Talk to family members, and look at family records that you or they might have. Keep in mind that any information, particularly dates, that you get from family members will have to be verified with primary documents, but this information will ususally get you headed in the right direction. Primary documents that you or family members might have include birth, marriage and death certificates, military records, copies of wills or property deeds. Look also for photographs, especially useful are those that identify the subjects, newspaper clippings of family events or obituaries (two of my great-aunts clipped and saved obituaries of family members and I have found them to be a great source of information), family bibles, church records or certificates, family correspondence, diaries and any other documents that record the life events of your family members.

Once you have gathered and recorded all of the information that you have readily available to you, you can start filling in the blanks. You will want to record information about more than just your direct ancestors. You will find that siblings are equally important and in Franco-American and French Canadian families, there were often many children. In order to record all of these children, you will need a different form, a family group sheet.

At this point, I should mention that I don't use either of these forms any more. I have a computer program that I find a great time saver and a much more efficient way to keep my family information in order. I think filling out the forms is a great way for a beginner to get an idea of what information is important, and there are some genealogists who still prefer to use the paper forms, but I always recommend using a computer program if you have the resources available to you. I use Family
Tree Maker, but there are several others and even one you can download for free from the LDS website, Personal Ancestry File. Here is a site that compares and reviews the various genealogy software products that are available.

The family group sheet will give you space to record information about each child in a family including spouses and marriage dates. You will fill out one of these forms (either in paper or electronically) for each family that you encounter on you way back through the history of your family.

The next step is to learn some history of your ancestors.

Our French-Canadian ancestors came from two different areas of Canada. The Acadian settlement of Port Royal in what is now Nova Scotia began in 1604. In 1755, these ancestors were forced to leave their homes by the English and many were dispersed along the eastern seaboard of what is now the United States. Some moved west into Canada and Northern Maine and others settled in Louisiana. In 1608, another French settlement was established in what is now Quebec City. These ancestors (called French Canadians then, Quebecois now) populated the St. Lawrence river valley and when economic times were bad, started moving into New England, searching for work, first as traders, trappers and lumbermen and later as factory workers. Along the way they met up with the Acadians and married and had children. Certain surnames are associated with each group, though you may have to go back several generations to find an ancestor who is pure Acadian or French Canadian. Here are the Acadian surnames as recorded in various census years and another comprehensive list can be found here.

I recommend looking at some of these resources to familiarize yourself with the stories of the Acadians and the Quebecois.

Books:

French-Canadian Sources: A Guide for Genealogists The first four chapters of this book provide an easy to read brief history of the early French settlements in Canada.

History of the Acadians by Bona Arsenault

The Acadians of Madawaska, Maine by Charles W. Collins

Samuel De Champlain: Father of New France by Samuel Eliot Morison

The Franco Americans in Maine by Kenneth Carpenter

Other books of fiction:

Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather

Pelagie by Antonine Maillet

Web sites:

Discovery and Exploration of Canada from "The Quebec History Encyclopedia"

The Upper Saint John River Valley

Les origines Françaises des premières familles Acadiennes Early Acadian History and First Settlers (In French)

Acadia and the Acadians by Robert Chenard

Acadian and French Canadian Ancestral Home This site contains history of both Acadia and Quebec.

Well, that looks like plenty for this post. Next time I'll tell you how to find more about your grandparents and their parents in Maine and Canada.