Where do you go from here?
Now that you have found out all you can about your parents and grandparents from your own records and by asking relatives, and recorded that information, it's time to start digging for more information and more people. In this post, I'm going to talk mainly about three resources:
Vital Records
Obituaries
Census Records

Vital Records
Maine Municipalities have been required to report vital records to the state of Maine since 1892. Prior to that time any birth, marriage and death records that were created were kept by the towns or cities. Some of these early records have been lost in fires and some have just disappeared. In small towns and townships the records were often kept in the home of the clerk and some were eventually discarded. In the 1920's the state made an attempt to collect older records, but only 20% of the towns and cities provided copies. Some of those records were published by the Maine Historical Society in the mid to late 20th century and those volumes are available in many libraries throughout the state. In recent years, Picton Press in Rockland has also been publishing vital records for many Maine communities and they vary in the time fram that they cover Records from 1892 - 1922 are available in the Maine State Archives and microfilm copies of those records have been deposited at several locations in the state. The Maine Office of Vital Records maintains the records for 1922 to present, though you will find that 1922-1955 are also available at the state archives on microfilm. Indexes to Maine Marriages from 1892 to 1996 (with a 10 year gap from 1966-1976) and Maine Deaths from 1960-1996 are available at the Maine State Archives. These indexes will help you narrow down your search in the actual records, but will not provide you with the information that the record will. (Another source for death information is the Social Security Death Index. This resource covers the period from 1960 to present -within a few months - and covers the whole country.) For more information about the Maine vital records see the Genealogy Resources page of the Archives website.

Canadian Vital Records
Most of us have French Canadian ancestors who came to Maine in the late 1800s and early 1900's, so recent (20th century) vital records for Canada are of little use to us, but this site provides information about where to go for records in each province and what years the records cover. Unfortunately, it doesn't include web sites, but you can use your web browser to find any of these provincial offices.

Obituaries
Another good source of family information, particularly from the mid to late 20th century, is an obituary from the newspaper. Many obits include date of birth, date of death, name of parents, spouse, children and siblings and place of burial. There aren't obituaries for all deaths, and sometimes they contain little useful information, but it's always worth taking a look. Bangor papers are available at Bangor Public Library and at the University of Maine - Fogler Library. Look at the Maine Newspapers at Fogler Library list to see what other papers are housed at Fogler. Historical societies and libraries are beginning to transcribe or scan obituaries into computer databases, so you may have some luck doing an online search, but so far, a very small percentage of this work has been completed, so if you have access to the papers for the town or city where your ancestor died, and have a death date, going to the source is your best bet. If you don't know a death date or place then you will want to look at one of the available indexes mentioned above. Abbott Memorial Library in Dexter has created an Obituary database that currently includes obits from 1944 to present.

U.S. Census
The first federal census taken in the U.S. was in 1790 and for the first 6 decenniel censuses, the only names recorded were those of heads of each household. All other household members were indicated by a tally mark in the appropriate age range and gender. In 1950 they started to record every member of the household, though relationship to the head of the household was not indicated until 1880. The most recent census available is 1930 and 1940 will be available in 2010 - something to look forward to.
Bangor Public Library has two resources that provide access to the U.S. Census, Heritage Quest, which you can access from home, and Ancestry Library Edition, which you can use only at the library. Ancestry is more complete and therefore a better resource, but it is sometimes good to look at both if you are having trouble finding someone or reading something.

Canadian Census
Using the census records for Canada is much more complicated than using U.S. records. A good guide to these records can be found at the Canadian Genealogy Centre and some online census data is available at ArchiviaNet from Library and Archives Canada. Microfilm of some of the Canadian Census are available at the University of Maine Fogler Library in the government documents area. Ask at the Reference desk for assistance.

Other resources
These are all records to consider when looking for your ancestors. Later on, when we get into more detail and look at specific topics, we'll hit on these again. For now, here is some basic information about each record type.

Military records
Lest we forget: The value of military service records
How to Trace Your US Military Ancestors

Cemetery and funeral home records
All About Cemeteries and Funeral Homes
Access Genealogy: Cemetery records

Municipal reports
Annual reports for all Maine cities and towns are available in the Maine State Library and Fogler Library, University of Maine. Check URSUS for holdings. Search for the subject "Town Reports - Maine - [town name]. Early and mid 20th century reports often include births, deaths, and marriages for the year in each volume.

Court records
Probate and land records in Maine are kept at the county level and are available in the courthouses of each county seat.
How to Read Probate Records

Immigration records
French Canadian Emigration to the United States, 1840-1930
Maine's French Communities
French in the United States


You've probably noticed that we haven't talked about church records yet. These records are very important to doing Franco-American research and we'll talk about those in the next post, so stay tuned.