Hello, I'm trying to track down records for Joseph F Richard, approx date of birth 1858

Question

Hello, I have been using the search tools at ancestry .com to trace back my Richards family name. I can only get as far back as my 2nd great grandfather Joseph F Richard, born in 1858 in E Canada (only reference) both his parents were born in Canada (no names). He might have moved to Massachusetts as early as 1868 and married Mary A. Burns in 1882, had 4 children- James F, Mary, Rose P and Raymond Joseph, and died in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1928.

Comments

I find this

Joseph Richard

 in the 1861 Census of Canada

View

• View original image

•  

• Report issue

Name:	Joseph Richard
Gender:	Male
Age:	3
Birth Year:	1858
Birthplace:	Lower Canada
Marital Status:	Single
Home in 1861:	Montcalm, Canada East
Film Number:	C-1297-1298
Page Number:	120
Household Members:	Name Age Joseph Richard 3

---

and this

Joseph Richard

 in the 1861 Census of Canada

View

• View original image

•  

• Report issue

Name:	Joseph Richard
Gender:	Male
Age:	3
Birth Year:	1858
Birthplace:	Lower Canada
Home in 1861:	Richelieu, Canada East
Religion:	Roman Catholic
Film Number:	C-1312
Page Number:	4
Household Members:	Name Age Joseph Richard 3

Cancel

---

Joseph F Richard

 in the U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project)

View

•  

• Report issue

Name:	Joseph F Richard
Birth Date:	25 Oct 1858
Birth Place:	Quebec
Age at event:	23
Court District:	Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont
Date of Action:	17 Oct 1882

---

Thanks Betty! I'm pretty sure thats him, the 2nd one down in Brockton, Mass- & funny little coincidence that according to that, his birthday is today! I wish it listed his parent's names, thats where I'm stuck. I know from another record that his father was born in Canada, and that his wife was born in France, but I dont have their names. I dont know if he had brothers or sisters. What does PQ mean under country of birth or allegience? is that Quebec?

---

I'm not sure what PQ means.

Here is an 1871 census of Canada

Joseph Richard

 in the 1871 Census of Canada

View

•  

• Report issue

Name:	Joseph Richard
Gender:	Male
Age:	13
Birth Year:	abt 1858
Birth Place:	Quebec
Religion:	Catholic
Origin:	French
Province:	Quebec
District:	Montcalm
District Number:	101
Division:	01
Subdistrict:	St Jacques
Subdistrict Number:	a
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Amable Ralelie 79 Theophile Richard 46 Eulalié Richard 46 Zacharie Richard 21 Valerié Richard 18 Azarie Richard 16 Joseph Richard 13 Emma Richard 6 Céline Richard 3

---

P.Q. = Port of Quebec

http://www.portquebec.ca/en/

---

this is the name of my grandfather .wonder if this one may be an ancester of my grandfather who was married to Annie Savoie

---

It's not the right Joseph Richard

Answer 1

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-WB3Y

 

 

Jos F Richard

New Brunswick Provincial Marriages 1789-1950

Name	Jos F Richard
Event Type	Marriage
Event Date	20 Apr 1903
Event Place	Richibucto Village, Kent, New Brunswick, Canada
Gender	Male
Age	46
Birth Year (Estimated)	1857
Father's Name	Jr Richard
Mother's Name	Marg Richard
Spouse's Name	Marg Maillet
Spouse's Gender	Female
Spouse's Age	39
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated)	1864
Spouse's Father's Name	Pierre Maillet
Spouse's Mother's Name	Osithe Leger
Certificate Number	002939
Page	71

Answer 2

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV95-GBXB

 

Joseph F Richard

Canada Census, 1911

Name	Joseph F Richard
Event Type	Census
Event Date	1911
Event Place	Kent Sub-Districts 1-17, New Brunswick, Canada
Gender	Male
Age (Estimated)	53
Marital Status	Widowed
Relationship to Head of Household	Head
Birth Date	May 1858
Birthplace	N B

Comments

Thank you Frank Gill! almost a match, but a few things are off, wife died 3 years sooner, and he had already immigrated to Massachusetts in 1885 (I just discovered his year of immigration & naturalization to the US, so I'll see if I can track down more through that). Thanks again- I appreciate any and all help, if you or anyone else finds more leads on Joseph F Richards, I would be much obliged. I've gone down the rabbit hole, this is starting to get fun

Answer 3

This reminds me of my search for my 2nd g. grandfather, Pierre/Peter Richard.

Do you know where he died? The answer we found was one one of the obituaries in a local newspaper in his small town in Massachusetts (there were a couple of obits, only one of them listed the town). That newspaper listed his town (Trois Rivieres, Quebec) *forgive spelling* His Catholic church records didn't even have what we needed.

No death certificate yet, either? Pierre's DC listed his father's name, but only "Canada" as place of birth.

This wasn't a quick fix for us, you may need a local search like we did.

Barb

 

Comments

Hi, thanks Barbara & Frank! I do know where he died, and I've found a bunch of census records after the point he moves to Fall River, Mass in 1880 and marries in 82 (which rules out the other possible J F Richards listed), and then moves to Brockton, Mass where he spent most of the rest of his life. I dont have a death cert yet though, but I know he was a barber. None of those records have yielded his parent's names yet though. I think you are right about trying to find a newspaper obit, and now that I think of it- one of his own sons is listed as a writer for a newspaper in all of the census records I've seen, (my 2nd great uncle) I wonder if he wrote an obit for his own father? He was Raymond Joseph Richards and lived around Brockton, Mass also. I'll try to track down some obits next.

At least I know his birthday positively now, and Port of Quebec too, (although I'm finding there may be a bit of a language barrier). Thanks again guys!

---

I'm a member of two organizations that specialize in French Canadian & Quebecquois research. There are others here too who are probably members. PRDH-IGD and the Drouin Institute. Your family member is just after their records stop (1850), so I wasn't able to do a search on him - I could have come up with a list for his father.

Basically, once you get into Canada with certainty, there are loads of information (a lot of it is free). Like you, it was getting there that was the issue.

Good luck!

Answer 4

hello,

The Joseph F Richard you described is my great-great grandfather. My grandfather is Raymond J Richard, his son. I'll gladly share my Ancestry page with plenty of info if you send me an email.

Comments

I'm connected now. The Raymond Joseph Richard the writer is my father

---

Hi Ray Richard! thanks for your reply. I guess that makes us distant cousins. I let my ancestry membership lapse a while ago because I hit a wall on Joseph F Richard, but I will renew it and take another look with your family tree info. I found a picture of your dad on ancestry a while back, and I thought my dad looks a lot like him.  keefpatrick1@gmail.com Thanks for messaging me! -Keith

---

oops I think the picture I mentioned was of your grandfather, not your dad

---

Hi Keith,

I think I found a match on the ever-evasive Joseph Richard ( my great grandfather). I found a Joseph Richard in Fall River who married Mary A Burns of Fall River, then moved the family to Fall River (James his first son was born in Fall River). I'm going to the Mass Archives in Dorchester to check out the microfilmed version of this info

Ray R