Question for Quebec researchers

Question

 I've been researching one of the pioneers of my home town, Ephrem Prefontaine.  Eph (1856-1947) and his brother Alphonse (Alph) (1848-1911) have a street and a mesa named after them.  They emigrated to Colorado, presumably from Quebec. According to an article in a local paper, Alph went back to Canada with his brother Fabien in 1911 because he wanted to die there. No local sources (e.g., obits) give information on their parents. 

In Ancestry, I found the following family in the 1871 Canada census, and I assume that this is Eph's family (they're not listed together in Family Search).   ANDREA PREFONTAINE--49; MARY--50; JOSEPH--27; LOUISE--26; ALPHONSE--24; AMANDA--23; JULIA--22; GEORGE--19; FABIEN--18; HERMENEGILDE--16; EPHEREM--15; GEORGINE--11; HONORINE--8

There is a profile for Andre Prefontaine, Préfontaine-67, who I assume is Eph and Alph's dad, but since I would be adding 2 children to the profile, I contacted the profile manager to see what she thought.  Since that was awhile ago, and I haven't received a reply, I wondered what others thought about whether this is a logical assumption.

If there are additional records, such as christening records, which establish the relationship, that would be useful too. If you concur that Andre is Eph and Alph's dad, and if you can find more information on Fabien, I will add them to Andre's profile as his children. 

Thanks.

Answer 1

In my family tree, i have Fabien Préfontaine (André & Marie-Louise Jeannotte) & Roseline Ouimet (13 children at least). Two of them are Alphonse & Ephrem. I have a few pictures of those children.

Answer 2

Hello. Yes you have the correct family. His parents are André Fournier dit Préfontaine and Marie Louise Janot. I attached his parents.

Comments

Thanks so much.

Answer 3

Hi There: Quebec records are very good and quite easy to access, and three pay sites have good indexes. These are BMS2000 http://www.bms2000.org/en  Covers most years up to very recent and has links to older records at FamilySearch.

and Quebec Genealogy (Drouin) https://www.genealogiequebec.com/en/ Covers all records to 1861, then marriages to about 1997. Links to most actual records.

and PRDH https://www.prdh-igd.com/  University of Montreal, now run by Drouin. All records to about 1849. No images, but excellent family group sheets. Great secondary source. Go to FamilySearch or Drouin for actual records.

The Quebec National Archives is free and covers about 1885 to 1915 for all parishes: http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/ecivil/  Not searchable, so you need to find the dates on another site like BMS2000, then come here for the record.

Let me know if you need anything specific looked up.

Jim

Comments

Thanks, Jim.  It's nice to have these listed.  I've already overspent my budget until next year on pay sources for people I'm not related to, most recently acquiring a pension file for $80 for my cousin's ancestor (not mine), but next year I'll try a trial of one or more of these sites.

Answer 4

If this is indeed the son of these parents, then he is born 13 Apr, baptized Pierre Éphrem Préfontaine on 14 Apr 1856 in Beloeil, Bas-Canada, his parents are listed as André Préfontaine and Marie Louise Janot https://www.genealogiequebec.com/Membership/LAFRANCE/img/acte/5469343 bapt. image Drouin Institute (membership)

If you get a subscription to Drouin Institute, costs $100 Cdn a year plus taxes.  Not sure how they work conversions to US $.

Comments

While I have numerous French Canadian relatives and ancestors, I am on a strict budget as a retired person.  My mother gave me a subscription to Ancestry for a year, but I could never justify spending $100 a year for a subscription to anything.  Thanks for the information though, which may be of interest to someone else.

Answer 5

Uploading screenshot of Drouin Institute Genealogique (IGD) content to Prefontaine-129 / Ephrem Prefontaine  profile is not permitted according to IDG Terms of Service, which necessarily implies that the baptism record derived from subscription-based websites such as IGD can strictly speaking only be treated as secondary information as defined by Elizabeth Shown Mills's Evidence Explained..

PRDH-IGD can be searched free to show that a) Andre Fournier Prefontaine was born in Beloeil in 1822, b) Andre Fournier Prefontaine & Marie Louise Janot Lachapelle were married in St-Marc-sur-Richelieu in 1842, and, c) Andre Alphonse Fournier Prefontaine was born in Beloeil in1846. The advantage of the free access content is that PRDH-IDG Terms of Service allows including in WikiTree profile as url link.  However, free search of PRDH-IGD's database does not turn up Ephreme Prefontaine. That is, database does not yet include BMS parish records beyond 1849. One can get subscription access providing more detailed information on a sliding cost-per-hit basis, the mimimum subscription package offered being $19.99 CDN for 100 hits or 20 cents per hit. 

Sources with secondary information are so far the only legit game going in the Prefontaine-129 / Ephreme Prefontaine  profile. 

Edit: Strike out text inferring that IGD BMS record image sources are secondary information.

Edit Ephreme > Ephrem

Comments

Here is free access FamilySearch citation for Pierre Ephreme Prefontaine's baptism record dated April 14, 1856:

• "Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99Q-39FG-H?cc=1321742&wc=HCWT-C68%3A13626401%2C13626402%2C13938301 : 16 July 2014), Beloeil > Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1839-1863 > image 393 of 556; Archives Nationales du Quebec (National Archives of Quebec), Montreal.

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Fournier-2240 / André Alphone Fournier aka Préfontaine (b. on Oct 3, 1846) was added yesterday as brother of Prefontaine-130 / Alphonse Prefontaine (b. in 1648) and Prefontaine-129 / Ephreme Prefontaine (b. on 13 Apr 1856), which raises a couple of unresolved issues regarding this G2G question.

First, Fournier 2240 & Prefontaine-130 appear to be duplicates of the same sibling. FamilySearch baptism record image shows that André Alphonse Fournier, baptised on 3 Oct 1846 at Beloeil, is the son of André Fournier dit Préfontaine & Marie Janot dit Lachapelle.^ PRDH-IGD free access search shows that Andre Alphonse Fournier Prefontaine was born/baptised on Oct 3, 1846 at Beloeil.

Secondly, PRDH's use of the last name Fournier Prefontaine is a standardized convention for the André Fournier dit Préfontaine / Marie Louise Janot line.

The bottom line is that Fournier-2240 should probably be merged into Prefontaine-130 so as to avoid father Prefontaine-67 profile ID having mix of sons with Fournier- & Prefontaine- profile IDs. It is very doubtful that there is a separate son called Alphonse born in 1648. For example, based on 1871 census data cited in original question above, Alphonse's age is 26 and therefore born in 1845-46.

Edit, ^-marked citation added:

^ "Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99Q-39FG-H?cc=1321742&wc=HCWT-C68%3A13626401%2C13626402%2C13938301 : 16 July 2014), Beloeil > Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1839-1863 > image 169 of 556; Archives Nationales du Quebec (National Archives of Quebec), Montreal.

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In Canada 1901 census, Fabien Préfontaine & his spouse Rosaline are enumerated as living in Roxton Falls and as being born in Quebec on, respectively,  27 Nov 1854 and 17 Apr 1862, Nos Origines showing Fabien's spouse's maiden name to be Ouimet and showing Fabien's father André as having died on Oct 20, 1889 with burial in Roxton Falls. Fabien Préfontaine does not appear in parish register baptism records for either Beloeil or Roxton Falls. It is likely to Roxton Falls that Ephrem Préfontaine went back to in Canada from the US in 1911.