Three Distinct Franco-American Trails We Trace
Because our studio was founded in France (as Les Grands Papiers) and works daily in French, Belgian, and North American archives, we trace all three major streams of French heritage in the United States:
- 1. French-Canadian & Franco-American Families (New England, New York, Michigan, Minnesota): Between 1840 and 1930, nearly one million Quebecois families migrated south to work in the textile mills and lumber towns of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the Great Lakes. Once we connect your American grandparents to their first Quebec marriage, Quebec’s Catholic parish registers (the Drouin Collection and PRDH) carry the lineage generation by generation back to the 17th-century pioneers and Filles du Roi who sailed from Normandy, Poitou, Aunis, Saintonge, and Paris.
- 2. Acadian, Cajun & Louisiana Creole Families: From New Orleans sacramental and notarial records, Spanish/French colonial archives, and the Wall of Names at St. Martinville, we trace families through the 1755 Grand Dérangement back to Port-Royal and western France.
- 3. Direct 19th- & 20th-Century Emigrants from France (Alsace-Lorraine, Brittany, Bearn/Basque Country, Auvergne, Paris): Using French passport registers (such as Bordeaux and Le Havre), Ellis Island/New Orleans manifests, and France’s 96 Departmental Archives.
From 1792 État Civil Back to 1539 Parish & Notarial Records
In France, every birth, marriage, and death since September 1792 is recorded in municipal civil registers, indexed in ten-year Tables décennales, and backed up by five-year household censuses and detailed military service files (fiches matricules). Before 1792, parish registers mandated since the 1539 Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts and royal notarial marriage contracts allow us to reconstruct centuries of rural and artisan life.
In your finished hardcover book, every French or Latin act is reproduced in high resolution with a complete English translation and historical commentary on the facing page.
Begin With a Free 48-Hour Archival Feasibility Check
Before you spend a single dollar, share the names, approximate dates, and American towns you already know in the form below. Within 48 hours, our historians check the surviving US and European records for your family and reply in writing with what can be proven, a proposed chapter outline, a guaranteed delivery date, and a firm USD quote for both our Ancestor Portrait ($590) and our Lineage Edition ($1,690).
Frequently Asked Questions
01Our French surname was Americanized in New England or Louisiana (e.g. Leblanc to White, Roi to King, Boisvert to Greenwood). Can you still trace it?
Yes. Surname translation (dit names and Anglicizations) was routine in 19th-century mill towns and parishes: Boulanger became Baker, Charpentier became Carpenter, Lefebvre became Bean or Fever, Deschamps became DeShong. French-Canadian Catholic parishes in the US almost always recorded the original French surname and parents’ names in the baptism and marriage register, allowing us to bridge directly back to Quebec and France.