Quebec Emigration and Immigration

In 1760, Québec had 65,000 inhabitants. Most were of French origin. By 1791, the population had increased to 160,000 because of a high birthrate and the arrival of about 20,000 English-speaking people. American Loyalists were soon joined by Scottish, English, and Irish immigrants. By the mid-1800s, about 25% of the population was of British origin. This has decreased to about 10% today. In 1994, French was the native language of about 81% of Québec's seven million inhabitants. In the early twentieth century, the largest groups of immigrants were the British, eastern Europeans and Italians. Recently immigrants have arrived from Portugal, Haiti, Greece, and various southeast Asian countries. Many have settled in Montréal.

French Immigrants

 * For information about early French immigrants to Québec, see the sources listed in Quebec Biography, Quebec Genealogy, and Quebec Church Records.
 * In the early 17th century, the Perche, France Region was the point of departure for many French emigrants, and a number of major families in Quebec.
 * See Online list of emigrants who left Perche in the 17th and 18th centuries and The Museum of French Emigration to Canada
 * Tourouvre et les Juchereau: a chapter of Percheron emigration to Canada, e-book. ($) In French.
 * Men and women, alone or with their families, lumberjacks, labourers, Filles du roi (young women sent to New France under royal auspices), monks, nuns, soldiers, mariners… all arrived in the 17th century and were the first to populate Canada. They left France, mainly from the region of Perche, confronted the ocean, defied a difficult winter, cleared the land and built the first houses on the banks of the Saint-Lawrence River.With great courage, they faced the challenges of the New World, and they succeeded. They settled in Quebec, the Coast of Beaupré, the isle of Orleans (from 1634), Montreal (from 1642). Under the influence of the apothecary Robert Giffard and the Juchereau brothers, rich merchants from Perche, Tourouvre was one of the most active emigration centers. It was not the only one - Mortagne-au-Perche, Saint-Cosme-en-Vairais (now in the département of the Sarthe) and around thirty other parishes of the region (today situated in the département of the Orne for the most part) - were also very active.  Between 1634 and 1666, 246 inhabitants of Perche left their native land to settle in New France, on the banks of the Saint-Lawrence River. Many of them came from the parish of Tourouvre. They were among the first inhabitants to build the houses and clear the immense lands that would soon become Quebec. Thousands of emigrants from all regions of France joined them. Thus developed the country that Jacques Cartier, on his second expedition in 1535, named Canada.


 * There are only scattered immigration records for other groups before 1865. For tracing origins of early immigrants from France see the online database FichierOrigine. This website gives specific places of origin in France as well as other information on early immigrants.
 * A list of the king's Daughters plus a list of men who came to the colony in 1665 as a soldier of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. Some 400 soldiers remained in New France, many of them marrying one of the filles du roi (King's Daughters).
 * The King's Daughters (French: filles du roi; filles du roy) is a term used to refer to the approximately 800 young French women who immigrated to New France between 1663 and 1673 as part of a program sponsored by King Louis XIV of France. The program was designed to boost New France's population both by encouraging male colonizers to settle there, and by promoting marriage, family formation and the birth of children.

American Loyalist
Because of the American Revolution, many Loyalists settled in Canada. An example of a source for American Loyalists who arrived before 1800 is:

''The Loyalists of the Eastern Townships of Québec. Stanbridge East, Québec, Canada'' : Sir John Johnson Centennial Branch U.E.L., 1984. (FHL book 971.4 H2Le.) May show place of origin, arrival date, military unit, residences, land purchases, and sources. This is indexed in:

Reisinger, Joy. Index to Loyalists of the Eastern Townships. [Sparta, Wisconsin, USA]: Joy Reisinger, 198-?. (Family History Library .)

Scottish Immigrants
Beginning in 1815, immigration from the British Isles was encouraged. One source for Scottish immigrants who settled in the Eastern Townships between 1838 and 1890 is: Lawson, Bill. A Register of Emigrant Families from the Western Isles of Scotland to the Eastern Townships of Québec, Canada. Eaton Corner, Québec Canada: Compton County Historical Museum Society, 1988. WorldCat

Huguenots
Huguenots in New France/Quebec. This database hold the name of 321 Huguenots who stayed or established in New-France from the beginning of the colony to 1763.

Names of early Québec immigrants from other published lists have been indexed in:

Filby, P. William. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, Three Volumes plus annual supplements Detroit, Michigan, USA: Gale Research, 1981–. (Family History Library ; some volumes on Family History Library film beginning with .)

The St. Lawrence Steamboat Company passenger records, 1819-1836. After arriving by ship at the port of Quebec, most passengers continued by steam ship from Quebec City to Montreal. Passenger lists do not always survive for the ocean portion of the trip, however the passenger records of the St. Lawrence Steam ship Company do. They are being transcribed by volunteers on this web site and are posted through 1835.

Emigrant Naturalizations
More than 40,000 Québec residents moved to the United States between 1840 and 1850. Another 500,000 moved to the United States between 1850 and 1900. The U.S. naturalization records include valuable information on many of them. If your ancestor left before 1900 and settled in the northeastern United States, look in:

United States, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Index to New England Naturalization Petitions, 1791–1906. Washington, DC, USA: National Archives, 1983. (Family History Library

Other U.S. naturalization records are discussed in United States Naturalization and Citizenship.

Canadian Border Crossing Records
The United States kept records of people crossing the border from Canada to the United States. These records are called border crossing lists, passenger lists, or manifests. There are two kinds of manifests:


 * Manifests of people sailing from Canada to the United States.
 * Manifests of people traveling by train from Canada to the United States.

In 1895, Canadian shipping companies agreed to make manifests of passengers traveling to the United States. The Canadian government allowed U.S. immigration officials to inspect those passengers while they were still in Canada. The U.S. immigration officials also inspected train passengers traveling from Canada to the United States. The U.S. officials worked at Canadian seaports and major cities like Québec and Winnipeg. Many passengers from Québec went to New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine. The manifests from every seaport and emigration station in Canada were sent to St. Albans, Vermont.

The Family History Library has copies of both kinds of manifests. Because the manifests were sent to St. Albans, Vermont, they are called, St. Albans District Manifest Records of Aliens Arriving from Foreign Contiguous Territory. Despite the name, the manifests are actually from seaports and railroad stations all over Canada and the northern United States, not just Vermont.

Border Crossing Manifests
Manifests may include information about each person's name, port or station of entry, date of entry, literacy, last residence, previous visits to the United States, and birthplace. The manifests are reproduced in two series:

Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, Vermont, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1895–January 1921. (608 rolls; Family History Library .) Includes records from seaports and railroad stations all over Canada and the northern United States. These manifests provide two types of lists:

Traditional passenger lists on U.S. immigration forms.

Monthly lists of passengers crossing the border on trains. These lists are divided by month. In each month, the records are grouped by railroad station. (The stations are listed in alphabetical order.) Under the station, the passengers are grouped by railroad company.

Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, Vermont, District through Canadian Pacific Ports, 1929–1949. (25 rolls; Family History Library ) These list travelers to the United States from Canadian Pacific seaports only.

Border Crossing Indexes. In many cases, index cards were the only records kept of the crossings. These cards are indexed in four publications:

Soundex Index to Canadian Border Entries through the St. Albans, Vermont, District, 1895–1924. (400 rolls; Family History Library .)

The Soundex is a surname index based on the way a name sounds rather than how it is spelled. Names like Smith and Smyth are filed together.

Soundex Index to Entries into the St. Albans, Vermont, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1924–1952. (98 rolls; Family History Library .)

Alphabetical Index to Canadian Border Entries through Small Ports in Vermont, 1895–1924. (6 rolls; 1430987–92). Arranged first by port and then alphabetically by surname. From Vermont ports of entry only: Alburg, Beecher Falls, Canaan, Highgate Springs, Island Pond, Norton, Richford, St. Albans, and Swanton.

Card Manifests (Alphabetical) of Individuals Entering through the Port of Detroit, Michigan, 1906–1954. (117 rolls; Family History Library .) Michigan ports of entry only: Bay City, Detroit, Port Huron, and Sault Ste. Marie.

Passenger Lists

 * 1881-1922 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Other Emigration and Immigration Guides

 * 1621-1865 - at FamilySearch — index

Manifests for ships coming to the city of Québec and other major Canadian ports after 1865 are described in Canada Emigration and Immigration. France Emigration and Immigration and United States Emigration and Immigration list important sources of information about migrating people. These sources include many reference to people who either left or settled in Québec. Tracing Immigrant Origins introduces the principles of research, search strategies, and additional record types you can use to identify an immigrant ancestor's original hometown.

Digitized images of the manifests are available at Library and Archives of Canada web site. These can be searched by the name of ship, year of arrival, or other criteria, but not by the names of individuals.

Records of ethnic groups in Québec are listed in the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under QUEBEC - MINORITIES. Information about ethnic emigrants from Québec is available in many books written about other nations, provinces, or states. These books are listed in the Subject Search under headings such as FRENCH-CANADIANS - MAINE.