Oh Those Dit Names!

1670 Baptism. Translation of underlined portion
“Jean, fils de Simeon le Roy dit Ody”
Jean, son of Simeon LeRoy dit Ody”
Image Source: Ancestry.com.
Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968

A reader on my Olive Genealogy Facebook Fan Page reminded me of the problems genealogists can encounter searching French ancestors who may have used dit names.

A dit name is an alias given to a family. A dit name doesn't just apply to one person, but to many members and generations of a family.

A dit name might be derived from any of the following:

* A nickname
* A location of origin
* Land owned
* Name used in Army
* Various other reasons

I have an ancestor who settled in New France (present day Quebec) in the 1660s. His name was Simeon LeRoi. His dit name was Audy. So in the records we might find him as

* Simeon LeRoi dit Audy
* Simeon LeRoi
* Simeon Audy
* Simeon Audy dit LeRoi

The LeRoi/LeRoy surname underwent great changes, becoming LeRoy dit Audy or Ody, Audy and Ody in New France (Quebec), and Laraway (with variant spellings) or LeRoy in the United States and Canada.

Some of Simeon's sons assumed the Audy dit name as a surname and there are Audy descendants today who are from Simeon LeRoi.

At least one of his sons (my ancestor) assumed the Larroway surname when English speaking clerks in New York began recording the French Le Roi as LeRoy and eventually Larroway

Some descendants use the LeRoy surname.

It's a challenge to trace backwards but researchers need to stick to it and keep those name variations in mind (dit names, accidental name changes, deliberate name changes, spelling variations, phonetic misinterpretations, etc.

So keep searching and don't give up if you are faced with a challenging ancestor. Check to see if he may have been from New France at one time. Perhaps a dit name enters into your challenge.

Drouin Institute and Ancestry.com reach an agreement!

The Drouin Institute website has just announced that an agreement has been reached with Ancestry.comregarding the indexing of the Drouin Records.

I first talked about the pulling of the Drouin Records in

Ancestry in Arbitration over Drouin Records

And Is there Genealogical Life Without Drouin

Readers and Genealogists will be happy to know that the Drouin records will once again be available to subscribers on the Ancestry.com website as of September 21st.

Read Drouin versus Ancestry case settlement by arbitration (In French)

The posted version on the French language part of the Drouin website reads:

C O M M U N I Q U É

Ancestry.com et M. Jean-Pierre Pepin (Institut généalogique Drouin) annoncent à leur clientèle et à l’ensemble de la communauté des généalogistes qu’ils ont procédé au règlement de leur différend.

Ce faisant, les parties ont pris en compte les préoccupations des généalogistes énoncées dans les dernières semaines.

Ainsi, Ancestry.com remettra en ligne le Fonds Drouin numérisé sur son site internet à compter de lundi le 21 septembre 2009.

Les parties remercient la communauté des généalogistes et leur souhaitent bonne recherche pour l’avenir.

Ancestry.com
Institut généalogique Drouin

Montréal le 17 septembre 2009

Basically this says that Ancestry and Jean Pierre Pepin of Drouin Institute have listened to online genealogists concerns and that Ancestry.com will once again offer the Drouin records online as of Monday Sept 21st.

Is there Genealogical Life without Drouin?

The recent arbitration between Ancestry.com and Drouin Institute over the Drouin Records has caused quite an uproar in the genealogy community. Many researchers feel that their genealogical research into Quebec ancestors is over with the pulling of the Drouin Collection.

Pam Tessier (pamtessier@sympatico.ca) posted the following information on a Rootsweb mailing list. With her permisson her original email is being published here. I have added links to the resources Pam suggests, and also added a few of my own suggestions for Quebec and New France genealogy research resources.

I agree with Pam - life is NOT over because the Drouin Collection has been pulled. Yes it's a wonderful resource, but while we wait to see if it can be brought back, let's move on to other valuable resources and find our French-Canadian ancestors.

And now -- Pam's email:

Believe it or not, there are other sources and there was a genealogical research life before the Drouin appeared on Ancestry.

The PRDH is an excellent research source for Quebec records and the BMS2000 is another one. Both are great subscription sites and well worth the relatively cheap costs.

If you are only interested in free sites then try the LDS Pilot Project under Quebec records or visit your local Family History Centre and do it the old fashioned way - microfilm in a film reader and turn a crank or push a button.

Check your local library and see if you can find a copy of Rene Jette's Genealogies of the French Families (Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles du Quebec) or Cyprien Tanguay's books. Tanguay was on-line but it is not a source I use anymore so you will have to check.

[Also] the Drouin collection of transcribed BMD records is also available in a set of books - albeit a bit of hike for some of us to the Canadian Room of the North York Library.

The so-called Blue and Red Drouin marriage books are available at branches of the Societe Franco//-Ontarienne d'Histoire et de Généalogie. Try contacting them on-line for a lookup. It will probably cost you something but then these organizations don't exist on air. The Library of Canada will also send you every known marriage with your surname, from the landing in Quebec City to the present, for a very, very modest fee. The Red or 'Petit' Drouin is available on CD from many on-line book stores. From originals to transcripts, there are a lot of options.

Be sure to check out Lorine's Olive Tree Genealogy, she's probably got a few listed that I missed.

And of course, you can visit the Penetanguishene Museum and find almost every one of these sources just waiting for you- Quebec repertoires on CD, microfiche, in print or in a computer database.

Lorine's notes:

The following books are available from Amazon.com:

Dictionnaire Genealogique Des Familles Canadiennes


Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles Canadiennes Depuis la Fondation de la Colonie Jusqu'a Nos Jours


Dictionnaire genealogique des familles du Quebec (French Edition)

Dictionnaire Genealogique des Famille Canadiennes by Tanguay is available on CD ROM. A few of the 7 volumes can be found at Google Books The Internet Archives also holds some digitized copies

Also, the Revest (Rivest) Marriage index and the Loiselle Marriage Index are another of the many resources available for French Canadian research. links and details are found at Olive Tree Genealogy Quebec pages.

Ancestry in arbitration over the Drouin Collection

According to reliable sources the Institut généalogique Drouin took The Generation Network Inc. into arbitration over the lack of full and proper indexation of the Drouin Collection previously put on-line by Ancestry.

On the 12th of August 2009, the judge named to arbitrate this case sided with Drouin, and declared that Ancestry has failed in its contractual obligation to properly and fully index the database prior to publication and since publication. The decision grants 60 (days) to Tje Generations Network to remedy the situation. Should they fail to do so, the license granted by the Institut Drouin will lapse.

The parties must still meet on September 9, 2009 to decide on the amount of damages caused by this breach of contract. Following this decision, Jean Pierre Pépin has asked that Ancestry remove the Drouin collection from internet access until such
time as it is fully and properly indexed.

The Drouin collection is not available on Ancestry.com, instead genealogists will see a notice

Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967
About Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967
UPDATE: Access to this content is currently unavailable.

For those who read French the dispute detailscan be viewed in this PDF file. You can also read blog news in French about this litigation