The Vermont Genealogy Library has added a new database of over 20,000 obituaries to its website at www.vtgenlib.org. This database is the result of a 7-year indexing effort directed by Janet Eno Landry and involving several volunteer members. The primary area covered in this project is southern New England, particularly the areas within 50 miles of the intersection of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts and between Holyoke, MA and Hartford, CT. The date range of the obituaries is 1986 to 2006 and the majority of the obituaries are for individuals with French-Canadian surnames and/or maiden names. These obituaries mention over 120,000 individuals and each obituary is ‘every name searchable.’
Many Quebec families moved to southern New England beginning in the early 19th century looking for work in the local mills. These mills varied in size and location. Some of the largest were well-known across Quebec 150 years ago. Towns like Woonsocket in Rhode Island, Putnam in Connecticut and Chicopee in Massachusetts are well-represented in the pages of this database. Although the majority of surnames are definitely from the two highlighted areas, old mill towns in Maine, New Hampshire and southern Connecticut occasionally show up.
How to Search:
To search the database members should first go to www.vtgenlib.org and click on the fourth tab at the top of the Home Page labeled ‘MEMBERS.’ Use the standard VTFCGS UserID with the password we’ve supplied to gain access and select the category called ‘French Canadian Obits.’ (If help is needed write to us at: webmaster@vtgenlib.org.) The ‘Search Rules’ are listed above an input box called ‘Search Query:’ and users can obtain more detailed guidance by clicking on the HELP link. Surnames can take many forms – especially French-Canadian surnames. Pay close attention to the instructions about how to input hyphens, spaces, commas and periods. Names like ‘Duclos-Carignan’, ‘St. Pierre’ and ‘O’Connor’ will require careful editing to insure your search terms return accurate results.
Entering a search for the person ‘Joseph Theriault’ will return all instances of this combination of Firstname and Surname plus all instances of either ‘Joseph’ or ‘Theriault’. In the table below you will see a column called ‘Score’ on the left and this has a number representing whether the search found both names (equal to ‘2’) or just one of the terms (equal to ‘1’). In the latter case there is a long list of everyone with either a first name of ‘Joseph’ or a surname of ‘Theriault.’ Since we’re only interested in the combination “Joseph Theriault” we will concentrate on the top four rows of results that have have a Score = 2.
By looking at the information displayed in each row (Surname, Givenname, Maidenname, Year of Birth, Year of Death and Location) you may be able to determine one specific individual to select from the list. In this example, if we were looking for someone born in 1909, we would select the name in the 2nd row and click on the blue hyperlink in the 2nd column (106). By clicking on that hyperlink we would jump to a specific obituary as shown below.
To search within the page that is returned one simply holds down the CTRL-key while typing an ‘f’ (for ‘Find’). This should bring up an input box in the bottom, left of most screens. Type the name or place you are searching for and this tool will highlight all instances on that page – one after another.
Among the volunteers who contributed many hours to index these obituaries were Tom Devarney, Barb Mercure, Kristin Mercure, Carol Lashway, Claire Chase, Kim McCain and Gloria Reynolds. John Fisher processed the indexes and Bill Craig was instrumental in converting this data into an online database.
[Note: We plan on enlarging this database in the near future with several thousand more names from southern New England and we’ll be adding a Vermont obituary database as we continue our efforts to make more online records available to our members.]
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