Notarial Records

Sale by Stephen Delaney to Moses Holt. J.G. Beek, notary, 15 August 1788. Library and Archives Canada, MG 8 F89, vol. 3, p. 1547-1550.

Notarial records exist only for the province of Quebec. They are private agreements written by a notary that took the form of contracts such as:

marriage contract;
inventory;
lease;
engagement;
obligation;
will; and
sale.

Marriage contracts provide information on the spouses and their parents. They were usually drawn up a few days before the religious ceremony. The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec holds the notarial records.

How to Search the Records

From 1626 to 1784

The Parchemin database, prepared by Archiv-Histo, provides an abstract of each notarial record giving the:

date;
notary's name;
type;
content; and
parties' names.

Parchemin is available on CD-ROM at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec and other institutions.

From 1785 to 1799

Inquiries must be sent to:

Société de recherche historique Archiv-Histo
2320, rue des Carrières
Montréal, QC
H2G 3G9
Tel.: 514-873-6347
Email: archiv-histo@videotron.net

Example of an Abstract

01 08 1768 (1749?1783) [Daguilhe, J.-B.] (Mtl)

Vente de terre située sur la rivière de Lassomption, seigneurie de Lavaltrie; par Jacques Martin dit Versaille et Marianne Sionot, son épouse, de la rivière de Lassomption, seigneurie de Lavaltrie, à Louis Moussaux dit Laplaine, de la rivière de Lassomption, seigneurie de St Sulpice.

From 1800 to 1900

Step 1

You must first find the name of the notary who was practising in a specific place by consulting:

Index des lieux de résidence et de pratique des commis...et des notaires 1621-1991, ainsi que les lieux de dépôt de leurs minutiers avec leurs côtes aux ANQ, by Jean-Marie Laliberté, 1991.
Tableau de l'ordre, Chambre des notaires du Québec, 1984.

Step 2

Consult the microfiche index for each notary for that place to obtain:

date of the contract;
title of the contract; and
names in the contract.

Step 3

Consult the contract on paper or on microfilm.

For more information about where and how to consult notarial records, contact the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec or use Pistard, their online catalogue.

Research at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada holds copies of some early notarial records. Search Colonial Archives database under name of the person or the notary.


Created: 2005-06-21 Updated: 2006-08-22	Top of Page	Important Notices