Adoption French Canada 1800s

[VivienR]

I am hoping that someone here can give me some information on how adoption might work in Quebec in the 1800s.  One of my ancestors was adopted into the family.
I have him living with the family who eventually adopted him on the 1851 census.  He had a different name than the family but later on he did take their name.  I can't find a baptism record  for the birth place and name he gave on the census but I did find two illegitimate births which might be his.
Unfortunately  parish records do not give either the mother or the father's name for illegitimate births.

So would the name he was using on the 1851 census have some connection to either his birth mother or father? It's also possible he was not baptised in the parish he gave as his birth place in the 1851 census.

Thanks for any help you can give me
Vivien

[andarah]

What are the names of the family members (parents and child)?

There is a site that can be pernickity, but has legal documents from Quebec.  If the adoption was legalized, there may be a record of it.

If you give me the names, I'll try searching for it.

[VivienR]

Thanks for the reply.  From the 1851 census the child is Joseph Belzil born 1838 in St George de Cacouna.  The father is Eloi Gagnon dit Belzil born 1803 in Riviere Ouelle.
Unfortunately the 1841 census for Cacouna is missing.
When Joseph married in 1862 Eloi is noted as having adopted Joseph.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
Vivien

[andarah]

I don't know if this is the same family, but I did find this document: 

Requête pour élire un tuteur aux enfants mineurs de feu Jean-Éloi Gagnon, cultivateur de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, comté de Devon, et de Marie-Thérèse Dessaint (Desaint) dit Saint-Pierre . - 9 août 1810

This is the translation from a free online translation: 

Request to elect a guardian to the children minors of fire John éloi Gagnon, farmer of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, county of Devon, and of Mary thérèse Dessaint (Desaint) dit Saint-Pierre.  - August 9 1810

I checked the map and Riviere Ouelle is about 30 km from St-Jean-Port Joli.  It's feasible that your Eloi Gagnon (1803) is one of the children mentioned above - might be worth investigating.

If the above group is part of your family, there are 2 documents available that can be ordered from the Laval University Archives (they will be hand written and in french - very difficult to read).

I could not find any other documents.  If you want to try, this is the page I was searching on: 

http://pistard.banq.qc.ca/unite_chercheurs/recherche_simple  Just type what you want and hit `rechercher'.

I tried "Joseph Belzil", Belzil + Cacauna, "Eloi Gagnon" and "Gagnon dit Belzil".  I found a lot of documents around 1920, and one from the 1700s, but other than the one I mentioned, none from the 1800s.  With the information that you have, you may have better luck.  Try the mother's name, siblings, wife's, etc.  Also, try misspellings, as they relied on phonetics for a lot their spellings.

I have found that with this search engine, you have to try every combination you can think of.  I have found documents that when I searched for a particular person, nothing came up, but when I searched his wife, it came up and had his name.  It all depends on what was added to the search engine.

However, it's worth trying this site for every person in your tree in Quebec.  I have found arranged marriages, wills, land transfers, sales contracts, lawsuits, orders of servitude, and more.

Sorry I couldn't do more.

[chinakay]

The phrase "de feu", although the word feu does mean fire, is actually a phrase meaning "the late" or "the deceased". So the sentence should read Request to elect a tutor for the minor children of the late Jean-Eloi Gagnon .....and of Marie-Thérèse Dessaint dit Saint-Pierre. A dit name is sort of an alias name, an alternate family name that's difficult to describe because there isn't an English equivalent. There's an explanation here:
http://genealogy.about.com/b/2010/07/08/understanding-dit-names.htm

Cheers,
China

[VivienR]

Thanks for the link.  Looks like a great site I'll have to spend some time on.
I found a document for an Eloi Gagnon which may be one of mine.  There were a number of Eloi's in the family. 
Is there a charge to order documents from Laval?

Thanks for your effort.  Much appreciated.
Vivien

[andarah]

Glad you found something!  I spent 3 days in the archives at Laval and it's amazing what is there.

As for a charge, there is one, but I don't know how much.  They have researchers on staff who will look it up on the microfiche for you and copy it.  If I remember correctly, it might be $5-6.  It's not a lot if you know it's your person, but it is a lot to search randomly. 

But, remember that the documents they copy are not that legible.  I copied about 100 pages when I was there and I am struggling.  However, I only have rudimentary french and maybe they are clearer for someone who knows what they are reading.

[VivienR]

I wish I could say that my French is better than rudimentary but no unfortunately it's not although it's much better than it used to be.

so yes old records that are not that legible and then in a different language - it's a struggle for sure.

Vivien

[VivienR]

Dit names
thanks for the link China.  that was a more clear explanation of dit names than I have seen.
Vivien