Urban English and Scottish ancestors in the regional populations of the Province of Quebec (Canada)

Abstract

The Quebec population descends in most part from French immigrants who settled in the St Lawrence River valley during the seventeenth century. However, people from other European origins have also contributed to the early settlement of the Canadian province. By means of genealogical data spanning more than three centuries, this study aimed to measure the contributions of English and Scottish immigrants to the peopling of the Quebec regions. More than 5,000 genealogies were reconstructed using the BALSAC population database. These genealogies span more than ten generations on average. Immigrants of each origin were identified and linked to all their descendants in the genealogical samples. Results show that English and Scottish founders appear in the genealogies of all Quebec regions, although in different proportions. These founders and/or their descendants were integrated into the predominant French Catholic population during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.