Marriages of Ste Luce church, Aroostook Co., Maine
1843-1860
Marriages at Ste Luce
This database contains information abstracted from the Ste Luce Parish register,
and includes information on all marriages performed at Ste Luce parish while
Father Henri Dionne was pastor, from January 1843 to January 1860. In that period,
420 marriages were recorded in the parish register.
Information included in the marriage records
Each marriage was numbered consecutively, with each year beginning with M1.
In the margin of the register were written the names of the bride and groom.
Here's a typical record:
Le dix-neuf septembre mil huit cent quarante huit, vu la dispense
d'un ban accordé par nous autorisé à cela par Sa Grandeur
Mgr. Dollard, et après la publication des deux autres, faite aux
prônes de nos messes paroissiales, entre Francis Corbin, domicilié
à St.Bruno, fils majeur de défunt Amable Corbin, et de Marie
Anne Perrault de St.Bruno d'une part, et Susanne Albert, fille mineure de
défunt Joseph Albert et de Rose Chuinard de cette paroisse, d'autre
part, ne s'etant découvert aucun empêchement, nous soussigné
curé, avons de l'agrement des parens, reçu leur mutuel consentement
et leurs avons donné la bénédiction nuptiale, en présence
de Benoni Vaillancourt, d'André Michaud et de plusieurs autres qui
ainsi que les épouses n'ont su signer. H. Dionne, ptre. |
|
On 19 September 1848, in view of the dispensation of one bann
granted by myself, authorised by His Lordship Monsignor Dollard, and after
the publication of two others, at the sermons of our parish masses, between
Francis Corbin, who resides at St. Bruno, son of age of the late Amable
Corbin and of Marie Anne Perrault of St. Bruno, and Susanne Albert, minor
daughter of the late Joseph Albert and of Rose Chuinard of this parish,
not having discovered any obstacle, we the undersigned curé have
the agreement of the parents received their mutual consent and have given
them the nuptial blessing, in the presence of Benoni Vaillancourt, André
Michaud, and several others, who, along with the spouses, did not know how
to sign their names. H. Dionne, priest |
Here are the kinds of information that are included in the marriage records:
- Date of marriage. Most marriages were carried out on Tuesdays
or Mondays, very occasionally on other days of the week. Only very rarely
were weddings performed on Sunday. Though the original register does not indicate
the day of the week, giving only the day, month and year, I have included
the day of the week in parentheses on the "details" page.
- Banns. The Catholic church requires the publication of
three "banns" of marriage, that is public announcements to the parish
that the couple intends to marry. One reason for this is so that anyone who
is aware of any obstacle to the marriage has time to give that information
to the priest. Often the couple get a dispensation allowing only one or two
banns. Among the reasons for dispensation is that marriages are not permitted
during the season of Lent. In a few marriages at Ste Luce all three banns
were dispensed, but "Dispensation from all the banns is regularly granted
only for a very urgent reason." (More
information on banns.)
The marriage records in the Ste Luce register note which parishes, besides
Ste Luce, banns were read in; in such cases usually the groom or bride is
resident in that other parish. In other cases, it indicates some other kinship
tie to that parish. Information on the number of banns and the parishes
where they were published is included on the "details" page of
the search result
I do not know whether there are any specific records or correspondence
about any of these dispensations still existing. However, it is likely that
records would only exist in the case of dispensations from all three bans.
- Whether groom is of age. According to Church law, men must
be at least 16 to marry. If the groom is younger than 21, they are not yet
of age, and therefore must have the permission of his parents. In the church
register, whether or not the groom is of age is indicated by the terms "mineur"
(minor) or "majeur" (of age): fils mineur means the minor
son, in other words younger than 21. Fils majeur means son who is
of age, or 21 or older.
- Place of residence of groom. This piece of information
is not always included; it seems to be included when the groom is no longer
living with his parents.
- Name of parents of groom. Also indicated are whether his
parents are deceased [feu(e) or défunt(e)].
- Place of residence of groom's parents. If they are both
deceased the record notes where they lived "en leurs vivants,"
or when they were living.
- Whether bride is of age. For women, the minimum age of
marriage is 14. A woman is of age if she is 18 or older. Thus if the bride
is described as "fille mineure," or "minor daughter,"
it means she is under the age of 18. "Fille majeure" means
she is 18 or older.
- Place of residence of bride. Again, this is listed if she
is not living with her parents.
- Name of parents. Again, feu(e) or défunt(e)
indicate whether her father or mother are deceased.
- Place of residence of bride's parents. If they are both
deceased the record notes where they lived "en leurs vivants,"
or when they were living.
- Witnesses. The names of two male witnesses are given in
every marriage record. Usually the record also notes that "several other
friends and relatives were also present."
- Signing. The record notes whether any of those present
could sign their names. In the vast majority of cases, neither the bride or
groom, their parents, nor the witnesses could. In the few cases where they
could, the signatures were often included in the records. In these cases I
have included images of the signatures on the "details" page, linked
to the search results.
- Occupation. In some of the records Fr. Dionne included
the occupation of the groom, his father, and/or the bride's father. But the
records are not consistent on this fact, and most of them do not give that
information. (Translation of French occupation terms.)
- Consanguinity. This is a term referring to people who are
related to each other. The church requires dispensation for two people who
are related to each other in the fourth degree of consanguinity or closer,
that is, if they are third cousins or closer. More
on consanguinity. Most of the dispensations for second and third cousins
were granted by Fr. Dionne under authority of an indult, that is a grant of
permission to local church authorities to undertake actions not otherwise
permitted. (see the text of the indult granted to Fr. Dionne by the Bishop).
It is more likely that dispensations for first cousins would be documented.
If so they would be found in the archives of the diocese of St.John. On the
details page of the search results I have included any information about consanguinity,
as well as the meaning of the terms used in the record.
- Priest. Almost all the marriages were performed by Father
Henri Dionne
Using the database
In order to access the marriage data, use either the simple
search form or the advanced
search form.
Simple Search:
The simple search form allows you to search by last name of: groom, bride,
their parents, and their former spouses (if widowed). You can search either
with their names or with the soundex codes (More
information on soundex).
In the simple search you can specify which terms must be in all records, terms
that cannot be in records, etc. using the common operators: + - * ""
(more information about boolean search mode) Please
be sure to read the note below about the spelling of names
in the Ste.Luce register.
Clicking on the "Search" button will produce a table of names, ordered
alphabetically by last name of groom, that fit your search criteria. At the
end of each row is a link, "Details." Clicking on that link will bring
you to a page with all information for that particular record.
Advanced Search:
The Advanced Search Form allows you to search by the following fields:
- Names. You can search by the first name and/or last name
of groom, bride, their parents, their former spouses (if they are widow or
widower), and of the witnesses.
- A note on the spelling of names.
I have transcribed the names from the parish records exactly as they are
spelled in the original. This spelling was not always consistent, so you
should be aware of a few facts when searching:
- French names. Father Dionne was from La
Pocatière in Quebec, the region of origin of many of his parishioners.
He was therefore very familiar with their names. However he was not
always consistent in spelling. Thus for example Roy may also show
up as Roi; Lagacé as Lagassé. Names ending in -ette
today were consistently spelled -et by Fr. Dionne (thus Ouellet,
Charet, Guéret, etc.) First names also have variations; Artémise
is sometimes written Artemie. Be sure that your search criteria are
wide enough to capture all possible spellings. (French
name spellings in the parish register.)
- English names. Fr. Dionne apparently did
not know the English language. His spelling of English names was phonetic;
for example Mullins was written Molanse; Oakes was sometimes written
Ikes. It is thus a challenge to search for English names in the parish
register. Sometimes a soundex search will help but not always. When
I have been able to identify the actual spelling of the last name
I have included it in the "comments" field. (English
names in the parish register.)
- Search criteria. You can search by exact spelling (exact);
by the first few letters of the name (starts with); or by a few
letters in the name (contains). Given the inconsistent spelling
it's worth trying a few different versions of each.
- Soundex. You can use soundex to search for the last
name of the groom or bride (in all cases the same as his/her father),
and of their mother, and, if they are a widow or widower, the last name
of their former spouse. Soundex is a method of searching for names that
sound similar to each other. These soundex codes were not part of the
original record, I have added them in to aid in searching. More
information on soundex.
- Dates. You can also search by marriage date: exact
(in the format 1 Jan 1858; months are abbreviated as the first three letters
of each month, without a period) or part ("contains," for example,
just year, or just year and month, or just month).
- Home parish. There are pull-down menus from which you can
choose the home parish of the groom's parents and/or the bride's parents.
See "A note on parishes."
You must enter a value into one of the fields for
the form to work; if you do not you will get an alert. (Note: The form does
not seem to work with Netscape 6; please use another
browser).
You can use either of the "search" buttons on the form, they are the same.
Advanced Search results
Clicking on the "search" button brings you to the advanced search results page.
Here you will see all of the records that fit your search criteria. The results
are listed in the order in which they appear in the register.
The data is organized in rows and columns. The column heads are all self explanatory;
for information on each of them see the above section on "information included
in marriage records."
Please note that the search results page does not
include all of the information from the record. To access that you must click
the link "details" at the end of each record.
"Details" page
Clicking on "details" brings you to a new page that will give you all of the
information from that record, including the occupation of the groom, the groom's
father, and the bride's father; whether the bride and groom were of age or minors;
the number of banns read and in which parishes; whether a dispensation was granted
for consanguinity, and if so, how the bride and groom are related; the name
of the priest; any additional information included in the record (in the Parish
Register Notes field) and the soundex codes of the groom, bride, their
mothers, and former spouses. Also included are images of the signatures of those
witnesses or participants in the marriage who signed the parish register.
In the field labeled "Comments (not from register)" I have included
additional information about the person that is not from the parish
register, for example the correct spelling of last names, as well as links to
those people (or their parents) for whom I have set up web pages, most of whom
are directly related to me.
Search the Marriages
database:
Return to the Ste Luce Register main page
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This database search tool was created using Stephen P Morse's One-Step
Search Tool generator
Last revised 18 Mar 2006
©2006, C.Gagnon