Okay, so you think you may be French-Canadian or Acadian, and you want to know how to begin. The first thing you have to do is find the oldest member of your family and find out everything he or she knows. You MUST get back a few generations on your own before you will be able to find printed or online sources that will be able to help you.
If nobody in your family can tell you where your grandparents came from, then you will need to try looking for marriage certificates, birth certificates, death certificates, etc., which may have additional information. This can be a tedious process, but there are really no shortcuts unless you are very lucky.
The one source that may help you is the nearest Family History Center (FHC) of the Mormon Church (otherwise known as the Church of Jesus Christ - Latter Day Saints). They will know the best way to find information in your local area, and will have references that will give addresses for applying for birth and death certificates.
Their IGI (International Genealogical Index) is a computerized list of genealogical items about people all over the world. Some of the information has been copied from the original church records and is pretty reliable. Some has been submitted by amateur genealogists. This information is very uneven, some is quite incorrect, and so it must be taken with a grain of salt.
You may also find a close relative in the Social Security Death Index (SSI), which is available at the Family History Centers and elsewhere.
To use the IGI and the SSI, look in the phone book under Churches, and you will find the Mormons listed under Church of Jesus Christ - Latter Day Saints. Call them up and ask where the nearest Family History Center is and what its hours are (most are not open every day). When you go there, you can use their computers to search the IGI and SSI, and they have very helpful volunteers who will help you if you need it. (Incidentally, nobody at the Family History Center will try to convert you or preach to you.)
Now, if you have gotten back to your great-grandparents, and if you live in Maine, Canada, or Louisiana, you're lucky. At this point you have many references (see sources under the French-Canadian and/or Acadian pages, as applicable) that will list your great-grandparents' marriage, with their parents, and then you can just follow the parents, and THEIR parents, etc, all the way back to the early 1600s.
If you have the misfortune to live anywhere else, you may have to work a bit harder to get back to the published references (although, if your grandparents themselves lived in Canada, Maine or Louisiana, then you should have no problems).
If you're still stuck, check all the electronic sources of information. You may find someone at CompuServe or AOL or one of the genealogy mail lists or a family expert in your surname, who can help you. You may have to be patient, but I think eventually you'll connect up with someone who can supply that one last piece of information that connects you to published sources.
Good luck!
PLEASE NOTE: I have posted all the information I currently have on getting started with tracking your family. Please don't e-mail me and ask how to find the Souciers in Minnesota or the Bouchers in Chicago, etc. I am constantly trying to increase the information I can give you, and when I find out anything I'll post it on the page. I promise. In the meantime, if you just don't have a clue how to find your grandparents, you can send a query and I will publish it on the Query page. Perhaps someone will see it who can help you.
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Last Updated: Tuesday, April 7, 1998