Page 12 - index

The Background 11
heraldic devices as the "family coat of arms." Again, the
ignorant are led to believe that armigerous bearings (which
are legal property granted to one person) can be appropriated
by anyone of the same surname.
Sad to say, even the field of working professional
genealogists is not without the occasional diploma or
credentials scam. Some have offered to provide
"certification" with post-nominal usage for nothing more
than a goodly sum of money. All genealogical leaders who
are on the alert to keep the public informed as much as
possible about charlatans have discredited these groups.
North American genealogical study has been active since
the nineteenth century, in both our English and French
heritage. Researching in the French tradition, particularly
in Quebec, has a fundamental basis in well-kept Catholic
parish registers. Researching in English-speaking
jurisdictions (for example, Canadian provinces and
American states), with different political and religious
traditions, requires different procedures. However, both
English and French genealogists have laboured to make
records more accessible through publishing. The once
historical pattern of British immigration through ports like
Quibec and New York and our major North American
migration pattern of east-to-west lead thousands of
genealogists back to these eastern areas, at some point, to
search for their immigrant ancestors.
Hundreds of genealogical publications began appearing
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Some
were well-researched and well-documented inasmuch as the
times and sources allowed. Some depended heavily on the
ral or written recollections of descendants well after the
>scribed events occurred. The lack of reference citations
urces for genealogical statements is a glaring deficiency.