News:
Our Spring 2025 Newsletter will be available soon.
Our Spring General Meeting will be held on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at the Auburn Public Library. Will have Greg Bordman, renowned Maine fiddler as our guest presenter. Greg’s presentation will begin at approximately 11:00 am. Prior to this performance, MFGS will hold a brief business meeting beginning at 10 am that will include light refreshments. Greg will be tracing the evolution of French dance music from the old country to the North American colonies, while playing examples on his fiddle. Admission to the meeting and the presentation is free and open to the public.
MFGS will be offering an introductory genealogy research course taught by Father Parent at our library. The classes will cover the basics in genealogy focusing on how to use the resources of our library and deal with various topics peculiar to French-Canadian research. The classes will last about an hour, with additional time for questions and on-site research, at 6 p.m., on the four Tuesdays in May 2025. Due to space limitations, only 10 people can be accommodated (first come, first served). Sign up at our Spring General meeting or e-mail Fr. Parent at parents@yahoo.com.
MFGS is planning to have another garage sale fundraiser in August.
WANTED – We need more librarians!! Please contact us if interested. Training will be provided. Having more librarians would allow our library to be open more often.
What is MFGS?
Maine Franco-American Genealogical Society is a non-profit and tax-exempt organization dedicated to promoting genealogical research and education relating to Americans of French-Canadian and Acadian ancestry. In particular, we aim to serve the many thousands of individuals who are interested in learning more about their ancestry tracing back to Canada and ultimately to France.
We offer educational programs and research services, but our primary mission is to provide resources and assistance to those who want to research their family history. Our main resource is the library of more than 3000 books, plus computer files and CDs. These resources include:
- More than 600 volumes of Quebec parish marriage record abstracts
- More than 150 volumes of marriage record abstracts from Catholic parishes in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont
- 49 volume Drouin index of Quebec Catholic marriages, 1760-1935
- 41 volume PRDH abstracts of baptisms, marriages, and burials in Quebec, 1630-1765
- 80+ volumes of cemetery records from hundreds of Maine cemeteries in all 16 counties
- 240+ volumes of copies of newspaper obituaries of Maine persons of French Canadian ancestry (more than 110,000 individuals)
- Assorted historical materials, including some parish marriage records, from Acadia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI
- Hundreds of volumes of historical material relating to French Canadians and Franco-Americans
- Hundreds of family trees of Franco-American families
Your Ancestral Search
Our mission is to help you with your ancestral search. Our volunteer librarians are there to assist you in finding the resources that you need. There is no charge for members of MFGS to use the library. We charge a small fee of $3.00 per visit for non-members. We invite you to visit the library. If you are not able to come during regular library hours, please contact us, and we will attempt to accommodate you.
Research Services
If you are unable to come to the library or would like someone else to do the research, we do offer research services at a very low cost compared to professional genealogists’ fees. Our volunteers will attempt to find the information. We can do a direct ancestral line (typically the male line) for one person for up to 13 generations back to France in the 1600’s for a flat fee, or we can research specific information (for example- a particular baptismal record or marriage record- generally pre-1940) at an hourly rate.
Ancestral line direct to France: using our resources we will attempt to identify one line of ancestors, with dates and places of marriage for one individual back to France, and printed in color on ivory parchment suitable for framing.
Member Price: $20.00
Non-member Price: $40.00
General research: we will use our resources to attempt to locate records for a particular individual (generally, baptismal, marriage, or burial information) as requested.
Member Price: $10.00 per hour.
Non-member Price: $20.00 per hour.
Send research requests by mail or email (see How to contact MFGS below).
Our Library
How to contact MFGS:
When the library is open – phone (207) 786-3327
Anytime by email: info@mfgen.org
By mail: MFGS, 217 Turner St., Auburn, ME 04210
Library Location
The Library is located on the second floor of the Fortin Group funeral home at 217 Turner St. in Auburn (corner of Center St. and Turner St.). The library entrance is on the Center St. side of the building, the door to the right of the funeral home entrance. (see photo).
