Welcome to my Web site!

I started researching the Belanger family after attending a Family Reunion in Beauport, Quebec in 1980.  There were over 4,000 in attendance and we filled a football stadium!  There were those that spoke only French, those that spoke only English and some of us were bi-lingual.  We had a great time and there were researchers there that provided us with family information.  After returning home, I started to collect data (dates, places, etc.) on paper which got very confusing. So, I decided to invest in a genealogy database program.  Most programs, at that time, had a limit of 16,000 people and I felt that my research might exceed that number so I hunted until I found 'Family Origins' which had no such limit. This program has since been re-introduced under the name 'Roots Magic' but by the same developer.

After completing my Belanger line, from me back to France, I did that of my wife who is a St Pierre.  Then, I worked on a ten generation fan chart for both of us. This research requires about 1,000 people to complete a 10 generation fan chart.  The data fans out with me as the bottom person, then my parents, their parents, and so on for ten generations.

After completing that research, I had fallen victim to the genealogy bug.  I started collecting data on any Belanger, the person who married that Belanger and that person's parents.  I have been exhausting all sources of information, published on the internet (collected with a degree of care as to accuracy), from other researchers, from folks looking for help and published repertoires of parishes throughout Canada and the United States.

As of September 2009, my database has over 152,000 names with many obituaries, obituary pictures, census data and notes on families when available.  Helping others is a fascinating hobby.  I am careful to obtain as much information on a family as I can before providing too much of my data because it has been my experience that, after someone receives their family line back to France, I don't hear from them any more.

In the process, I wrote a historical book on my particular family.  I started with Nicolas Bellanger, my original ancestor, and then went down one generation at a time until mine.  I covered what life was like at the time, the monetary and judicial system of the era and tried to present some historical and meaningful information on each generation and what they lived through.

Welcome to my web site and I hope you find it enjoyable.

Jim Bélanger
N1NH@TDS.NET