Some church records are in French, a few with awful handwriting. But they are the real deal! Fortunately, Catholic baptism and marriage records often include “person’s name, child of father’s name and mother’s name.” A marriage record often has that information for the groom and also for the bride.

Older records in French will have the date spelled out in words. That is usually at the beginning of the entry for each baptism or marriage. Example: Le vingt-trois mars mil sept cent soixante dix-neuf [on the twenty-third day of March, in the year one thousand seven hundred sixty and nineteen (1779)]

Older records, especially marriage records, conclude with the signatures of many witnesses of the event.

Some of the oldest records mention the place of origin, if the person was an immigrant (or a newcomer to the community).

In French records, women are almost always identified with their maiden names. A baptism record will say “child’s name, born of the legitimate marriage of Louis Ouvre and Catherine Rivet.” Later, we might find a burial record that says “I buried Catherine Rivet, wife of Louis Ouvre.” This custom makes it very easy to follow the women in these records. However, anyone in those communities might have both a surname and a nickname. Louis Ouvre is called “Louis Ouvre dit Grandlouis,” or simply “Grandlouis.”

The spelling of French names evolves over time, especially in Missouri where the community was very self-contained at first and eventually was absorbed into the English-speaking United States. Here are some of the variations of one of your family names.

Thibault
Thibaut
Thibeau
Thebeau
Tebo

Click the flag for a genealogists’ cheat sheet to help with the French. I always use this when I am trying to read dates, or when I see unfamiliar words that seem important in the record. (You may keep the cheat sheet open as long as you like. It will be in its own tab.)