Can someone help me translate something from French to English?

That's a tough one, because of the handwriting. I'll see what i can do, but we might have to try to find Francis. It's no the French which will defeat me, but the handwriting.

It starts: "The twenty-eighth of August . . . (something) . . . the twenty-sixth of August, the Priest-Vicar of Québec . . . (something) . . . baptised . . .

I`m still trying to figure out the rest. Was your ancestor born in August? It seems that the baptism was (perhaps) recorded on August 28th, taking place on August 26th. Alternatively, the birth could have taken place on August 26th, and the baptism on August 28th. I`ll try again later, when i have the time.

He was born on August 26, 1826. You're doing great! I'd be most interested in the names of his parents.

There's something in there about ". . . the legitimate marriage of . . ."

Perhaps it was customary to assert that the baptised child was known not to be a bastard.

Then it appears that the baptism took place on August 28th. That`s pretty quick, although such things were often done quickly, because of the threat of infant mortality.

I think he was a nice guy ;-)

Cute . . .

I know I am...

The mother appears to be Françoise and she is the daughter of Joseph somebody. When you asked about that, it helped me to decipher what i was reading. So, i have (a little more): " . . . born of the legitimate marriage of (a name i haven`t yet deciphered) Martel . . . and Françoise (so far undeciphered) daughter of Joseph (name so far not deciphered)."

By the way, "born" is in the masculine singular, so we know we have the baptismal record of a male infant.

This is great. It looks like Francoise's last name might be Dolber?

Yes . . . duh . . . i thought that might have been it, but was uncertain . . .

The last line is something to the effect of ". . . having declared it was known to (have been) done." The problem being, of course, deciphering the line which precedes it to learn what it is that was declared to have been known to have been done.

Crystal clear, n'est-ce pas?

oui?

Set, you may be interested to know that Prosper was a Civil War veteran having served in the 20th Regiment Infantry in the Battle of Vicksburg http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unwiinf2.htm#20thinf

Could it be the baptism?

I don't understand this question. This is a baptismal record. I though you understood that.

By the way, it won't really matter, but there were scads of "20th regiments" running loose. I did some quick research, and the correct title should be "the 20th Wiconsin Regiment of United States Volunteer Infantry," and it would commonly be referred to simply as "the 20th Wisconsin."

OK . . . i see what you mean with this question. Yes, it is entirely possible that that last phrase refers to the certification that the baptism has taken place. I'll look it over again with that in mind. I'll do that tomorrow. It's getting late here.

I appreciate your attention to detail, but I did know that. I was in a hurry.

This is what i have for a translation so far. It includes a passage i have corrected, and some words and phrases which i have since deciphered.

The twenty-eighth of August . . . (something) . . . August 26th, we, Priest-Vicar of Québec [this is "we" in the royal pejorative sense , as when a king or queen says "we" when speaking for him- or herself], here undersigned, have baptised (our?) . . . (something) . . . born . . . (something) . . . the legitimate marriage of . . . (given name not yet deciphered) . . . Martel . . . (something) . . . and of Françoise Dolber (?) of this city. (I was wrong about the "daughter of" phrase in earlier posts--the phrase which succeeds the name Françoise is de cette ville--"of this city"; i had mistaken ville, "city," for fille, "daughter.") (Something) . . . Joseph . . . (something, several words i have not deciphered) . . . the father . . . (something) . . . having declared to know (it has been) done.

It appears that all you lack here is the given name of the father. The only other long phrase not deciphered appears to be either the full name of the Priest-Vicar of Québec, or the full name of the priest who actually performed the baptism under the authority of the Priest-Vicar. That is information which i don't believe would be pertinent to your research. I did do some searches in French for the surname Martel, and did come across a geneological list for Québec--but under the name Martel, there was no entry for Prosper Martel. Perhaps if the family moved soon after to Wisconsin, or any other part of the United States (the habitants have been frequent immigrants to the United States for two centuries), geneological researchers either didn't include them, or weren't even aware of them.

I'll do a search for the surname Dolber, and for Françoise Dolber, to see if i can come up with anything.