Transcript Slide 1

Researching family
history in France
Diana Johnson
Mar 2011
Background
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France is organised into regions and
departments
Every town, village, commune etc has a
postal code eg Amiens 80000
Michelin “Répertoire des communes”
provides map references for two different
scale maps that cover all of France.
French Regions & Departments
Some examples
What family history data is available?
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Hard copy local records in “mairies” (town hall) and
“Archives departmentales”
No centralised indexing system
IGI Microfilms
Some on line records (Ancestry.com, departmental
records eg http://archives.somme.fr/
Genealogical Societies eg Le cercle généalogique
de Picardie
GeneaNet (http://www.geneanet.org/)
Birth of my Great Grandfather
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Louis Joseph Delecolle
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Born in 1843 in Villers
Bocage, Picardie (now
Somme), France
Original hand written
birth certificate
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Approximate translation
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The year 1843 thirtieth of March at the hour of 6 in
the evening Joseph Michel Delecolle, aged 39
years, a farmer living in Villers-Bocage came
before me the official mayor of the civil state of
the commune of Villers- Bocage, chief town of the
canton in the department of Somme to announce
that a male child has been born in this commune
in the ‘rue des Bonfleur today at 2 in the morning
to him and his wife Josephine Carrette aged 30
years they wish to name him Louis Joseph.
Birth certificate continued
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He made this declaration in the presence of
Louis Theodore Godard, age 36 years a
shopkeeper and Jean Baptiste Prosper
Carpentier age 26 a weaver living in VillersBocage the father and the witnesses
signed the birth certificate with us after it
was read.
French BMD records
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Church records only until 1792
Catholic “Registres Paroissiale “(baptisms,
marriages and burials)
Sep 1792 local mayors (le maire)
responsible for civil registration of births,
marriages and deaths.
Had to be notified to town hall (mairie)
within 3 days & marriages conducted there
Republican Calendar
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Sep 1792 to 31 Dec 1805 (Year I to XIV)
Uses 30 day months that run across months
and years of the Gregorian calendar
Need conversion tables to translate
Eg “5 Vendémiaire Year I” is 26 Sep 1792
Also introduced Decennial tables, an
alphabetical annual table on the last pages
of each type of register
Some interesting aspects
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Women retain their family name for their
entire life
In 1579 it was made unlawful to marry
without parental consent until the age of
majority was reached, which was 30 for
men and 25 for women.
Successive Papal edicts increased the
amount of information recorded.
By 1736
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Baptismal records
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Marriage records
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Child’s actual date of birth, parents names in full and
names of godparents
Couples full names, ages, occupations, place of domicile,
parents full name & place of domicile and names of 4
witnesses
Burial Records (1746)
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Name, date and place of death, approximate age or date
of birth, occupation and name of spouse (living or dead)
Some examples
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Baptism: Jean Baptiste Delecolle 3 May
1704
Death: George Dominique Delecolle 19
Mar 1804
Marriage: Michel Dominique Joseph
Delecolle to Marie Elizabeth Julie Voiturier
29 Nov 1837
Other assorted samples