Beginning French Research for Non-French Speakers PART TWO

Home , Ardenais, Cher (department), Jura (department)

Amberly Beck a thegenealogygirl.blog | Twitter — @genealogygirl_ | Facebook @thegenealogygirl | [email protected]

Basic Vocabulary ______

Developing a basic vocabulary of French words commonly found in church and civil records will help you research more effectively. The French Genealogical Word List in the FamilySearch Research Wiki is an excellent tool filled with many commonly used words in French records. For French numbers, months, times of day, and so on, please begin here and scroll down. Below is a simple list of common key words found in baptism, marriage, and burial records. Many of these same words will be found in civil records as well.

Common key words in baptism records: Common key words in marriage records:

In French In English In French In English baptisé baptized bans banns femme wife fille daughter fils son fils son fille daughter frère brother legitime mariage legitimate marriage L'epouse the bride or the wife marrain godmother L'epoux the groom or the husband mère mother mariage marriage né born, male form oncle uncle née born, female form mère mother parrain godfather père father père father

Common key words in burial records: Common relationship words in French records:

In French In English In French In English âgé(e) aged beau-frère brother-in-law, stepbrother cimetière cemetery cousin cousin décédé the deceased curateur guardian femme wife, woman décès death fille daughter, girl femme wife fils son fille daughter frère brother fils son gendre son-in-law inhumé(e) buried grandpère grandfather mort(e) dead, death mère mother veuf widowed, widower neveu nephew veuve widowed, widow nièce niece oncle uncle père father

sœur sister

Learning to "read" records in a language you don't speak is challenging at first, much like reading very old records in our native language is challenging at first. One of the biggest hurdles is trying to decipher misspelled words or poorly formed letters because we don't have a large enough vocabulary to imagine what the words might be.

As a beginner, you don't need to read every word of the record. Start with identifying the key information items in the records you are using. Remember, beginners have to start somewhere. Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to work out every single word in every record you use. Your vocabulary will grow with each record you work with. Eventually, you will be able to figure out every word, but you must begin this effort as a beginner. Set reasonable expectations for yourself.

There are some simple steps you can take to help you successfully "read" a French record.

First, keep your language resources handy while researching.

Second, familiarize yourself with the record before you try to extract information. Where does the record begin? Where does the record end? Are there signatures? Is there a marginal note? Where are the key words? If you are looking at a baptism record, can you find the word "baptisé" or another variant? Can you identify the names in the record? Don't try to "read" the record before you feel familiar with it.

Third, skim surrounding records to become familiar with the handwriting. Look for key words in the other records. Identify the beginning and ending of each record on the page.

Fourth, begin to ”read” your record. Take notes as you go. Don't overtax your brain by expecting to remember the meaning of each word you decipher. Extract the key information items and write them down.

Remember, there will be misspellings. Misspelled words will not be found on word lists, you will often need to look for portions of words or words that nearly match the misspelled word. Don't be so rigid in trying to identify each word that you miss the overall meaning. Remember, the goal is to learn information about a person, not translate a record perfectly.

Once you have extracted the necessary information, record what you have learned in your tree or genealogy software. Consider creating your own rough transcription and translation and add it to that person. If there were some challenging words or phrases, add them to your own word list. Consider adding spelling variants to your own word list.

Generally, you will use records from the same place and time for additional family members. Use this to your advantage. Become familiar with the format of both church and civil records in the places your ancestors lived. Each priest and registrar will have their own quirks. Learn their quirks. Consider creating templates for yourself that reflect how the records in your locations were generally recorded. This will help you work through subsequent records more quickly.

Last of all, ask for translation help if you need it. Join the France Genealogy Research group in the FamilySearch community or a relevant Facebook group. Post a record you are struggling with and ask for help. You can even share your own rough translation of a record and ask if you got it right. Those groups are meant to help anyone. Take advantage of that resource.

Catholic Church Records ______

The three most common types of Catholic church records are baptism, marriage, and burial records. In French, baptême, mariage, and sépulture records.

The earliest known French Catholic church records date back to 1334 in one location. A more official beginning to French Catholic church records came in 1539 when a law required baptismal registers to be kept. In 1579 the expectations for church records expanded to include records of marriages and burials. General record keeping compliance came later, so the town your ancestors came from may not have church records that go all the way back to 1539 or 1579. Additionally, like everywhere in the world, some records have been lost or destroyed. ______2 © 2021, Amberly Beck

Beginning in 1667, duplicates of church books were to be made by law. The original was kept at the vicarage and the duplicate went to the clerk of the court.

Catholic church records that pre-date 1792 were sent to the departmental archives. Civil registration began in 1792, but church records continued to be created after 1792. Those later church records are not as easily accessible as the pre-1792 church records.

The information found in church records varies over time. The later records generally include more details than the earlier records. Church records were usually recorded in French or Latin.

Baptism Record Example1

The "B" in the margin indicates this is a baptism record. Please note, not all church records include marginal notes. The underlined portions in the record are the following key items: the date of baptism, name of child, birth information, father’s name, mother’s name, and the words for godfather and godmother. Baptism records often follow this general format.

Key Items in French Key Items in English Date of Baptism L’an Mil sept cens soixante-quatorze le treize may The year one thousand seven hundred seventy- four the thirteen[th] May Child’s Name jean-Baptiste Jean-Baptiste Birth Information né d'hier après midy [midi] born yesterday afternoon Father’s Name pierre Dumas Pierre Dumas Mother’s Name Marie chagnon Marie Chagnon

This record also tells us that the parents were married with the phrase “du legitime mariage de,” which means of the legitimate marriage of, followed by the names of the parents. The relationships of the godparents were also included in this record. The parrain, or godfather, was the “oncle maternelle de l’enfant” or maternal uncle of the child. The marraine, or godmother, was the “femme de jean Dumas de Montalon tante paternelle par alliance de l’enfant,” or wife of Jean Dumas of Montalon paternal aunt by marriage of the child.

Baptism records typically use the words son or daughter. This record does not, but the gender of the child is clear because the word “né” is the male form of the word born.

"Mar" in the margin indicates this is a marriage record. The names of the bride and groom, Philipe Rety and Marguerite Poirier, also appear in the margin. The underlined portions in the record are key items seen in the table below.

Key Items in French Key Items in English Date of Marriage L’an Mil Sept Cent quatre vingt cinq Le premier The year one thousand seven hundred eighty-five the first day jour du mois de febrier of the month of February Name of Groom philipe Rety Philipe Rety Occupation of Groom domestique servant Age of Groom agé de vingt six ans aged twenty-six years Legal Status fils majeur son of legal age Parents of the Groom de feu françois Rety et de feue anne jolivet of the deceased François Rety and of the deceased Anne Jolivet Name of Bride Marguerite poirier Marguerite Poirier Legal Status fille mineure minor daughter Parents of the Bride jean porier Laboureur et de feue anne champion Jean Porier [Poirier], plowman or farmer, and the deceased Anne Champion Witness jean poirier pere de Lepouse Jean Poirier, father of the bride Witness pierre poirier frere de L'epouse Pierre Poirier, brother of the bride

The middle section of this record discusses the marriage banns and the consent for the marriage. There are several additional witnesses listed without their relationship to the bride and groom named in the record.

"Sep.", an abbreviation for sépulture, in the margin indicates these are burial records. The names of the deceased also appear in the margin. Two burial records are shown to demonstrate a common difference seen in burial records for unmarried children and married adults. The underlined portions in the first record are key items seen in the table below.

Key Items in French Key Items in English Date of Burial L’an mil sept cens soixante trois le vingt un avril The year one thousand seven hundred sixty-three the twenty-one April Name of the Deceased le corps de marie the body of Marie Date of Death décédée d'hie[r] died yesterday Age at Death âge de trois ans aged three years Parent Information fille de jean lhopitau et de marie descloux son epouse daughter of Jean Lhoptiau and of Marie Descloux his wife

This record also includes information about two witnesses to the burial.

In the second burial record, Catherine Ribaudeau was a married adult. Instead of listing the names of her parents, she is listed as the "veuve de defunt leonard gorgon," or the widow of the deceased Leonard Gorgon. Catholic church burial records for married adult women usually list the name of the woman's husband and whether or not he was deceased. Burial records for adult men may list the name of their wife, but not always. Burial records for unmarried children, even young adult children, typically list the name of the father and sometimes the name of the mother also.

Civil Registration ______

Civil registration of naissances (births), mariages (marriages), and décès (deaths), in France began in 1792. Civil records are organized by town or city in the departmental archives. Because of that, knowing the town your ancestor lived in is essential.

French civil records are filled with excellent details about the individual, their parents, and often include mentions of other family members.

"Le bureau de l'état civil," or the civil registration office in each town created yearly and ten-year indexes (tables décennales) of all civil records. These handwritten indexes are a wonderful resource to use to quickly find information about family events. Using the information in the indexes, you can easily find the associated records in the departmental archives.

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Because they are so detailed, French civil records can feel overwhelming to a non-French speaker. Learning to identify where the different information items are found in each record type helps. Some French civil records were recorded on pre-printed forms such as this birth record. Additionally, some French civil birth records include marginal notes about additional events for that person. Let's consider each boxed section of this record individually.

1. This record comes from a book that was organized by year and event, so this section of the book is all birth records and this record was the third birth in that section as indicated by the "No. 3." 2. Here we see the name of the child and his birth date. The surname is listed first so the child in this record was Abel- Louis Landry, born 22 mars [March] 1897.

______6 © 2021, Amberly Beck 3. This marginal note tells us about Abel-Louis's marriage. First, we see the place of marriage: Menetou-Salon (split across the first two lines). Then the marriage date: 11 January 1921. Then his spouse: Blanchard, Marie Lucienne. That notation was added to the margin 12 March 1921. 4. This marginal note tells us about Abel-Louis's death. He died 7 November 1982 in Bourges. That information was added to the margin 13 January 1983. 5. Section five begins the body of the birth record. This section includes the date the birth was registered, who recorded it, and where it was recorded. The commune, or town, was Quantilly in the department of Cher. 6. This section tells us who the informant was, in this case it was the father as was common. "Landry Louis-Philippe, père," is the name of the informant with the surname written first. The word "père" means father. 7. This section states the gender of the child and the date and place of birth. "Masculin," means the child was male. "Né à Quantilly" tells us he was born in Quantilly. The date of birth was recorded as "le vingt-deux du mois de mars an mil huit cent-quatre-vingt-dix-sept, à onze heures du matin." In English, he was born the twenty-second of the month of March year one thousand eight hundred ninety-seven, at eleven o'clock in the morning. 8. Section eight tells us about the parents. The father was Louis-Philippe Landry (again the surname was listed first), he was thirty years old and a farmer. The mother was Marie-Madgelaine Viltard [the line through the "t" is missing, other records clarify her surname], the legitimate wife of Louis-Philippe Landry, she was thirty-seven years old, a housewife and resident of Quantilly. 9. Section nine tells us the child's "prénom" or forename, Abel-Louis. 10. This section details the information about the witnesses to the record. 11. The last section includes witness signatures.

Whether the document was recorded using a pre-printed form or in handwritten paragraph format, the registrar will generally use the same format for each record type. If you are struggling to find the various sections of a record, consider getting translation help for one record from that place and then create your own template to indicate the format used by that registrar. This can help you pick out the information items you are seeking more quickly and independently in subsequent records.

French civil marriage records are usually very long. They include many details about the bride, groom, each of their parents, the marriage, witnesses, and generally include information about a marriage contract, if there was one, and consent for the marriage. Our marriage record example spans four pages. We will focus only on the information about the bride, groom, their parents, and marriage date and place. If you wish to view the entire marriage record, you can do so here: http://archives39.fr/ark:/36595/a011423563581VmDTUZ/c6a9e960b8

The marginal note indicates this is the first marriage of the year and lists the names of the couple. The underlined portions are included in the table below. Please note the key words "et de" in the red box. "Et de" means "and of." This phrase links the father of the groom and the mother of the groom. When a record is wordy, that phrase can help us find the mother's information.

Key Items in French Key Items in English Date of Marriage L’an mil huit cent quatre-vingt-seize le trois du mois The year one thousand eight hundred ninety-six the third de juin of the month of June Place of Marriage commune de Bornay . . . département du Jura town of Bornay, department of Jura Groom's Name Stanislas Trontin Stanislas Trontin Groom's Age âgé de trente-un ans aged thirty-one years Groom's Occupation cultivateur farmer Groom's Residence domicilié à Présilly . . . (Jura) resident of Présilly [commune or town], Jura [department] Groom's Birthplace né aux Chavannes commune du Miroir . . . (Saône-et- born in Chavannes in the town of [Le] Miroir, Saône-et- Loire) Loire [department] Groom's Birthdate le vingt-deux juillet mil huit cent soixante cinq the twenty-two July one thousand eight hundred sixty-five Groom's Legal Status majeur of legal age ______8 © 2021, Amberly Beck Groom's Father Claude-Marie Trontin âgé de soixante-six ans Claude-Marie Trontin, aged sixty-six years Groom's Mother Marie Bernard âgée de cinquante-huit ans Marie Bernard, aged fifty-eight years Parent's Residence cultivateurs domiciliés à Présilly farmers, residents of Présilly

Key Items in French Key Items in English Consent of Groom's Parents et consentants and consenting, this item refers back to the groom's parents Bride's Name Marie-Thérèse-Hercylie Néron Marie-Thérèse-Hercylie Néron Bride's Age âgée de vingt-cinq ans aged twenty-five years Bride's Occupation cultivatrice farmer Bride's Residence domiciliée à Bornay resident of Bornay Bride's Birthplace née à Bornay born in Bornay Bride's Birthdate le dix-sept février mil huit cent soixante et onze the seventeen[th] February one thousand eight hundred seventy-one Bride's Legal Status majeure of legal age Bride's Father Ferréol Néron cultivateur à Bornay en son vivant Ferréol Néron, farmer in Bornay while living, died in Bornay décédé à Bornay le vingt cinq juin mil huit cent the twenty-five June one thousand eight hundred ninety- quatre-vingt-onze one Bride's Mother Marie-Stéphanie Perrod âgée de soixante ans Marie-Stéphanie Perrod, aged sixty years, farmer in cultivatrice à Bornay ci-présente et consentante Bornay, here and consenting

Key Items in French Key Items in English Date of Registration L’an mil huit cent quatre-vingt-treize le premier du The year one thousand eight hundred ninety-three the first mois de mai of the month of May First Witness Jules Renaud âgé de trente-un ans cultivateur à Jules Renaud, aged thirty-one years, farmer in Bornay, son Bornay fils du défunt of the deceased Second Witness Gustave-Arsène Banderier âgé de trente-six ans Gustave-Arsène Banderier, aged thirty-five years, instituteur à Bornay, ni parent ni voisin du défunt schoolteacher in Bornay, neither relative nor neighbor of the deceased Date and Time of le premier mai à neuf heures du matin the first of May at nine o'clock in the morning Death

______10 © 2021, Amberly Beck Name, Age, Pierre-Désiré Renaud âgé de soixante-huit ans et Pierre-Désiré Renaud, aged sixty-eight years, farmer who Occupation, & demi cultivateur domicilié à Bornay lived in Bornay Residence of Deceased Birthplace & Birthdate né à Bornay le trente septembre mil huit cent vingt- born in Bornay the thirty September one thousand eight of Deceased quatre hundred twenty-four Name, Age, & marié à Pierrette-Désiron Bouillier âgée de soixante- husband of Pierrette-Désiron Bouillier, aged sixty-seven Occupation of Spouse sept ans cultivatrice à Bornay years, farmer in Bornay Parents of Deceased fils de défunts Jean-François Renaud et de Pierrette son of the deceased Jean-François Renaud and of Pierrette Jannot tous deux cultivateurs domiciliés à Bornay en Jannot, both farmers and residents of Bornay while living leur vivant Place of Death est décédé dans sa maison à Bornay has died in his house in Bornay

French Republican Calendar ______

While none of the record examples above included any dates from the French Republican calendar, it is important to be aware of that calendar. The French Republican calendar was used for twelve years beginning 24 October 1793 and ending 31 December 1805. It was back-dated to 22 September 1792. The effects of that calendar are seen in records during that time and in subsequent records about people born during that time. Also, individuals who died during the French Republican calendar time period will be mentioned in the records about their children with that French Republican calendar death date.

Example date: 12 floréal an VII

Twelve is the day, "floréal" is the month, "an" means year, "VII" is the seventh year of the new Republic. That date converts to 1 May 1799.

You can learn more about that calendar here.

Please note, all record images were used with the written permission of the Cher and Jura Departmental Archives.

1 Ardenais, Cher, France church records 1711–1785, baptism of Jean-Baptiste Dumas, 13 May 1774 (born 12 May 1774), Cher Departmental Archives, Bourges, France; digital image, archives18.fr, “Ardenais 1711–1785 3E 402," image 136 of 192, right page, fifth entry (https://www.archives18.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

2 Parnay, Cher, France church records 1737–1802, marriage of Philipe Rety & Marguerite Poirier, 1 February 1785, Cher Departmental Archives, Bourges, France; digital image, archives18.fr, “Parnay 1737–1802 EDEPOT0830," image 138 of 236, right page, first entry (https://www.archives18.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

3 Morlac, Cher, France church records 1763–1772, burial of Marie Lhopitau, 21 April 1763 (died 20 April 1763), Cher Departmental Archives, Bourges, France; digital image, archives18.fr, “Morlac 1763–1772 EDEPOT1281," image 5 of 83, right page, second entry (https://www.archives18.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

Morlac, Cher, France church records 1763–1772, burial of Catherine Ribaudeau, 25 April 1763 (died 24 April 1763), Cher Departmental Archives, Bourges, France; digital image, archives18.fr, “Morlac 1763–1772 EDEPOT1281," image 5 of 83, right page, third entry (https://www.archives18.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

4 Quantilly, Cher, France civil registration, 1897 birth, no. 3, Abel Louis Landry, 22 March 1897, Cher Departmental Archives, Bourges, France; digital image, archives18.fr, “Quantilly 1888–1902 3E 5626," image 61 of 298, right page, second entry (https://www.archives18.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

5 Bornay, Jura, France civil registration, 1896 marriage, no. 1, Stanislas Trontin & Marie-Thérèse-Hercylie Néron, 3 June 1896, Jura Departmental Archives, Montmorot, France; digital image, archives39.fr, “Bornay 1893–1902 3E / 10651," images 86–88 of 139 (https://www.archives39.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

6 Bornay, Jura, France civil registration, 1893 death, no. 2, Pierre-Désiré Renaud, 1 May 1893, Jura Departmental Archives, Montmorot, France; digital image, archives39.fr, “Bornay 1893–1902 3E / 10651," image 38 of 139, left page (https://www.archives39.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).