Beginning French Research for Non-French Speakers PART T HREE

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

Automatic Translation of Webpages ______

Google Chrome can be set to offer automatic translations of webpages. This is very helpful because all of the French departmental archives websites are in French. To activate this setting, open Google Chrome, at the top right click on the three vertical dots, then go to Settings, then Advanced, then Language, then check "Offer to translate pages that aren't in a language you read." For more assistance, watch this short video.

Sometimes, you may want to switch between French and English. Simply refresh the webpage and then choose your desired language in the pop-up box that will appear in the upper right-hand corner of the webpage.

Maps of the Departments of France ______

FranceGenWeb has an excellent map of the departments of France with color coding that indicates whether or not the church and civil records for that department are digitized and available on their website. You can view that map here. The links below the map will take you to pages about each department and information about their archives and collections.

République Française has a different map with a drop-down menu that will take you directly to the departmental archives websites. This is a very quick way to get to the right page on each website. You can view that map here.

The Departmental Archives of France ______

Each department in France has its own archive. Each archive has its own website, with the exception of some overseas territories. Within each departmental archives website there will be different collections available. You will focus on church and civil records at first. The interactive map found on République Française, mentioned above, will take you directly to the church and/or civil records search page of each departmental archives website.

Learn more about navigating departmental archives websites here.

Example

The 1763 burial record for Marie Lhopitau, seen above, states she was "âge de trois ans" or three years old at the time of her death.1 That gives her an approximate birth year of 1760. Using that approximate birth year, and the town of burial — Morlac, a search for her baptism record was commenced in the Cher departmental archives. https://www.archives18.fr/arkotheque/consult_fonds/index.php?ref_fonds=1

From the Registres paroissiaux et état civil, or Parish registers and civil status page, on the Cher departmental archives website, a search for the commune, or town, of Morlac brought up a collection of baptism, marriage, and burial records for 1743–1762. The baptism record for Marie Lhopitau was found on image 86 of 109.2 https://www.archives18.fr/ark:/41383/s00512b7af69da6f/512b7af6b53c4

Key Items in French Key Items in English Date of Baptism L’an mil sept cens soixante le dix neuf mars The year one thousand seven hundred sixty the nineteen[th] of March Name of Child Marie Marie Date of birth née d'hier au soir born yesterday evening [18 March 1760] Name of Father jean lhopitau Jean Lhopitau Name of Mother marie descloux Marie Descloux

Navigating to the desired record is just like navigating any digital microfilm. Skip around, checking the year until you find the desired section. Once the year 1760 was found, Marie's baptism record was on that exact page. Her exact date of baptism and birth were not previously known so this was a lucky find. If her record had not been on that page, clicking both forward and backward from the beginning of 1760, reading the marginal notes looking for her name would have been the next step.

Marie Renard was baptized 30 December 1787 in Parnay, Cher, France.

Find her baptism record.

Try to answer these questions: • When was she born? • Who were her parents? • Were they married?

Your answers don't need to be word perfect, even just finding the spot in the record that answers the question is great!

If you are struggling, this is the church book containing her record: https://www.archives18.fr/ark:/41383/s005f5a179d65df6/5f5a17f457755

This is the page with her baptism record: https://www.archives18.fr/ark:/41383/s005f5a179d65df6/5f5a17f46a6d8

Answers on page 5.

Exercise 2

Marie Robin was buried 28 November 1764 in Morlac, Cher, France.

Find her burial record.

Try to answer these questions: • How old was she when she died? • What family member(s) were mentioned in her burial record? • When did she die?

If you are struggling, this is the church book containing her record: https://www.archives18.fr/ark:/41383/s00512b7af6bc9c3/512b7af6bcd15

This is the page with her burial record: https://www.archives18.fr/ark:/41383/s00512b7af6bc9c3/512b7af6c036a

Answers on page 6.

Jean Ferréol Néron died 25 June 1891 in Bornay, Jura, France.

Find his death record.

Try to answer these questions: • How old was he when he died? • When and where was he born? • Who were his parents?

If you are struggling, this is the collection containing his record: http://archives39.fr/ark:/36595/a011423563660MufO0c/2e72aaf3ab

This is the page with his death record: http://archives39.fr/ark:/36595/a011423563660MufO0c/6f12c19960

Answers on page 6 and 7.

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

From the Registres paroissiaux et état civil, or Parish registers and civil status page, on the Cher departmental archives website, a search for the commune, or town, of Parnay brought up a collection of baptism, marriage, and burial records for 1737–1802. The baptism record for Marie Renard was found on image 148 of 236.3

Key Items in French Key Items in English Date of Baptism L’an mille sept cents quatre vingt sept le trente The year one thousand seven hundred eighty-seven the decembre thirty December Name of Child Marie Marie Date of birth née de çe jour born this day Name of Father antoine renard Antoine Renard Name of Mother magdelaine bouret Magdelaine Bouret Marital Status son epouse his wife

This record has an interesting conflict. Line three begins "fils d'antoine renard," meaning son of Antoine Renard. However, the words "née," or born, and "baptisée," or baptized, are both the feminine forms of those words indicating the child was a girl. The name Marie is used for both male and female children, more commonly for females, so the name doesn't clarify the conflict by itself. There is one additional clue about the gender of the child. The godmother was Marie Fauconot. Children were typically given the same name(s) as their same-gender godparent. Aside from the word "fils," calling the child a son, all other clues indicate this child was a girl. The priest appears to have just made a mistake and written "fils" when he should have written "fille," or daughter.

From the Registres paroissiaux et état civil, or Parish registers and civil status page, on the Cher departmental archives website, a search for the commune, or town, of Morlac brought up a collection of baptism, marriage, and burial records for 1763–1772. The burial record for Marie Robin was found on image 14 of 83.4

Key Items in French Key Items in English Date of Burial L’an mil sept cens soixante quatre le vingt huit novembre The year one thousand seven hundred sixty-four the twenty-eight[h] November Name of Deceased marie robin Marie Robin Date of Death décédée d'hier died yesterday Age of Deceased à l'âge d'environ quarante ans aged about forty years Name of Spouse epouse de joseph chevallier wife of Joseph Chevallier

Answers for Exercise 3

From the registres paroissiaux et d'état-civil, or parish registers and civil status page, on the Jura departmental archives website, a search for the commune, or town, of Bornay brought up a collection of birth and death records for 1873–1892. The death record for Jean Ferréol Néron was found on image 192 of 198.5

Key Items in French Key Items in English Name of Deceased Jean-Ferréol Néron Jean-Ferréol Néron Age of Deceased âgé de soixante seize ans aged seventy-six years Birth Place & Date né au même lieu le trente octobre mil huit cent born in the same place the thirty october one thousand quinze eight hundred fifteen Parents fils de défunts Claude-François Néron et de Marie- son of the deceased Claude- François Néron and of Marie- Claudine Renaud Claudine Renaud

1 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).

2 Morlac, Cher, France church records 1743–1762, baptism of Marie Lhopitau, 19 March 1760 (born 18 March 1760), Cher Departmental Archives, Bourges, France; digital image, archives18.fr, “Morlac 1743–1762 EDEPOT1280," image 86 of 109, right page, second entry (https://www.archives18.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

3 Parnay, Cher, France church records 1737–1802, baptism of Marie Renard, 30 December 1787 (born the same day), Cher Departmental Archives, Bourges, France; digital image, archives18.fr, “Parnay 1737–1802 EDEPOT0830," image 148 of 236, left page, second entry (https://www.archives18.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

4 Morlac, Cher, France church records 1763–1772, burial of Marie Robin, 28 November 1764 (died 27 November 1764), Cher Departmental Archives, Bourges, France; digital image, archives18.fr, “Morlac 1763–1772 EDEPOT1281," image 14 of 83, right page, second entry (https://www.archives18.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).

5 Bornay, Jura, France civil registration, 1891 death, no. 6, Jean-Ferréol Néron, 25 June 1891, Jura Departmental Archives, Montmorot, France; digital image, archives39.fr, “Bornay 1873–1892 3E / 8043," image 192 of 198, right page (https://www.archives39.fr/ : accessed 26 December 2020).