National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Société Nationale des Filles de la Révolution Américaine ROCHAMBEAU CHAPTER Chapitre Rochambeau Association affiliée à la NSDAR, régie en France par la loi de 1901 www.roch.darfrance.org 30 JUNE 2013 HOW TO FIND YOUR ANCESTORS IN FRANCE I. Genealogy Publications Many French family genealogies have been published. The three-volume directory by Colonel Arnaud, Répertoire des généalogies françaises imprimées (Directory of printed French genealogies), published in 1980, lists all the descendants and genealogies for at least three generations published in books or journals indexed in the Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library). The said "Colonel Arnaud" series includes 73,000 names representing approximately 350,000 families (try at www.amazon.fr but this source is difficult to find). Another source outlining these genealogies is the series of volumes by Gaston Saffroy, Bibliographie généalogique, héraldique et nobiliaire de la France, des origines à nos jours - imprimés et manuscrits (Bibliography of genealogy, heraldry and nobility of France from its origins to today, printed and in manuscript). This can be found second-hand - a precious source, but quite expensive. During the years 1987-1988, two other books were published by the Archives Nationales de France (National Archives of France) : the Guide des Recherches sur l’Histoire des Familles (Guide to Research on Family History) and Les Familles Protestantes en France (Protestant Families in France), both written by Gildas Bernard. A final book, currently out print, is La Généalogie, Histoire et Pratique (Genealogy: History and Methodology) by Joseph Valynseele, published by Larousse (try at www.amazon.fr). Starting from each reference in the series by Colonel Arnaud, it is possible to find the corresponding items in libraries or on those internet sites that offer review of scanned documents, such as Gallica (http://Gallica.bnf.fr), Internet Archive (http://archive.org) or Geneanet (for a paid subscription). "Google Books - (Advanced)" provides book excerpts from key words, including surnames or family names. 1|13 II. Genealogy research via the internet The Internet also allows access to many genealogical sites. - The most commonly used website (with free access to all the information provided by its membership) is http://www.geneanet.org (English available). It contains exceptionally rich information on the majority of French families. Nearly one billion individuals are listed on this site. But, as always, one must verify the data by finding the original documents. - The website at http://www.geneabank.org (in French and English, via paid access) allows you to search millions of surnames or family names on the databases of regional genealogical societies, organizations, or associations. Searches can be undertaken for the entire of France, or by specific regions, making use of the databank of over 71 million records collected. - The Bigenet website at http://www.bigenet.fr (40 million records, via paid access) offers similar resources, but based on parish registers and civil or marital status records. These sources cover only about half of France’s departments. - Lastly, traditional search engines, including www.ancestry.fr (via paid subscription), provide access to rich genealogical data. Your research becomes all the easier if the surname/family name being researched is rare and/or when a specific question is asked. III. Genealogy research based on records (scanned or otherwise) In France, the records of modern civil or marital status (starting from 1792 on) are not reportable nor searchable until they are at least 100 years old, and then only by decade. Therefore, for the periods of 1792-1902, and soon for the period of 1902-1912, the records relating to civil/marital status have already been forwarded to the relevant departmental archives. As a consequence, the "archives départementales" is where you should look first. You will find in annex 1 a short description of the administrative structures in France and their evolution since 1790. The municipal civil/marital status records are very complete, except for the Paris region (where the records were burned in 1871 during the Paris Commune, with prior records only partially restored), and except for some other communities, victims of one, or the other, of the two world wars, and of other disasters. The baptismal, marriage and death records, run by Catholic parishes until 1792, have existed since the mid-sixteenth century (in theory, since the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterets of 1539), and they are very complete from the year 1640 onward. Most are written in French, but for more ancient times, it is still common to find records written in Latin. These records are all held in the Departmental Archives of each corresponding parish. From 1792 onward, however, we can still find "acts of catholicity" because churches have continued to maintain their records, mainly of baptisms and marriages, even if the state keeps the official records. One should directly contact the respective parish for additional information. In some regions of France, but quite rarely, some Protestant registries have been preserved. Even fewer Jewish registries or records have been maintained. For these two religions, it is 2|13 best to research through specialized associations (such as www.huguenot.fr, www.huguenots- france.org, www.shpf.org for the Société de l’Historie du Protestantisme Française (Society for the History of French Protestantism), www.refuge-huguenot.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr for le Refuge huguenot, as well as the Cercle de Généalogie Juive (Circle of Jewish Genealogy) at www.genealoj.org (in English or French). Notarial Archives are available and researchable under the same 100-year conditions. Almost all documents prior to 1792 and many subsequent documents (contracts, inventories, leases...) have been turned over to the Departmental Archives (the "E" series). A monumental project of document scanning has been undertaken in France for twenty years, and almost all the France departments have scanned the totality of the parish registers or marital status documents. They can be accessed online in a simplified way through a search engine, by typing in the letters AD followed by the department name or number - for example AD14 to access the departmental archives of Calvados, in Normandy. The same holds true for the resources held by the Bibliothèque nationale (National Library, the site Gallica as noted above) and the Archives nationales de France (National Archives of France) at www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr, including the Archives d’Outre-Mer (Archives of Overseas Territories). Departmental archives offer many additional resources other than marital status, such as old real estate registries, census data, military drafts or conscriptions, legal proceedings, etc. Frequently they have been scanned, and all are relevant documents that are useful for genealogy research. For French ancestors who emigrated to French Canada, visit www.archivescanadafrance.org, where many documents have been scanned and are available online. IV. Volunteer genealogy The French are becoming more and more interested in their genealogy. There are more than 150 "circles" or genealogical "centers" (affiliated with the Fédération Française de Généalogie (French Genealogy Federation website at http://www.genefede.org). For the most part, they publish newsletters where subscribers can ask questions and receive answers. These organizations are national, regional or thematic in scope. A sample list is provided in annex 2. Generally, one must become a paid subscriber in order to have access to their databases. Numerous associations and blogs have also been created whose objectives are to reconstruct both ascending or descending genealogies, from the patrilineal descendant line or otherwise, and whether purely French or not. These are based entirely on volunteer efforts and on mutual assistance. The research within these sites can be made only from the surname or family name being sought, and thus it is not possible to establish an exhaustive list. For non-French speakers, be sure to have on hand a good bilingual dictionary - many are even available online - in order to pursue the most thorough searches possible within the French sources. Lastly, it is possible to make use of professional genealogists. However, as you can imagine, these services are not free of charge. _______________ 3|13 ANNEX 1 sources : wikipedia, internet French regions and departments France, structured in provinces until the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, is currently organized in regions (régions) and departments (départements). Departments are numbered. old provinces new regions 4|13 List of departments by region departments of France (excluding overseas territories) with their numbers Name of the region Departments Regional capital Alsace Bas-Rhin (67) Strasbourg Haut-Rhin (68) Aquitaine Dordogne (24) Bordeaux Gironde (33) Landes (40) Lot-et-Garonne (47) Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64) Auvergne Allier (03) Clermont-Ferrand Cantal (15) Haute-Loire (43) Puy-de-Dôme (63) Bourgogne Côte-d'Or (21) Dijon Nièvre (58) Saône-et-Loire (71) Yonne (89) 5|13 Name of the region Departments Regional capital Bretagne Côtes-d'Armor (22) Rennes Finistère (29) Ille-et-Vilaine (35) Morbihan (56) Centre Cher (18) Orléans Eure-et-Loir (28) Indre (36) Indre-et-Loire (37) Loir-et-Cher (41) Loiret (45) Champagne-Ardenne Ardennes (08) Châlons-en-