Beginning French Research for Non-French Speakers PART TWO 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 tante aunt ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 © 2021, Amberly Beck The Methodology of Reading a Record in Another Language ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 © 2021, Amberly Beck 2 Marriage Record Example "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