🧑‍💻FRANCE GENEALOGY RESEARCH LINKS

Michael Stenberg · April 18, 2023

FRANCE GENALOGY RESEARCH LINKS

Dates to keep in mind:

Church Records start 1539. They began keeping duplicate copies in 1667. Baptisms, Marriages, Burials.

Civil Registration began in 1792, duplicate copies in town and departmental archive. Various privacy restrictions for French records exist, some up to 100 years. Births, Marriages, Deaths

MOST-USED WEBSITES:

FRENCH DEPARTMENTAL ARCHIVES—Free to use, 101 Departmental Archives each with a unique number. Each department can have a different look and tools, learn to use.

Map-FranceGenWeb Carte de France des archives en ligne- “Map of France from online archives” is a color coded map indicating whether or not the church and civil records for that department are digitized and available online.

Map- République Française, Etat civil en ligne- “Civil status online,” contains dropdown menu links to each departmental archive.

Map-Geneanet, Les archives départmentales en ligne, “Departmental archives online”

FAMILYSEARCH

. FamilySearch France Research Page

French Culture

· FamilySearch Research Wiki, France Genealogy, main page. There are MANY links to additional pages from this main page. See “Record Types” on the right side of page. Note the French Genealogical Word List link. Scroll down to clickable “map” to access similar departmental pages. See links to “Getting Started,” “Online Records” “Research Classes,”etc.

· FamilySearch Catalog. In place, enter—France, Department, Parish—then select the default in green and search. Civil Registration and church records are kept at the local parish level. Click on the subject of interest, such as Church records or Civil registration. Click on the blue title of the collection. Scroll down to see film notes and details. Under the format column if you see a camera, the digital images are available at home, or camera with key at a family history center. A microfilm reel icon indicates these records are available from FamilySearch only on microfilm at the Salt Lake Family History Library. You can also navigate to the parish level by starting with France, search, click blue “Places within France,” then choose a department and click “Places within…”

· FamilySearch Images. In the place field, enter France…and click the default that appears below (France 843-Present County), then click Search Image Groups. Find a collection of interest. Click on place, date, record type, or image count to open images.

· FamilySearch Family Tree, online shared family tree

· FamilySearch Genealogies, directory of family trees

· FamilySearch - Monaco Genealogies (Hyperlink to FamilySearch WIKI

GENEANET- part free, part $, more online French Family trees than any other website, lots of indexes from Genealogical Societies. FS Wiki article about Geneanet.

FILAE- $ Some original records, and also indexes from Genealogical Societies, some online French family trees

ANCESTRY-$ For a list of collections relating to France, click “Search,” then “Card Catalog” from the dropdown menu. Enter “France” in the Title or Keyword search. Click "Search." You can change the sort to “Record Count” to put the largest collections at the top. Or use the Filters to find a collection you are interested in. Click the name of the collection to search and open search fields.

MYHERITAGE-$ For a list of collections relating to France, click “Research,” then “Collection Catalog,” Enter "France" in the Search for collection or keyword field. Click the Title Collection Name you are interested in. You can also locate using the filters.

FRANCEGENWEB

FACEBOOK

· Facebook- French Genealogy

. Facebook - France Genealogy! Just Ask!

. Facebook - French Heritage DNA project

LANGUAGE RESOURCES:

· FamilySearch French Genealogical Word List

· Online Translation help, Google Translate, pay attention to additional definitions.

· Use Google Chrome as a browser for an offer to translate the web page

· French/English Dictionary

· Groups that will help: THIS page, France Research Community Page….ask for help, Facebook- French Genealogy Genealogical Translations,

French Surnames

· Geopatronyme.com, distribution map

· What You Need to Know About French Surnames

LEARNING HOW TO RESEARCH IN FRANCE, CLASSES AND COURSES:

· Family History Library Classes and Webinars Schedule

· FamilySearch Help Center. Access the Help Center by clicking on the question mark in a circle icon. In the blue Help search field, enter France. Wait for the dropdown menu to populate. Or, click “Help Center” link, then enter France in this search field. Scroll through and find a class or article that can help.

· Rootstech Click on the Sessions tab, enter France in the black search field. Choose a class to watch. Here are just a few examples:

Beginning French Research for Non-French Speakers, Parts 1, 2, 3. By Amberly Beck

Records Analysis: Using French Church Records by Kari Meyer

French records on your French Ancestors by French Federation of Genealogy

Help! I have French Ancestors and I can’t speak French by Linda Hammond

French Genealogy: The Archives Départementales are Free Online by Lucie Drouin

· YouTube, enter search terms such as French Genealogy, France Family History, etc.

MISC. OTHER RESOURCES:

Latin Abbreviations, by Chassant

Latin>French wordlist

Latin Genealogical Word List

The Republican Calendar