Haiti's records

LegacyUser

Marie-France FORBIN said: For the country of Haiti, the registers for Port-au-Prince have been released until 1917 which is not the case for all the "communes". When can we expect the releases. Thank you for making all these record available to us!

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: I've no experience in Haiti genealogy, but looking at the Catalog it seems that FS only has digitized civil registration registers from Port au Prince and no where else.

FS either hasn't yet been able to visit the archives of the other places of Haiti to film their records, or permission has been denied.

If you know the contact details of these archives or even better know the archivists personally, you should pass on these details to FS.

But I think we need to be realistic here- FS may not re-start filming "in the field" for many months, maybe not even until 2021, due to the pandemic.

In the meantime, check the FS Wiki, other genealogical websites and the archives themselves to see if there are other websites that have the records you are interested in.

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: The FamilySearch Wiki may be the best place to look, which was mentioned by A van Helsdingen.

Though it is hard to navigate, Cyndi's List (https://www.cyndislist.com) is a good resource to bookmark.Unfortunately, there isn't much in the way of Haitian records beyond what FamilySearch has published.

Using an internet search engine will bring up ads from Ancestry and MyHeritage, but my attempts to find Haitian records on Ancestry failed completely and I have an account.

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: The current pandemic may stifle any plans to obtain more records. Although I have not read anything about the FamilySearch field teams, it is entirely possible that they have been recalled until there is a cure and/or vaccine.

LegacyUser

David Newton said: Given that the vast majority of archives they were working in have been closed I'd say that's a real possibility. I would also agree that it is very unlikely things will even start to get going again until 2021. Whilst archives are not known for their heaving crowds, they do require long-distance travel to use in many cases and they are the epitome of a non-vital activity and thus they will take a long time to re-open.

One of the few things likely to open after them would be mass gatherings such as sporting events.

LegacyUser

Marie-France FORBIN said: Thank you all for your replies. I know that these archives have already been filmed. Because of Haiti's of 100 years law, FS cannot release records they already have. Port-au-Prince is available up to 1917, but not
the other towns. My question was addressed to FS.
Thank you

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: I had a look again on the Catalog again, and searched by author for the Archives Nationales D'Haiti. There are 7 pages of results, many of which are civil records from communes other than Port-au-Prince available up to 1916 or 1917.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/c...

Is this what you are looking for?

LegacyUser

Marie-France FORBIN said: No, I am looking primarily for these years in Jérémie and Corail.
Thank you

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: The real question is whether or not these original records still exist? And who has possession of those records presently.

Once that is known -- that is, they exist and that has the records -- then if field teams are available, and the organization is favorable, the records can be digitized.

If you happen to know the answers to those questions and have the opportunity to communicate with the leadership of that organization, and find out if they have plans to have their records preserved, which they may or may not have implemented -- if they have not, then suggest they contact FamilySearch (or one of the other organizations, like Ancestry) to have the records preserved.

See https://www.familysearch.org/records/... for more information.

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: I must admit I misunderstood your original question. I thought you were saying that no records from places other than Port-au-Prince were available, when actually the issue is that records are not public up to 1916-7.

Here's Jeremie:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/c...

The records are available up to 1910 (the title in the catalog incorrectly says 1899). For 1911 onwards the records have been filmed, but are not public in any form, because there is no symbol- either a camera, camera with key, or microfilm roll, in the right column. The DGS number means a digitized copy of the records has been made.

So FS has the records, but isn't publishing them.

If you can find a reputable source that says what the privacy laws are in Haiti, then you should send this to FS and ask that they release more records. If the limit is 100 years like it is in many countries, they could release records up to 1919.

But it's also possible that the record custodian, the Archives Nationales D'Haiti, has specifically declined permission for post-1911 records from Jeremie to be published on FS.

In my country New Zealand for example, probate records are public the moment they are created and can be viewed in person by anyone. But when the archive gave permission to FS to digitize them, they set a cut-off of 50 years, since they felt it was inappropriate to make more recent records so readily accessible. So just because the records are public doesn't mean the archive will let FS digitize them. Maybe the archive wants to wait 110 years before releasing any new records?

LegacyUser

Marie-France FORBIN said: Thanks for your reply. It is what I don't understand: why are records available for some cities and not others. Laws in Haiti don't change rapidly. They were following France's laws at one point, but France has recently changed the rules to make records public. That is why my questions were addressed to FS. I was hoping to get an answer from them. I am in the diaspora and don't have direct access to the responsible party in Haiti. Any way thanks for your help!

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: Usually a FS employee will response to these sort of threads, but not on a weekend. Hopefully you will hear from them tomorrow. This looks like a good opportunity for FS to publish tens of thousands of new records.

LegacyUser

Marie-France FORBIN said: Thank you!

JerryJoseph

Hello please keep in mind there's a thriving community doing Haitian genealogy, Though FS is definitely the place to find image, there a re other expertise and resource to do Haitian genealogy.

We also want to find a way to contact FS management, so they may request the custodian to release several records that have passed the 100-year mark.

Our genealogy is very fragile, and we do rely on FS to find these records that may not exist anymore in the original country. Please don't hesitate to reach out.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Haitiangenealogy 
www.haitiangenealogy.com
Instagram: Haitiangenealogy
twitter:haitiangenealo1
Clubhouse: Haitiangenealogy

Jerry Joseph for Haitian Genealogical Society