The Thoughtful Homemaker

Before I told you the basic story of my ancestors who immigrated from France. I have a lot of information about them once they arrived to the USA but they remain a mystery back in France. Because many of the records in France have not been indexed like they are here in the USA and in Great Britain it is difficult to find your family without knowing which department your family is from.

After the French revolution in 1790, France was divided into 26 regions: Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Burgundy, Brittany, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corsica, franche-Comte, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Basse-Normandie, Martinique, Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardy, Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, Reunion, Rhone-Alpes, Upper Normandy (Haute-Normandy)

I have a hunch that my ancestor came from the region of Picardy. The next step is to find out the department of the region. The departments are each given a number. I think my ancestor came from Oise which is number 60 in the commune of Choisy-au-Bac. So I would write his birthplace as Choisy-au-Bac, Oise, Picardy, France. I searched on geneanet.org and found that many Dumanets lived in Oise.

Another great website is www.archimaine.fr where you can see original archives online or “Archives en ligne”. You click on the department, (l’oise)- archives, then etat civil. “Anee” means year. You are search actes, tous means all. Then you can see the original documents. They are in alphabetical order which is nice.

If you have anymore tips on French genealogy please let me know!