How can I do an online search for my french ancestors birth, death, marriage and census records of the 1800s?

It depends on the database that your are searching. Most of them like Ancestry, have little boxes for you to put the information in and you simply fill them in with as much information as you know.How can I do an online search for my french ancestors birth, death, marriage and census records of the 1800s?
I live in France and have been researching my own ancestry for 5 years. As far as websites, Ancestry.fr exists but at the moment it is rather limited and only in French. If you don't read and write the language reasonably well this is a difficult task.





For the most part you need to know the exact village where your ancestor came from. Then you need to go to the Departmental Archives. For example, my ancestor was born in Blienschwiller which is in the Bas Rhin (Lower Rhine department of the Alsace) so I have to go to Strasbourg to the Archives. It is there that I can scan through the microfilms.





An alternative is if you know the village and the date of birth, marriage, or death you can write to the city hall (called Le Maire or Hotel de Ville) to request a copy of the archive in question. Most of the communal offices are short staffed so it could take a while plus you need to make the request in French, pay for the copies in Euros, and more than likely send a self-addressed stamped envelop (have to use French stamps).





Ok if that is not depressing enough, let me share some of the details of how the records work. Napolean Bonapart established the system of civil registries. After 1793 all births, marriages and deaths had to be registrered in a civil registry as aposed to the church. Unfortunately over the years lots of the registries were destroyed due to wars and conflicts. Any information prior to 1793 is only to be found in the church registries.





On the positive side, nothing will ever replace the emotional feeling that you will receive the day you touch, the registry that was signed by you ancestor.





I think a trip to France is in you future!





Bon Chance!How can I do an online search for my french ancestors birth, death, marriage and census records of the 1800s?
Learn to read and write French, as for online, again you will have to be able to read French to use French Internet search engines to find if any of those records have been transcribed, scanned and uploaded to the internet. Also be prepared to pay fees because it isn't cheap to travel to areas and gather records, upload and keep them on the net. Remember 2 World Wars have been fought on French soil so good luck.
Try:


You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history. Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department. Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc. Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).


Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers. They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).


A third option is one of the following websites:


http://www.searchforancestors.com/...





http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739鈥?/a>





www dot usgenweb dot com/





www dot census dot gov/





http://www.rootsweb.com/





www dot ukgenweb dot com/





www dot archives dot gov/





http://www.familysearch.org/





http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...





http://www.cyndislist.com/





www dot geni dot com/





Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.





Of course, you may be successful by googling: ';john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts'; as an example.





Good luck and have fun!





Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:





www dot associatedcontent dot com/article...





Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.


I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.
Obviously talking to living ancestors and going through the shoe boxes that might be laying around are good ways to start. Once you do that I would contact the nearest Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints(Mormons) in your area. Ask them where the nearest Family History Center is. Take the information that you have and go there for help. It is free and there are some very good genealogists that volunteer there and are happy to help you in any way. The great thing is that you do not have to be a member of the church and it is all free including the online data-bases. Trust me on this, that is the best way to go!





The History Man!


http://wwwhistoryman.blogspot.com/