France Civil Registration: Difference between revisions

'''Marriage banns [publications]''' were made twice in the weeks before a couple planned to marry. The couple was required to announce their intention to give other community members the opportunity to raise any objections to the marriage. Some registers of marriage banns before 1927 have been preserved. Banns are made in the places of origin of both the bride and the groom and usually show the town where the marriage took place or the residence of the bride. Search these if you do not know where a marriage took place.  

'''Marriage supplements [pièces annexes or pièces justificatives]''' were occasionally filed by the bride and groom in support of their application to be married. They may include birth record extracts of the bride and groom, death certificates of the parents, divorce decree of a previous union, certificates of residence, a marriage contract, legitimation of children, parent's consent, or military status of the groom, and sometimes documentation on earlier generations may be included. In France these marriage supplements were originally kept by the clerk of the court [Greffe du tribunal], but a few may have been given to the departmental archives.  

'''Contracts [contracts de mariage]''' are documents created for the protection of property. These are notarial documents. Sometimes the marriage certificate will show the name and town of the notary who wrote the contract and the date it was written. But these contracts are not usually on microfilm at the Family History Library and are not always deposited at the departmental archives. They may have remained in the office of the notary's successors.