Ardèche, France Genealogy

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France

Ardèche

Guide to Ardèche ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers.

History[edit | edit source]

Ardèche is a Department in the south-central France named after the Ardèche River. Created March 4, 1790, it was formerly part of the ancient province of Vivarais. It is bordered by Gard, Lozère, Haute Loire, Loire, Isère, Ardèche, and Vaucluse.

Localities[edit | edit source]

Online Church Registers and Civil Registration[edit | edit source]

The vast majority of your research will be in church records and civil registration. Fortunately, these records are available online from the archives of each department.

Finding Church Records and Civil Registration Online[edit | edit source]

Each Department of France has archives that provide digitized images of these records.
Here is the website for the Department Archives of Ardèche, where you will find these records.
Ardèche Departmental Archives

Registres paroissiaux (parish registers)
Registres d'état civil (civil registration)
Censuses (Recensements)

See Using France Online Department Archives for step by step instructions on finding and reading these records.

Search Strategy[edit | edit source]

Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
You can estimate the ages of the parents and search for their birth records.
Search the death registers for all known family members.
Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.

Learning to Read Enough French to Do Genealogy[edit | edit source]

It's easier than you think! You do not have to be fluent in French to use these records, as there is only a limited vocabulary used in them. By learning a few key phrases, you will be able to read them adequately. Here are some resources for learning to read French records.

There is a three-lesson course in reading handwriting in old French records:

These lessons focus on reading church record and civil registration records:

Another resource is the French Records Extraction Manual, Full Manual. Much more is covered, but these first four lessons are especially useful.

Resources[edit | edit source]

Societies[edit | edit source]

SAGA www.saga/online Société des Amateurs de Généalogie de l'Ardèche Rayon d'action: Ardèche. Adresse postale SAGA BP 3 - 07210 CHOMERAC E-mail:bureau@geneardeche.org

Websites[edit | edit source]