Julie Goucher ~ Anglers Rest

Courtesy of Wikipedia
Flag adopted 15 Feb 1794

This post is part of a series about genealogy in France. You can read the complete series HERE.

Before 1792, there was no death registration in France. The closest record available was burial records, these were written by priests and these contained:

• Date of the burial, written in full
• Date of death, often written as the day before, or other indications of when the death took place
• Burial place, churchyard, with, in some cases in the church
• Name of deceased with occupation
• Age of deceased
• Name of the spouse of the deceased
  • or, if a child, the parents
• Name of witnesses and relationship to the deceased, but this is not always provided
• There might be an indicator if the death was sudden, or the deceased was given the last rites.

Burials were undertaken by priests and are not generally speaking a mechanism for recording the cause of death. It might be possible to potentially construct a hypothesis based upon other materials available, such as when it is known there was a significant outbreak of a particular condition or illness.

Courtesy of Wikipedia
Flag adopted 15 Feb 1794

This post is part of a series about genealogy in France. You can read the complete series HERE.

After 1792, deaths were required to be registered by civil officials. Information was believed to be more precise than previous, and generally contained:

• Date including the time of event
• Date of record, including the time
• Name of deceased
• Age of deceased
• Place of birth of deceased
• Occupation (for males or unmarried women)
• Name of spouse (and former spouses if married more than once)
  • For unmarried women, or children name of parents
• Name of witnesses and relationship to the deceased

It is possible to find burial information in addition to the civil registration of a death.

Courtesy of Wikipedia
Flag adopted 15 Feb 1794

This post is part of a series about genealogy in France. You can read the complete series HERE.

During the years of the Revolution many towns changed their names, the aim was to remove signs of royalty, nobility and religion, therefore the identification of a town can be tricky to locate during this period of French history.

The new names were typically based upon geography or on the principles of the Republic, and in 1814 most towns reverted to their original name. Records are classified under the name of the town currently used and you can view this page on Wikipedia which shows the communes that changed their names.

Courtesy of Wikipedia
Flag adopted 15 Feb 1794

This post is part of a series about genealogy in France. You can read the complete series HERE.

Before 1792, there was no birth registration in France. The closest record available was baptism records and these contained:

• Date of the baptisms
• Name of Godparents, which included on occasion the occupation of male Godparents.
• Name of Mother
  • Sometimes her father, if mother is a minor
• Date of birth, this is often referred to as previous day or similar, rarely giving an actual date.
• Gender of child
• Given name
• Names of parents
• Occupation of father

After 1792 it is therefore possible to locate both a baptism and a birth registration.