Guadeloupe, France Genealogy

Caribbean

Guadeloupe

Guide to Guadeloupe ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Guadeloupe Wiki Topics
Beginning Research
Research Strategies Record Finder
Record Types
Census Church Records Civil Registration Colonial Records Compiled Genealogies	Military Records Online Records Periodicals Religious Records
Guadeloupe Background
Gazetteers History Jurisdictions	Languages Maps
Local Research Resources
Archives & Libraries Societies Family History Centers

History

Guadeloupe is an archipelago forming an overseas region of France in the Caribbean. It lies south of Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat, and north of Dominica. It consists of six inhabited islands, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the Îles des Saintes, as well as many uninhabited islands. Like the other overseas departments, it is an integral part of France. The official language is French.

Getting Started

Getting Started with Guadeloupe Research Links to articles on getting started with Guadeloupe research. How to Find Birth Records How to Find Marriage Records How to Find Death Records

Guadeloupe Research Tools Links to articles and websites that assist in Guadeloupe research. Guadeloupe Genealogical Resources FranceGenWeb Outremer Archives Départementales

Guadeloupe Online Genealogy Records

Ask the Community

Guadeloupe, France Map

Genealogy records are kept on the local level in Guadeloupe. Arrondissements:

Arrondissements

Genealogy records are kept on the local level in Guadeloupe. Arrondissements:

• Basse-Terre
• Pointe-à-Pitre

Church Records and Civil Registration (Registres Paroissiaux et Etat Civil) Online

The vast majority of your research will be in church records and civil registration. For more information on these records and how to use them, read France Church Records and France Civil Registration. Additional instructions and practice activities are available:

• Alsace-Lorraine - Activity, Answer Key
• Alsace-Lorraine: Department Archive Records Online - Instruction
  

Fortunately, these records are available online from the archives of each department:
Here is the website for the Overseas National Archives, where you will find these records.

• Overseas National Archives, Guadeloupe
• Overseas National Archives, Saint Martin
• Overseas National Archives, Saint-Barthélémy

For a demonstration of navigating archives websites, watch the video, Using France Department Archives Online.

Writing for Records

Online records tend to cover only the time before 100 years, due to privacy laws. You can write to civil registration offices and local churches who might honor requests for more recent records of close family members for the purpose of genealogy.

For a civil registration office, address your request to:

Monsieur l'officier de l'état-civil
Mairie de (Town)
(Postal code) (Town)

For a parish church:

Monsieur le Curé
(Church --see The Catholic Directory for church name and address)
(Town) (Postal Code) France

For other addresses and for help writing your request in French, use French Letter Writing Guide.

Learning to Read Enough French to Do Genealogy

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.

• French Genealogical Word List
• French Handwriting.
• BYU French Script Tutorial

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

• France Church Records
• France Civil Registration

Another resource is the French Records Extraction Manual. The full manual or individual lesson chapters are downloadable from this webpage. A number of helpful lessons are available here, but the first five lessons are especially useful.

• Chapter 1: Old Records
• Chapter 2: Christening, Marriage, and Other Entries
• Chapter 3: Marriage
• Chapter 4: Other Entries
• Chapter 5: French Handwriting and Spelling

Before 1539, many church records are in Latin. In 1539 French was made the administrative language of France through the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts. As a result, there is only the occasional Latin word or phrase in church records after 1539.

• Latin for Genealogists - video
• Latin Genealogical Word List

Search Strategy

• Begin with the death information of the focus ancestor and locate the death record.
  
• Use the information on that death record to locate the ancestor's marriage record.
  
• Use the information on that marriage record to locate the ancestor's birth record.
  
• Once the birth record is found, search for the focus ancestor's siblings.
  
• Next, search for the marriage of the focus ancestor's parents. The marriage record will have information that often helps locate the birth records of the parents.
  
• 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. It is possible they may have moved or boundaries changed.
  

FamilySearch Resources

Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family.

• Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
• Learning Center - Online genealogy courses
• Historical Records
• Family History Center locator map