Haute-Savoie, France Genealogy

EuropeFrance Haute-Savoie

Guide to Haute-Savoie, France ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Haute-Savoie (English: Upper Savoy) is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. To the north of Haute-Savoie is the Swiss Canton of Geneva and Lake Geneva; to the east the Swiss Canton of Valais and Italy's Aosta Valley; to the west the French department of Ain (from which it is separated by the Rhône), and to the south the department of Savoie (from which it is divided by a line drawn across the plain of Albanais and the Bauges massif). The modern departments of Haute Savoie and Savoie comprise the "Pays de Savoie" (Savoy).

Préfecture
The préfecture (administrative capital) is Annecy.

The Conseil Général de la Haute-Savoie is the central legislative and administrative body for the department. It is responsible for, among other services, the Archives départementales de la Haute-Savoie (the Departmental Archive of Upper Savoy).

History
The modern departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie were constituted on 12 June 1860 following the Treaty of Turin (24 March 1860) by which Savoy was ceded to France.

The County of Savoy was part of the first Burgundian kingdom, then the kingdom of Arles and then the Holy Roman Empire. In 1416 the county was raised in status to the Duchy of Savoy comprising parts of modern France (Savoie, Haute-Savoie and the port of Nice), Switzerland (cantons of Geneva and Vaud), and Italy (Valle d'Aosta, Piedmont and part of Liguria).

In the 16th century, Savoy was an Italian state and, after 1713, part of the kingdom of Sardinia.

In 1792 France annexed Savoy; in 1815 its territory was returned to Sardinia; in 1860 it was ceded to France by the Treaty of Turin.

Historic Province
Haute-Savoie formed part of the province of Savoy, the heartland of the independent Duchy of Savoy rather than the Kingdom of France. The modern department of Haute-Savoie more or less corresponds with the three historic Savoy provinces of Chablais, Faucigny and Genévois.

Record Loss
Census records for the arrondissements of Bonneville, Saint-Julien-en-Genevois et Thonon-les-Bains before 1886 were destroyed following a narrow reading of a ministerial circular of 12 August 1887 requiring the culling of lists of names more than 6 years old.

Places/Localities
Modern Haute-Savoie is divided into four (4) arrondissements (administrative subdivisions):


 * Annecy
 * Bonneville
 * Saint-Julien-en-Genevois
 * Thonon-les-Bains

In turn, these are further divided into 34 cantons and then into 294 communes.

A number of communes are joined together in two administrative inter-communalities (French: communautés d'agglomération). They are the Community of Greater Annecy and Annemasse - Les Voirons.

Populated Places
The ten largest communes (with their 2006 populations) are:


 * Annecy (51 000)
 * Thonon-les-Bains (31 200)
 * Annemasse (28 600)
 * Annecy-le-Vieux (19 800)
 * Cluses (17 800)
 * Seynod (17 400)
 * Cran-Gevrier (16 800)
 * Sallanches (15 500)
 * Rumilly ( 12 800)
 * Gaillard (11 500)

Other significant places are Bonneville, Chamonix and St-Julien-en-Genevois.

Neighboring Departments

 * Ain
 * Savoie

Haute-Savoie also borders Italy and Switzerland.

Archives and Libraries
Most records of genealogical interest are held locally and not by the central National Archives.

The Departmental Archives for Haute-Savoie Archives départementales de Haute-Savoie) are located at 37 bis avenue de la Plaine, 74000 Annecy.

Online Church Records and Civil Registration
'''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.'''

How to Read the Records

 * For more instruction on using these records, see:
 * France Church Records
 * France Civil Registration- Vital Records.
 * Chapter 1: OLD FRENCH RECORDS
 * Chapter 2: PARISH CHRISTENING AND CIVIL BIRTH ENTRIES
 * Marriage Entries Chapter 3: MARRIAGE ENTRIES.

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.


 * There is a three-lesson course in reading French Records:
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 1: The French Alphabet,
 * French Handwritten Records Lesson 2: Key Words and Phrases
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading French Records

Finding Church Records and Civil Registration Online
Each Department of France has archives that provide digitized images of these records. Here is the address for the Department Archives of Ain, where you will find these records. Department Archives of Haute-Savoie Civil registration (état civil) of births, marriages, and deaths began in 1792 after annexation by France but was suspended from 1814 or 1815 when Savoy was returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia. Civil registration resumed in 1863.

Before civil registration and during its suspension, it is necessary to search the local parish registers (registres paroissiaux) of baptisms, marriages and burials. In 1910, care, custody and control of these registers were transferred to the Departmental Archives who also hold the état civil.

In the late 1970s these records were microfilmed by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To find film numbers, search by place-name of the relevant parish or commune in the familysearch.org catalog.

Newspapers
A number of issues of newspapers which circulated in Haute-Savoie have been digitised and are searchable online at Rhône-Alpes News and Memory, a collaborative site serving the Rhône-Alpes region.

Newspapers in the Haute-Savoie region:

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to Family History Centers

The nearest Centers are:


 * Annemasse France Family History Center
 * Chambery France Family History Center
 * Geneva Switzerland Family History Center
 * Lausanne Switzerland Family History Center
 * Yverdon Switzerland Family History Center

Société Savoisienne d’Histoire et d’Archéologie
The Savoisian Incorporated Association of History and Archaeology was formed in 1855 and incorporated in 1881. It publishes quarterly reference books, organizes conferences, seminars, public lectures, and study tours. It also maintains a large specialized library open to the public. It publishes a website (in French only).

Mailing Lists
The area of Haute-Savoie is covered by bilingual English-French mailing list for the Rhône-Alpes Region of France at Rootsweb.

A French language mailing list, GénéSavoie (généalogie en Savoie) serves those with a genealogical interest in Savoy covering both French departments of Haute-Savoie and Savoie.

Websites

 * History, heritage, archives of Savoy (in French)
 * Haute-Savoie Francegenweb
 * Gazetteer for Haute-Savoie