Ardèche, France Genealogy

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

History
The area of the Vivarais suffered greatly in the 9th century with raids from Magyar and Saracen slavers operating from the coast of Provence resulting in an overall depopulation of the region. France obliged the bishops of Vivarais to admit the sovereignty of the Kings of France over all their temporal domain. The realm was largely ignored by the Emperors and was finally granted to France as part of the domain of the Dauphin, the future Charles VII of Valois in 1308. During the Hundred Years War, the area maintained its loyalty to the French crown, despite frequent attacks from the west. As a result of the reformation of John Calvin in Geneva, the Vivarais Ardèche was one of the areas which strongly embraced Protestantism partly as a result of missionary activity of 1534. The influence of Protestant Lyon, suffered  many attacks and eight pitched battles between 1562 and 1595. In 1598, the Edict of Nantes put an end to these struggles. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which finally outlawed Protestantism, resulted in the peasant family of Marie and Pierre Durand leading a revolt against royal authority. During the French Revolution, in 1789, with the Declaration of Human Rights, Ardèche Protestants were at last recognised as citizens in their own right, free at last to practise their faith. Named after the river of the same name, the Ardèche was one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. Since the 1860s, the Ardèche economy has been split between the prosperous Rhône valley and the relatively poor and mountainous Haut Vivarais on the western side of the department. Sheep farming did not lead to the prosperity hoped for and wine growing, which was badly hit by the phylloxera crisis during the closing decades of the 19th century, has had to compete with other more established areas of France. Wikipedia

Localities (Communes)

 * FranceGenWeb
 * Locom-France
 * Wikipedia
 * Wikipedia, former localities

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. Fortunately, these records are available online from the archives of each department: Ardèche Departmental Archives

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

Online Census Records
Census records can support your search in civil and church records. They can help identify all family members. When families have similar names they help determine which children belong in each family. See France Census.
 * Online census records, Department Archives of Ardèche

Online Local Databases and Extracted Records
Groups devoted to genealogy have also extracted and/or indexed records for specific localities, time periods, religious groups, etc. Since church records at the departmental archives are generally not indexed, you might find an index here that will speed up your searching.
 * Tout en Un (All in One) Online Databases Check for online databases and records in right column.  Check back occasionally to see if new databases have become available.
 * Tout en Un (All in One) Local Databases Here you may find extracted/translated records, record indexes, and other helpful records such as cemetery, land, or military records.
 * Geneanet Collaborative Indexes Search by locality (parish or commune).
 * at FamilySearch (index and images)
 * Genea-Bricolo
 * Cercle Généalogique du Languedoc Databases
 * Huguenots des Cévennes
 * Huguenots des Vivarais

Other Online Records

 * 1542-1900 - at FamilySearch — index

Microfilm Records of the FamilySearch Library
The church and civil registration records have all been microfilmed. Currently, they are being digitized, and plans are to complete that project by 2020. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. In the meantime, some of them might be available at a Family History Center near you. To find a microfilm: Click on, find and click on "Places within France, Ardèche," and choose your locality from the list.

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 handwriting in old French records:
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 1: The French Alphabet,
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 2: Key Words and Phrases
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading 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.
 * France Church Records
 * France Civil Registration- Vital Records
 * Chapter 1: OLD FRENCH RECORDS
 * Chapter 2: PARISH CHRISTENING AND CIVIL BIRTH ENTRIES
 * Chapter 3: MARRIAGE ENTRIES
 * Chapter 4: OTHER ENTRIES
 * Chapter 5: FRENCH HANDWRITING AND SPELLING

Search Strategy

 * 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.

Genealogical Societies and Help Groups

 * Ardèche Wiki GenWeb Associations
 * Ardèche Forums
 * Association généalogique de la Loire
 * Southern Europe Genealogy Research Community

Société des Amateurs de Généalogie de l'Ardèche (SAGA) Mailing address: SAGA BP 3 07210 Chomerac France E-mail:bureau@geneardeche.org
 * Website

Websites

 * Tout en Un Ardèche
 * GenWeb, ArdèchePortal
 * Cousins 07
 * Geneanet Surname Search
 * France Geneawiki Genealogical Sources includes instructional discussions of various records available.
 * French Republican Calendar. This site will help you translate dates used by France from 24 October 1793 to 31 December 1805.
 * There are parallel articles also available on the French Language Wiki. Because they are maintained by different authors, links may be added there that do not appear here. Generally, the articles translate automatically to English when accessed.