As they it is with food and fine wine, the French approach to family history is one of pride and passion. I found this out recently when a friend of mine from Montreal asked for some advice on finding her French ancestors. Initially I was a bit embarrassed; I didn’t know as much as I should about French genealogical records and sources! I went quickly to work, hit the books, and scoured the internet. I was amazed at how many databases and genealogy projects exist for this country. I also found the records to be well preserved, in spite of France’s history of revolution and warfare. Many of the French records date back well into the sixteenth century; making them valuable genealogical and historical records.

Of course there is the drawback that the majority are written in French. I of course had the benefit of being able to consult with “mon ami”, but with the help of a good French genealogy word list and online translation tools such as Google Translate, you should be able to find your way through French records. Many departmental archives in France have had their civil, parish and census records digitized and made available online for free. The Archives of France maintains a complete and current listing of records that are available online and the departments that manage them. The page is in French, but if you use Google Chrome’s automatically translate option, you can clearly see what sort of resources are available.

Defining your Search Strategy

Before you even begin searching for French genealogical records, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the country’s geopolitical divisions. Rather than counties, France is divided into régions which are similar to states. Within those “states” you’ll find further division into départments, which are the equivalent of counties. Notice that the French spellings are identical to the English regions and departments. You’ll be able to understand quite a few French words due to their similarity to English ones. Once you move below department level however, you’ll encounter what are known as les mairies which is a collective name for the towns, villages and cities found within the départments.

You’ll generally find archives at the departmental level in France, while local records are held by les mairies. Each department in France is assigned a number, so in order to access appropriate records; you’ll need both the number and the name of the department where those records are kept. A good place to begin your research of French records is on one of the genealogy communities for publishing and sharing family trees. You’ll be able to find a group that focuses on French ancestry, and there avail yourself of the help of other genealogists, and the resources that most of the sites provide. A quick way to connect with such a group is to do as search of your surname. This will provide you with a selection of groups or individuals who are researching your surname, some of whom may be relatives.

French Civil Registration Records

France boasts an excellent system of civil registration records that date back to1792. Before that time, civil registrations were recorded by the Catholic Church and information regarding baptisms, marriages and funerals can be found in those records. These early parish registers date back to 1334, though the majority date from the mid seventeenth century. Both the civil and parish records are constantly being transcribed, digitized and made available online at a rapid rate, mostly on the websites of the departmental archives.

French Census Reports

The French began taking Census Reports in 1836, and these are also excellent records for tracing your French Ancestors. The major drawback of the French census records is that they are not indexed, and so it can be difficult to locate your relatives in the larger cities. The key in such cases is to exercise patience and persevere. A well thought out and executed process of elimination will surely reveal your ancestor. Occasionally you can find digitized images of French census records on the departmental website; they will be indexed as recensements du population.

Once you locate you ancestor in the census or other genealogical records you’ll want to record that information in a clear, concise way before entering it into your family tree. We have designed some Free Downloadable Genealogy Forms for such occasions, and encourage you to download one now before you begin your research. This way you can enter the information directly into your census form, saving you valuable time, and making it easier to store in your family group record. Remember to verify all the information you find before entering into your family tree, and double check spellings and accuracies of dates as well. This way you’ll ensure that your French family is both interesting and accurate.

Chris Nicholson is a writer and fine-art photographer based in the northeast U.S. He offers decorating tips and sells limited-edition prints through his website, www.NicholsonPrints.com.  As a follow up to my post A Surefire Way to Choose the Right Matting, Chris makes some excellent points about choosing a mat for your custom framed family tree chart.  Chris writes:

Hanging your family tree on the wall turns it into a piece of art — perhaps the most personal art that could adorn a home.

As such, you probably want to treat that tree just as you’d treat an expensive print or painting, by matting and framing it with care and precision. Framing a piece provides protection from the environment, and matting it provides protection from the frame — especially in humid climates, the framed piece can adhere to the glass, causing permanent damage. A mat provides separation, preventing that damage.

Choosing a frame is usually a straight-forward process — matching it to your décor is often as simple as just looking at your furniture for reference. On the other hand, the creative reasons for choosing a mat are not always as conveniently obvious.

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It’s easier than ever to find out if you have Irish background.  Ancestry.com today released a definitive collection of Irish genealogical records in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, and the list includes data regarding famous personalities such as Walt Disney, Conan O’Brien, and US President Barack Obama. The collection gives wonderful insight into eighteenth and nineteenth century life in Ireland and spans the period from 1824 – 1910 making it a must have resource for anyone searching their Irish roots.

The collection includes:

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Continuing with our blog post series that talk about how to make your own high quality framed family tree chart, we’re going to take some time to discuss a really important step in the process.  The type of backing or matting that you use for your family tree project is absolutely crucial to the overall success of this project.

For those of you that may have missed the previous posts, we’ve previous discussed the types of paper that should be used for a high quality family tree chart along with the type of ink that will not fade over a period of time. If this project is important to you, I’d give those posts a quick read as well.

The 5 Main Reasons for Picking a High Quality Matting

- A nice matting enhances the appearance of your family tree to make it look like a high quality piece of art.

- Properly chosen matting can actually draw the person’s eyes towards the artwork and highlight the family tree itself.

- A high quality mat lets you add your own “flavour” to tree chart art piece.  This personalizes the piece even more.

- High quality matting is much more resilient to the earth’s elements and won’t degrade as much over a period of time.

- The average height of a typical high quality matting is around 1/16th of an inch tick; the height of the matting actually helps to separate your art piece from the glass that will cover it.  Over time, art pieces that come in contact with the glass tend to stick together. This would ruin your family tree template.

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As promised, here is the next step to making your very own custom family tree chart for framing.  My last post went into detail about the type of paper you should choose.  It’s absolutely crucial that you get the paper right!  If you haven’t read that post, do it now.  You have to be able speak “shop” to your printer or the art supplier to make sure you get the right paper that will last for decades.  Today, this post will outline the important components of the right ink and protectant.

Getting back to my analogy of building a house.  Now that you’ve got a good foundation by choosing the best paper for the job, you need to start building the part of the house that defines the space and protects the contents.  The walls.  The walls of your house protect you just like the ink for your family tree protects your research and family history from fading.  And just like the walls of your house, you need the ink to stand up to the elements. The ink is the part of your family tree that people will be looking at all the time.  You don’t want the ink to run or fade.    Pick the right ink and your family tree will last for generations.

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Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday season and I want to wish you all of the best in 2011.

Like some of you, I have made a New Year’s Resolution to do more genealogy research and to go even further back in my ancestors search.  So I just wanted to remind you about the free family tree templates you can download.

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The first issue that you have to be concerned with when making your own framed custom family tree charts is your paper choice.  You may or may not be aware that there are a plethora of choices out there that you encounter when you want to print a large family tree PDF.  It can be a difficult choice and you have to know what you want before you print it out.  The wrong paper can be a costly error that you want to avoid.

Think of it this way.  When you’re building a house, you need a good strong foundation made from the correct materials so your house is stable and doesn’t collapse or deteriorate. The paper is the foundation of your family tree chart so you must choose your paper carefully.  You don’t want to go to all the trouble of making a custom framed family tree chart only to have it yellow or fade or crack before you’ve had a chance to enjoy it.  For paper selection, your main issue is to select a quality paper that is completely acid-free.  Let me explain:

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I’m absolutely thrilled about the feedback that I’ve received on my new oversized family tree charts that were added to the website a few weeks ago.  As exciting as some of the feedback is, I have also received some e-mails from people that are confused about how to take a PDF from my website and turn it into a work of art, a family tree chart that can exist on your wall fully framed.

For those of you looking for direction with regards to how to go from a PDF download to framed family heirloom, I’ll outline everything you need to know and give you some pointers and suggestions along the way. There are a number of factors that we have to consider before we get to the final product, so this will be a series of posts that will explore how you can make one of the family tree charts on my website a reality as a framed family tree chart within your home.

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