Elections: Find your ancestors in the municipal archives
Municipal and electoral archives can be very useful for your genealogy. We guide you to find your elected ancestors.
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On June 28, 2020, three and a half months after the first round, 16 million voters were called upon to vote in the second round of the municipal elections.
Did you know? Electoral and municipal archives can allow you to Unlock your research and find an ancestor.
Find an ancestor in the electoral archives
Electoral archives can be very useful for your genealogy.
You will find in the funds of the prefecture (M), sub-prefectures (series Z), municipalities in ADs (sub-series E) or municipalities (series K) electoral lists but also administrative archives As statistics, correspondence documents, specific to the organization of elections as well as political propaganda documents.
From 1789, All men can be voters or elected officials if they are major (21 years old). In 1817 there are cens lists on which the names of the wealthiest men, subject to tax, are informed. The electoral majority is 30 years and it costs 300 tax francs to be a voter.
In 1848 the 2nd Republic proclaimed the Direct universal suffrage for adult men (21 years old) And the soldiers can vote if they are present in their commune of residence at the time of the elections (they will no longer have the right between 1871 and 1945). The right to vote was granted to women in 1944 and will be effective from April 29, 1945.
Ces electoral lists, pour la période 1806-1934, donnent des useful information : name, first names, date of birth, place of birth, profession, domicile and sometimes even the level of education and various observations.
THE articles R16 et L28 du Code électoral rendent les electoral lists free access, without communication time, aux archives départementales ou en mairie. Certains sites d’Archives Départementales et Municipales ont numérisé et mis en ligne ces electoral lists. C’est le cas pour les Ain Departmental Archives, THE Departmental Archives of Eure-et-Loir, THE Paris Departmental Archives, THE Departmental Archives of the Somme or the Municipal Archives of Nantes.
Municipal deliberations and other archives to delve into the life of a town
THE Deliberations of the municipal council sont très intéressantes pour se plonger dans la vie d’une commune et pour espérer retrouver la trace d’un ancêtre. Ces registres de délibérations sont facilement consultables aux Archives Départementales ou aux Archives Municipales (série D) et mairies. C’est au coeur des délibérations communales que se trouvent les achats de terrains, THE dons et les nominations diverses des personnalités de la commune.
Some departments also provide you with a Department's collection of directories. Si la visionneuse le permet, une recherche par mot-clé facilitera votre recherche dans l’annuaire. Ces archives sont utiles pour retrouver la trace de maires et de leur conseil municipal but also commerçants, artisans, instituteurs et paysans entre autres.
Finally, the ancient press is also an excellent resource for your genealogy and to find information on a particular municipality. A research on Gallica or on Retonews, to cite only these two references in the field, will allow you to discover many elements on the city of the town: various facts, subsidies requests, sales notice ... This information may prove to be nice surprises!