What are the birth and baptism dates of your ancestors?
We will not teach you, finding birth, marriage and death dates is the basis of genealogical research.
Indeed, it is these three life events that allow us, thanks to the archives, to get an idea on the life path of our ancestors.
In the article of the day, we help you answer the following question: What are the dates and places of birth and baptism of your ancestors?
Find a date of birth or baptism in the archives
Before you start your research, here is a little reminder: the archives on people are cut into two major registers.
First, the parish registers (Between 1539 and 1792) in which baptism, marriage and burial acts are recorded.
Then, the civil status registers (since 1792) in which the acts of birth, civil marriage and death are recorded.
Then and before going in search of an act of baptism or birth, you need some essential information:
• The surname of the ancestor sought
• his first name or those of his parents
• the department where research conducts
• the name of the town where to conduct the research (otherwise you will have to peel the archives)
• A research period, the more precise it is, the faster your research will go
You can find these elements thanks to family memories, family booklets, annotated family photos or by looking for information on search engines.
It is also possible to find information on the birth of a person on their marriage certificate (from the 18th century).
💡 Good to know: By browsing the civil status archives in search of birth acts, you will be faced with the republican calendar. This begins on September 22, 1792 (or the 1st Vendémiaire year i) - He did not come into force until October 6, 1793 (15 vendemiaire year II) - and will be abandoned on September 9, 1805.
Find on Geneafinder A quick conversion tool to navigate easily between Gregorian and Republican calendars in the space for entering the individual sheets of your tree.
You can find baptism or birth dates in several archive registers, available free of charge and online on the sites of the departmental or municipal archives:
• In parish registers, established by municipality and per year.
• In civil status registers.
• In Annual tables, des listes alphabétiques disponibles à chaque fin d’année dans les parish registers, qui récapitulent toutes les naissances, les mariages et les décès.
• In decennial tables, from 1792, these lists summarize all births, weddings and deaths in the same commune over 10 years.
• In population censuses, depending on the year these lists are rich in information and can indicate birth dates.
Communicability period and request for an online birth certificate
It is possible, in France, to request to receive a free copy or extract from online birth certificate.
From the site Service-public.fr, you can request to receive a full copy (reproduction of your complete birth certificate), an extract with filiation (information on parents) or a parentage without parentage.
If you ask to receive another birth certificate than yours, you will most often have to justify your parentage.
You can also ask the town halls to send you birth acts. But the answers can vary from one town hall to another.
Furthermore, it is important to Know the deadline for communicability of a birth certificate. Au même titre que les actes de mariage, les actes de naissance sont consultables 75 ans après la clôture du registre. In faits, ils ne sont pas librement consultables sur les sites des archives départementales 75 ans exactement après les faits puisqu’il faut prendre en compte le délai de numérisation et de mise en ligne.
Some rare departmental archive sites are up to date and offer registers until 1947. Others are late and stop in the early 1900s ... We therefore advise you to move to the departmental archive or get closer to town halls (by the service-public or directly) to have access to these acts.
🌳 Partez sur les traces de vos ancêtres et de leurs actes de baptême/naissance en vous inscrivant gratuitement sur Geneafinder