Alpes-Maritimes, France Genealogy (2024)

Guide to Alpes-Maritimes Department ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

History[edit | edit source]

Alpes Maritimes is part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It borders on the departments of Var and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and Italy to the east.A first French département of Alpes-Maritimes existed in the same area from 1793 to 1814. Its boundaries differed from those of the modern department, however. In 1793 Alpes-Maritimes included Monaco and San Remo, but not Grasse which was then part of the départment of Var. The département was subdivided into arrondissem*nts and cantons and in 1812. The department was reconstituted in 1860 when the county of Nice was annexed by France. It included the county of Nice as well as the previously, at least nominally, independent towns of Menton and Roquebrune, and the arrondissem*nt of Grasse in the department of Var. The Arrondissem*nt of Puget-Théniers was removed for purposes of economy in 1926 and attached to Nice. In 1947, in accordance with the Treaty of Paris and as a referendum result favourable to their attachment to France, the communes of Tende and La Brigue which had been Italian since 1860, were attached to the department.^[1]

Localities (Communes)[edit | edit source]

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

Church Records and Civil Registration (Registres Paroissiaux et Etat civil) Online[edit | edit source]

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:
Here is the website for the Department Archives of Alpes-Maritimes, where you will find these records.

• Department Archives of Alpes-Maritimes

Online Census Records[edit | edit source]

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 Local Databases and Extracted Records[edit | edit source]

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.

• FamilySearch Collections:
  • 1536-1897 France, Protestant Church Records, 1536-1897 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
  • 1542-1900 France, Civil Registration, Various Communes, 1542-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index
• Alpes-Maritimes, France Births & Christenings, 1575-1906, index ($)
• Alpes-Maritimes, France Marriages, 1572-1906, index ($)
• Alpes-Maritimes, France Deaths & Burials, 1587-1905, index ($)
• Tout en Un (All in One) Online Databases Check for online databases and records in right column. Check back occasionally to see if new databases have become available.
• Filae, index and images ($).
• 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).
• Genea-Bricolo
• Association Généalogique des Alpes-Maritimes
• Archives départementales Cercle de Généalogie de Roquebrune et du Mentonnais
• CG du Pays Cannois
• Appy-Histoire Actes pastoraux. Huguenots and Waldensian church records for Provence area.

Microfilm Records of the FamilySearch Library[edit | edit source]

Many church and civil registration records have been microfilmed. To find a microfilm: Click on Alpes-Maritimes, find and click on "Places within France, Alpes-Maritimes," and choose your locality from the list.

Writing for Records[edit | edit source]

Online records tend to cover only the time before 100 years, due to privacy laws. You can write to civil registration offices and local churches who might honor requests for more recent records of close family members for the purpose of genealogy.

For a civil registration office, address your request to:

Monsieur l'officier de l'état-civil
Mairie de (Town)
(Postal code) (Town)
France

For a parish church:

Monsieur le Curé
(Church --see The Catholic Directory for church name and address)
(Town) (Postal Code) France

For other addresses and for help writing your request in French, use French Letter Writing Guide.

Learning to Read Enough French to Do Genealogy[edit | edit source]

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.
• BYU French Script Tutorial

During the reign of Napoleon, a different calendar was used. You will want to translate the dates written in these records back to normal Julian calendar dates. Charts in this article will help you:

• French Republican Calendar
  

Also, see:

• Alsace-Lorraine: Converting French Republican Calendar Dates - Instruction

These lessons focus on reading church record and civil registration records:

• FranceChurch Records
• FranceCivil Registration

Another resource is the French Records Extraction Manual. The full manual or individual lesson chapters are downloadable from this webpage. A number of helpful lessons are available here, but the first five lessons are especially useful.

• Chapter 1: Old Records
• Chapter 2: Christening, Marriage, and Other Entries
• Chapter 3: Marriage
• Chapter 4: Other Entries
• Chapter 5: French Handwriting and Spelling

Before 1539, many church records are in Latin. In 1539 French was made the administrative language of France through the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts. As a result, there is only the occasional Latin word or phrase in church records after 1539.

• Latin for Genealogists - video
• Latin Genealogical Word List

Search Strategy[edit | edit source]

• Begin with the death information of the focus ancestor and locate the death record.
  
• Use the information on that death record to locate the ancestor's marriage record.
  
• Use the information on that marriage record to locate the ancestor's birth record.
  
• Once the birth record is found, search for the focus ancestor's siblings.
  
• Next, search for the marriage of the focus ancestor's parents. The marriage record will have information that often helps locate the birth records of the parents.
  
• 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. It is possible they may have moved or boundaries changed.
  

Genealogical Societies and Help Groups[edit | edit source]

• Alpes-Maritimes Wiki GenWeb Associations
• Southern Europe Genealogy Research Community
• Geneawiki - Associations généalogiques en France
• Association Généalogique des Alpes-Maritimes

• CG du Pays Cannois

c/o Mme Évelyne SAIU

6, avenue du Prado

06400 CANNES

France

• Centre Généalogique et Héraldique du Comté de Nice
  

24, bd Prince de Galles

0600 Nice

France

• Cercle Généalogique de Nice et de la Provence Orientale
  

7, avenue de Fabron

06200 Nice

France

Websites[edit | edit source]

• Tout en Un Alpes-Maritimes
• GenWeb, Alpes-Maritimes Portal
• Cousins 06
• 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.

References[edit | edit source]