Haute-Savoie, France Genealogy

France Haute-Savoie

News and Events

 * 2012 Rousseau Year 2012 is the tercentenary of the birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), who lived in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. More at Savoie-biblio, la bibliothèque départementale de prêt de Savoie et Haute-Savoie (the Savoy Library).
 * Inventory of l'état civil The inventories of the holdings by the Departmental Archive of the état civil for all the communes of Annecy Arrondissement are now available online. However, not all registers of these communes have been digitized yet. The inventories for Saint-Julien-en-Genevois and Thonon-les-Bains will follow later this year. Explore these at Archives départementales.


 * Exhibition: Posters of 1860 An online exhibition of posters from the period of the annexation of Savoy by France hosted by the Archives départementales de la Savoie.

Prefecture
The Conseil Général de la Haute-Savoie is the central legislative and administrative body for the department. It is responsible for, among other services, the Archives départementales de la Haute-Savoie (the Departmental Archive of Upper Savoy).

History
Haute-Savoie (English: Upper Savoy) is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region of France.

To the north of Haute-Savoie is the Swiss Canton of Geneva and Lake Geneva; to the east the Swiss Canton of Valais and Italy's Aosta Valley; to the west the French department of Ain, and to the south the department of Savoie.

The modern departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie were constituted on 12 June 1860 following the (24 March 1860).


 * The modern departments of Haute Savoie and Savoie comprise the "Pays de Savoie" (Savoy).
 * The County of Savoy was part of the first Burgundian kingdom, then the kingdom of Arles and then the Holy Roman Empire.
 * In 1416 the county was raised in status to the Duchy of Savoy comprising parts of modern France (Savoie, Haute-Savoie and the port of Nice), Switzerland (cantons of Geneva and Vaud), and Italy (Valle d'Aosta, Piedmont and part of Liguria).
 * In the 16th century, Savoy was an Italian state and, after 1713, part of the kingdom of Sardinia.
 * In 1792 France annexed Savoy; in 1815 its territory was returned to Sardinia; in 1860 it was ceded to France by the Treaty of Turin.

Places/Localities
Modern Haute-Savoie is divided into four (4) arrondissements (administrative subdivisions):


 * Annecy
 * Bonneville
 * Saint-Julien-en-Genevois
 * Thonon-les-Bains

In turn, these are further divided into 34 cantons and then into 294 communes.

Civil Registration
Civil registration (état civil) of births, marriages, and deaths began in 1792 after annexation by France but was suspended from 1814 or 1815 when Savoy was returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia. Civil registration resumed in 1863.

Before civil registration and during its suspension, it is necessary to search the local parish registers (registres paroissiaux) of baptisms, marriages and burials. In 1910, care, custody and control of these registers were transferred to the Departmental Archives who also hold the état civil.

In the late 1970s these records were microfilmed by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To find film numbers, search by place-name of the relevant parish or commune in the familysearch.org catalog.

These records are being progressively placed on-line by the Departmental Archives. Only the records of the communes of department of Annecy are online and these are scheduled for completion in late 2013. To see which communes are available see the inventory (in French) at Etat des inventaires de l'état civil.

See also: France Civil Registration- Vital Records; France Church Records.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Mailing Lists
The area of Haute-Savoie is covered by bilingual English-French mailing list for the Rhône-Alpes Region of France at Rootsweb.

Web Sites

 * History, heritage, archives of Savoy (in French)
 * Haute-Savoie Francegenweb
 * Gazetteer for Haute-Savoie