Réunion Island, France Genealogy

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

History
Réunion is an island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and southwest of Mauritius. It became a département d'outre-mer (overseas département) of France on 19 March 1946. When regional councils were created in 1982 in France, including in existing overseas departments it also became an overseas region. The official language is French. In addition, the majority of the region's population speaks Réunion Creole.

Réunion Map
Genealogy records are kept on the local level in Réunion.



Districts
Genealogy records are kept on the local level in Réunion. Réunion is divided into four arrondissements, 49 cantons, and 24 communes.

 Les Avirons Bras-Panon Cilaos Entre-Deux L'Étang-Salé La Plaine-des-Palmistes Petite-Île La Possession</li> Le Port</li> Saint-André</li> Saint-Benoît</li> Saint-Denis</li> Saint-Joseph</li> Saint-Leu</li> Saint-Louis</li> Sainte-Marie</li> Saint-Paul</li> Saint-Philippe</li> Saint-Pierre</li> Sainte-Suzanne</li> Sainte-Rose</li> Salazie</li> Trois-Bassins</li> Le Tampon</li>

Church Records and Civil Registration (Registres Paroissiaux et Etat Civil) Online
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. Additional instructions and practice activities are available:


 * Alsace-Lorraine - [[Media:Alsace-Lorraine - activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:Alsace-Lorraine - answer key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Alsace-Lorraine: Department Archive Records Online - [[Media:Alsace-Lorraine, Department Archive Records Online - instructions.pdf|Instruction]]

Fortunately, these records are available online from the archives of each department: Here is the website for the Overseas National Archives, where you will find these records.


 * National Overseas Archives, Réunion

See Using France Online Department Archives for step by step instructions on finding and reading these records. For a demonstration of navigating archives websites, watch the video, Using France Department Archives Online.

Writing for Records
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)

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
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

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


 * France Church Records
 * France Civil Registration- Vital Records

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

Search Strategy

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * 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.

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family.


 * Réunion Island Genweb
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * Learning Center - Online genealogy courses
 * Historical Records
 * Family History Center locator map