Manche, France Genealogy

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

History
Manche is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the province of Normandie. The department includes the Cotentin Peninsula down to the famous Mont St Michel but, of the off-shore Channel Islands, only Chausey is part of the department. Manche borders the Normandy departments of Calvados to the east and Orne to the southeast. Mayenne, a department of the Pays de la Loire, is to the south-east, and Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany is to the south-west.

Localities

 * FranceGenWeb
 * Locom
 * Wikipedia
 * Wikipedia, former localities



Church Records and Civil Registration
'''The vast majority of your research will be in church records and civil registration. Fortunately, these records are available online from the archives of each department.'''

Finding Church Records and Civil Registration Online
Each Department of France has archives that provide digitized images of these records. Here is the website for the Department Archives of Manche, where you will find these records.

Departmental Archives of Manche Records are also available at Le 50 en ligne
 * Registres paroissiaux (parish registers)
 * Registres d'état civil (civil registration)
 * Censuses (recensements)

See Using France Online Department Archives for step by step instructions on finding and reading these records.

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 search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all family members.
 * Then repeat the whole process for both the father and the mother.
 * If earlier generations are not in the record, search neighboring parishes. 

How to Read the Records

 * For more instruction on using these records, see:
 * France Church Records
 * France Civil Registration- Vital Records.
 * Chapter 1: OLD FRENCH RECORDS
 * Chapter 2: PARISH CHRISTENING AND CIVIL BIRTH ENTRIES
 * Chapter 3: MARRIAGE ENTRIES.

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.


 * There is a three-lesson course in reading French Records:
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 1: The French Alphabet,
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 2: Key Words and Phrases
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading French Records

Communes

 * List of the communes of Manche
 * List of the historic communes of Manche
 * Map of Manche
 * GenCom.org

Genealogical Societies

 * Geneawiki - Associations généalogiques en France


 * CG de la Manche Archives Départementales 50000 ST LO
 * CG et d'histoire locale de Coutances Bibliothèque municipale50200 Coutances
 * Entraide Généalogique Bretagne-Maine-Normandie
 * UCGHN Union des Cercles Généalogiques et Héraldiques de Normandie
 * Association parisienne de généalogie normande

Websites

 * Genea-Bricolo
 * Cousins 50
 * Manche Wiki GenWeb
 * Bases généalogiques de la Manche - Arbres généalogiques
 * Coutances Cotentin Généalogie et Histoire
 * Dispenses du diocèse de Coutances
 * GeneAnnuaire
 * Généalogie et histoire France Normandie Manche
 * La Basse Normandie protestante
 * GeneaNet Collaborative Indexes

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to Family Hitory Centers


 * Centre d'Histoire Familiale du Mans
 * Centre d'Histoire Familiale de Cherbourg
 * Centre d'Histoire Familiale de Caen
 * Centre d'Histoire Familiale du Havre
 * Centre d'Histoire Familiale de Rennes