Haut-Rhin, France Genealogy

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

History
Haut-Rhin ("upper Rhine" in English) is a department of the Alsace region France. It is one of the original 83 departments that were created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It borders on the departments of Territoire-de-Belfort, Vosges, and Bas-Rhin, and on Switzerland to the south and Germany to the east.

Haut-Rhin's boundaries have been modified many times:
 * 1798, it absorbed Mulhouse, formerly a free city, and the last Swiss enclave in the south;
 * 1800, it absorbed the whole département of Mont-Terrible;
 * 1814, it lost the territories which had been part of Mont-Terrible, returned to Switzerland, except the old principality of Montbéliard;
 * 1816, it lost Montbéliard, which was attached to the département of Doubs;
 * 1871, it was mostly annexed by Germany (Treaty of Frankfurt). The remaining French part formed the Territoire de Belfort;
 * 1919, it was reverted to France (Treaty of Versailles) but is still separated from Belfort.
 * 1940, it was effectively annexed by Nazi Germany.
 * 1944, it was captured by France.

Localities (Communes)

 * FranceGenWeb
 * Locom
 * Wikipedia
 * Wikipedia, former localities

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. '''Fortunately, these records are available online from the archives of each department:’’’ Here is the website for the Department Archives of Haut-Rhin, where you will find these records. Currently, only civil registration is available online.
 * Department Archives of Haut-Rhin

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

Online Census Records
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 census records, Department Archives of Haut-Rhin

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 handwriting in old 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

These lessons focus on reading church record and civil registration records: Another resource is the French Records Extraction Manual, with this linked Table of Contents. You will be able to practice on actual documents.
 * France Church Records
 * France Civil Registration- Vital Records


 * FRENCH RECORDS EXTRACTION MANUAL
 * Chapter 1: OLD FRENCH RECORDS
 * Chapter 2: PARISH CHRISTENING AND CIVIL BIRTH ENTRIES
 * Chapter 3: MARRIAGE ENTRIES
 * Chapter 4: OTHER ENTRIES
 * Chapter 5: FRENCH HANDWRITING AND SPELLING
 * Chapter 6: NAME IDENTIFICATION
 * Chapter 7: GENDER
 * Chapter 8: DATES

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.

Websites

 * Haut-Rhin FranceGenWeb