Manche, France Genealogy

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

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; though of the off-shore Channel Islands only Chausey forms part of the territory of the department.

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. 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:


 * Follow these steps for Department Archives of Manche


 * 1) Click on the link above and a pop-up box will appear.
 * 2) Click on J'accepte, which means "I accept" and you will be allowed to access the records.

For a demonstration of navigating archives websites, watch the video, Using France Department Archives Online.

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 Manche

Note: There are two collections of population censuses for the Department of Manche:


 * The first collection is kept in the town hall. It may be deposited in the departmental archives for certain communes. List of digitized censuses in the municipal archives deposited is in progress. (Click on the department link above and the list of communes appears at the bottom of the Où trouver un recensement de population?, "Where to find a population census?" page.)


 * The second collection sent to the prefecture was completely destroyed during the bombings of the Second World War in 1944.

Online Local Databases and Extracted Records
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.


 * 1533-1894 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1536-1897  at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1542-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index
 * 1597-1818  at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
 * 1692 onward France, Coutances and Avranches Diocese, Catholic Parish Marriages at MyHeritage — index & images, ($)
 * Tout en Un (All in One) Online Databases Check for online databases and records in right column.  Check back occasionally to see if new databases have become available.
 * Filae, index and images, ($).
 * 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).
 * FamilySearch Collections:
 * Genea-Bricolo
 * Bases généalogiques de la Manche - Arbres généalogiques
 * Coutances Cotentin Généalogie et Histoire
 * Dispenses du diocèse de Coutances
 * La Basse Normandie protestante
 * Entraide Généalogique Bretagne-Maine-Normandie
 * UCGHN Union des Cercles Généalogiques et Héraldiques de Normandie
 * Association parisienne de généalogie normande

Microfilm Records of the FamilySearch Library
Many church and civil registration records have been microfilmed. To find a microfilm: Click on, find and click on "Places within France, Manche," and choose your locality from the list.

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) 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
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 - [[Media:Alsace-Lorraine, Converting French Republican Calendar Dates - instruction.pdf|Instruction]]

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


 * France Church Records
 * France Civil 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

 * 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

 * Manche Wiki GenWeb Associations
 * Manche Forums
 * Southern Europe Genealogy Research Community

Family History Centers
Introduction to Family History Centers


 * Family History Centers (FHCs) are branches of FamilySearch and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah (United States), located all over the world. Their goal is to provide resources to assist you in the research and study of your genealogy and family history by:
 * Giving personal one-on-one assistance to patrons
 * Providing access to genealogical records through the Internet or microfilm loan program
 * Offering free how-to classes (varies by location)
 * There is no cost to visit a Family History Center or FamilySearch Library. They are open to anyone with an interest in genealogical research. They are operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
 * Partner sites such as Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, Findmypast.com, and many CD based collections can be searched free of charge.

Finding a Family History Center

Websites

 * Tout en Un Manche
 * GenWeb, Manche Portal
 * Cousins 50
 * 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.