Allier, France Genealogy

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

History
Allier is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France. Named after the Allier River, it is one of the original departments created during the French Revolution. It was created from almost all of the former Duchy of Bourbonnaise, as well as the province of Auvergne. Allier borders the departments of Cher, Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire, Loire, Puy-de-Dome, and Creuse.

Localities
Sources of locality information:
 * FranceGenWeb
 * Locom
 * Wikipedia list of Allier Communes
 * Wikipedia list of former communes

Online 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 Allier, where you will find these records.
 * Allier Departmental Archives


 * 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 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.

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, Full Manual. Much more is covered, but these first four lessons are especially useful.
 * 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
 * Chapter 4: OTHER ENTRIES
 * Chapter 5: FRENCH HANDWRITING AND SPELLING

Ressources

 * Tout en Un
 * Memorhom
 * Genea-Bricolo
 * AllierGenWeb
 * Cousins 03

Societies

 * Allier Généalogie 83 avenue des Célestins 03200 Vichy

Websites

 * French Wordlist
 * Archives Départementales
 * Allier France Genweb
 * Gazetteer for Allier
 * Tout en Un, On this site you can find regional help, including a list of the notaries, records of Protestants (Huguenots), genealogical lists you can join, etc.
 * Ancestry.com has the records for Allier online (Births 1560-1909, Marriages 1568-1913, Deaths 1598-1909)