Finistère, France Genealogy

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

History
The department was created from part of the former province of Brittany (the historical region of Léon and parts of Cornouaille and Trégor). Bounded on three sides by the sea, it is adjacent to the departments of Côtes d'Armor and Morbihan.

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 Finistère, where you will find these records.


 * Department Archives of Finistère
 * Civil status collections are available on the Municipal Archives websites for the cities of Brest and Quimper.
 * Church and civil records, Department Archives of Finistère


 * FamilySearch Collections:
 * 1772-1894 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images

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 Finistère

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.


 * FamilySearch Collections:
 * 1521-1896 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index
 * 1536-1897  at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1542-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index
 * 1793-1896 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index
 * 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 & images ($).
 * Tout en Un (All in One) Local Databases Here you may find extracted/translated records, record indexes, and other helpful records such as cemetery, land, or military records.
 * Upper Brittany, France Births & Baptisms, 1501-1907, index, ($).
 * Upper Brittany, France Marriages, 1536-1907, index, ($).
 * Upper Brittany, France Deaths & Burials, 1540-1907, index, ($).
 * Geneanet Collaborative Indexes Search by locality (parish or commune).
 * Genea-Bricolo
 * Le Centre Généalogique du Finistère (CGF) Databases
 * Généalogie Spézétoise
 * Thierry Palud Recherches généalogiques, héraldiques et onomastiques
 * Ressources généalogiques pays de Bannalec, Morteau, Annonay Page généalogique de Gérard Baudoin
 * Upper Brittany, France War Memorials Index, 1870-1945, index ($)
 * Brittany, France Court Records, 1600-1790, index ($)
 * Upper Brittany, France Sailors & Marine Workers, 1711-1907, index ($)
 * Brittany & Yonne, France Politicians, 1789-2005, index, ($).

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, Finistère," 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

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


 * Le Centre Généalogique du Finistère (CGF)


 * Antenne de QUIMPER
 * 4, rue Félix le Dantec
 * 29000 QUIMPER
 * France
 * Tel: 02 98 64 29 82
 * Fax: 02 98 64 23 09
 * Email: cgf-quimper@orange.en
 * Databases
 * Website

Websites

 * Tout en Un Finistère
 * GenWeb, Finistère Portal
 * Cousins 29
 * 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.