France, Mayenne, Parish and Civil Registration – FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection consists of parish and civil registration records from Mayenne, including baptism, birth, marriage, and death records.

Reading These Records
These records are in French. For help reading them see: For help reading these French records see the following guides:
 * France Language and Languages
 * French Genealogical Word List
 * French Handwriting
 * Script Tutorial for French
 * FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Reading French Handwritten Records

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Birth
 * Name
 * Birthdate
 * Birthplace
 * Gender
 * Parent's names

Marriage
 * Names of the bridal couple
 * Marriage date
 * Marriage place
 * Couple's age or birth year

Death
 * Name of deceased
 * Death date
 * Death place
 * Gender
 * Birth year or age
 * Father's name
 * Mother's name
 * Spouse's name

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Your ancestor's full name
 * Date of the event i.e. birth, baptism, marriage, death

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the age of the person to find an approximate birth year to search church records
 * Carefully evaluate each piece of information given and save a copy or transcription of the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as a title, an occupation, or land ownership
 * Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Consult the France Record Finder to find other records
 * Switch to a different record collection, such as civil registration or church records. Depending on the time period, one or the other collection may be more helpful
 * While searching, it is helpful to know the ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships
 * Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name and that people may have been recorded with a variation of their name
 * Spelling was not standardized until the 1900s, so try substituting characters with similar sounds (b,d; f,p; f,v; etc.).

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Mayenne Add these articles in the order as shown below. If an article does not exist, omit it from the list. If none of the articles exist, omit this section.
 * France Guided Research
 * France Record Finder
 * France Research Tips and Strategies

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used. Before the collection is published use this template for the collection citation