French Letter Writing Guide

Before You Write
Before you write a letter in French to obtain family history information, you should do these things:


 * Determine exactly where your ancestor was born, married, or died. Because most genealogical records were kept locally, you will need to know the specific town where your ancestor's records were kept. See the France Finding Town of Origin and Tracing Immigrant Origins FamilySearch Wiki article for help in finding hometowns.
 * Use a gazetteer to determine which community serves your ancestor's locality. Your town might be a village too small to have its own civil registration office or parish church. Gazetteers can tell you the larger town which holds jurisdiction over that village.
 * Many records for French-speaking countries are now online. For Wiki articles with direct links to online records, click on the France department, Belgium province, Luxembourg province, or Quebec county.
 * If you have access to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, determine if it has records from the area where your relative lived. The best sources of information in French-speaking areas are records of births, marriages, and deaths kept by civil registration offices or parishes. The library has microfilmed these records for many localities, but not all. They are currently being digitized with hopes of having everything digitized by 2020. Use the FamilySearch Catalog to determine what records are available through the Family History Library.

Research by Mail
Write only when you cannot find the information any other way. The following list shows the kind of information you may be able to obtain through correspondence from several kinds of organizations in French-speaking nations:

Genealogical Societies
Request that the letter be forwarded to a member interested in the same family, locality, or group of people.

Request a list of people who might consider making a short search of records in a nearby repository for pay.

Professional Researchers
Offer to pay a researcher for a search of records in a nearby repository.

Civil Registration Offices
Request a birth, marriage, or death certificate for a direct ancestor.

Departmental or Provincial Archives
Ask where the records of a specific town are kept and what dates the records cover.

Ask when their archives are open to the public.

Local Parishes
Request transcripts of baptism, marriage, or burial records.

Genealogical Societies

 * The book Genealogical Research Directory: National and International by Keith A. Johnson and Malcolm R. Sainty lists the addresses of most genealogical societies in French-speaking nations (Sydney: Johnson and Sainty, 1993; Family History Library book 1993).

Address the envelope to:

Monsieur le Président (Name of the society) (Address) (Postal code) (Town) (NATION)

Names and addresses of researchers for hire can be found in genealogical periodicals.

Civil registration offices
(France, Belgium, and Luxembourg only.) Address the envelope to:

Monsieur l'officier de l'état-civil Mairie de (Town) (Postal code) (Town)

France, Belgium Archives
Find archive addresses with the help of the International Council on Archives' International Directory of Archives (Archivum Series, vol. 38 [Munich: Saur, 1992].

Address the envelope to:

France
Monsieur le Directeur Archives départementales (Postal code) (Town) FRANCE

Belgium
Monsieur le Directeur Archives de la Province (Postal code) (Town)

Canada
Address the envelope to Monsieur le Curé (Town), Québec

Catholic Parishes
Monsieur l'Abbé (Parish) see, see Catholic Directory (Postal Code) (Town) France (or Luxembourg or Belgium)

Postal Codes
When addressing your letter, you will need to write the postal (zip) code before the name of the town when writing to France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Write the postal code after the word "Canada" when writing to Quebec.
 * Postal Codes France
 * Postal Codes Belgium
 * Postal Codes Luxembourg
 * Postal Codes Quebec

How to Send Money

 * You can arrange to have an international bank order through Western Union.
 * When writing to a parish it is also a good idea to send a donation of $15 as a courtesy. Do not send a personal check, which is difficult and expensive to exchange. Cash is most easily converted to foreign currency, but there are always risks in sending cash. Consider using the international bank draft also for that purpose.
 * Some researchers do not send money when writing to a civil registration office, archive, researcher, or genealogical society for the first time. These organizations may prefer to bill you for their services. Some may ask you to make the check payable to their account number. If you want, you may write an institution to determine their fees before making a request. However, this will significantly increase the time it takes to get information.

Checklist for Mailing Your Letter

 * Keep a photocopy of your letter.
 * Enclose three international reply coupons.
 * Convert funds to foreign currency.
 * Mark "Air Mail" on envelopes addressed overseas.

What to Expect
It may take six months or longer for you to receive a reply to your request for information (airmail improves the response time). The results of writing to civil registration offices (or parishes in Quebec) can vary greatly. You may get more information than requested, or you may get no answer at all. Some will not answer until money is sent. Some may be unable to provide information.

Because some information is not easily obtained by writing directly to a registrar (or priest in Quebec), you may need to hire a local private researcher. We suggest that you inquire about a competent local researcher when you write.

When you receive a reply, send a note of thanks or acknowledgement. You may wish to do this in a follow-up letter requesting further information. Refer to your earlier letter and their return letter by date. If they have assigned you a reference number, include that number as well.

Use French-English dictionaries to help you understand the reply. Sometimes you can hire accredited genealogists to translate for you.

If you do not receive an answer, write again sending a copy of your first letter. Do not send more money unless you verify that your first letter did not arrive.

How to Write a Letter in French

 * Your letter should include the following:
 * the date (at the top)
 * the name and address of the addressee
 * a greeting
 * a short, specific, genealogical request
 * identification details about the ancestor
 * a comment about return postage (and sometimes reimbursement)
 * closing remarks
 * your signature
 * your return address (including your country)
 * Be brief and simple. Do not ask for more than one or two pieces of information in a single letter.
 * The following English-to-French translations will help you compose your letter. 'Do not use this guide as the letter itself! That might insult the recipient and lessen the chance of a reply.
 * Read the sentences in English and choose those that best express what you want to say. Alternative phrases are shown in parentheses.
 * Be sure that your sentences are arranged logically. You may want to write your letter first in English using the following sentences, then replace the sentences with their French translations. *However you proceed, make sure you type or neatly print your letter and, when necessary, add any diacritical marks and special characters (such as à, â, ç, é, è, ê, ë, î, ï, ô, ö, û, ù) with a pen.

Gender
'''Three of the words in the French translations need to match your gender. The words are intéressé(e), obligé(e), and reconnaissant(e). The feminine ending is listed in parentheses. If you are a man, use intéressé, obligé, and reconnaissant. If you are a woman, use intéressée, obligée, and reconnaissante. '''

Writing Dates
Write dates in the European style: day-month-year. Write the name of the month out and write the year in full. For example, write 10 décembre 1889, not 12-10-89 or even 10-12-1889.

Letter to a Genealogical Society
'''Many genealogical societies can be contacted by e-mail. This will save postage costs for both you and them.'''

Letter to Civil Registration Office

 * Many records for French-speaking countries are now online. For Wiki articles with direct links to online records, click on the France department, Belgium province, Luxembourg province, or Quebec county.

Letter to a Departmental or Provincial Archive

 * Many records for French-speaking countries are now online. For Wiki articles with direct links to online records, click on the France department, Belgium province, Luxembourg province, or Quebec county.

Example Letter
[Date] 20 juillet 1994

[Addressee] Monsieur l'officier de l'état-civil Mairie de Nulle Part 67999 Quelque Part FRANCE

[Greeting] Monsieur l'officier de l'état-civil,

[Genealogical Request] Je vous serais très obligée de bien vouloir m'envoyer la copie intégrale de l'acte de naissance de mon arrière grand-père.

Prénom et nom: Jacob BELLER

Date de naissance: 19 novembre 1857

Lieu de naissance: Nulle Part, Bas-Rhin, France

Prénom et nom de jeune fille de sa femme: Anna ZIMMERMAN

Date de mariage: 19 janvier 1882

Lieu de mariage: Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois, USA

[Closing] Avec mes plus grands remerciements, je vous prie d'agréer, Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments distingués.

[Signature]

[Return Address] Jane Doe 674 "Q" Street Salt Lake City, UT 84103 USA