Haute-Savoie, France Genealogy

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Haute-Savoie (English: Upper Savoy) is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. It borders both Switzerland and Italy.

Jurisdictions
The Conseil Général de la Haute-Savoie is the central legislative and administrative body for the department. It is responsible for, among other services, the Archives départementales de la Haute-Savoie (the Departmental Archive of Upper Savoy).

Modern Haute-Savoie is divided into four (4) arrondissements (administrative subdivisions):
 * Annecy
 * Bonneville
 * Saint-Julien-en-Genevois
 * Thonon-les-Bains

In turn, these are further divided into 34 cantons and then into 294 communes.

Vital Records
Civil registration (état civil) of births, marriages, and deaths began in 1792 after annexation by France but was suspended from 1814 or 1815 when Savoy was returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia. Civil registration resumed in 1863.

Before civil registration and during its suspension, it is necessary to search the local parish registers (registres paroissiaux) of baptisms, marriages and burials. In 1910, care, custody and control of these registers were transferred to the Departmental Archives who also hold the état civil.

In the late 1970s these records were microfilmed by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To find film numbers, search by place-name of the relevant parish or commune in the familysearch.org catalog.

These records are being progressively placed on-line by the Departmental Archives. Only the records of the communes of department of Annecy are online and these are scheduled for completion in late 2013. To see which communes are available see the inventory (in French) at Etat des inventaires de l'état civil.

See also: France Civil Registration- Vital Records; France Church Records.

Mailing Lists
The area of Haute-Savoie is covered by bilingual English-French mailing list for the Rhône-Alpes Region of France at Rootsweb.

Did you know?

 * The modern departments of Haute Savoie and Savoie comprise the "Pays de Savoie" (Savoy).
 * The County of Savoy was part of the first Burgundian kingdom, then the kingdom of Arles and then the Holy Roman Empire.
 * In 1416 the county was raised in status to the Duchy of Savoy comprising parts of modern France (Savoie, Haute-Savoie and the port of Nice), Switzerland (cantons of Geneva and Vaud), and Italy (Valle d'Aosta, Piedmont and part of Liguria).
 * In the 16th century, Savoy was an Italian state and, after 1713, part of the kingdom of Sardinia.
 * In 1792 France annexed Savoy; in 1815 its territory was returned to Sardinia; in 1860 it was ceded to France by the Treaty of Turin.

Research Tools

 * History, heritage, archives of Savoy (in French)
 * Haute-Savoie Francegenweb
 * Gazetteer for Haute-Savoie

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