Allier, France Genealogy

 EuropeFrance Allier

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

History

Allier is a department in central France named after the Allier River. It is one of the original departments created during the French Revolution. It was created from the former provinces of Auvergne and Bourbonnais.

Localities

 * Liste des communes de l'Allier
 * Liste des anciennes communes de l'Allier
 * GenCom
 * Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui
 * Locom-France

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.

How to Read the Records

 * For more instruction on using these records, see:
 * France Church Records
 * France Civil Registration- Vital Records.
 * Chapter 1: OLD FRENCH RECORDS
 * Chapter 2: PARISH CHRISTENING AND CIVIL BIRTH ENTRIES
 * Marriage Entries Chapter 3: MARRIAGE ENTRIES.

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 French Records:
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 1: The French Alphabet,
 * French Handwritten Records Lesson 2: Key Words and Phrases
 * Reading French Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading French Records

Finding Church Records and Civil Registration Online
Each Department of France has archives that provide digitized images of these records. Here is the address for the Department Archives of Allier, where you will find these records.
 * Allier Departmental Archives


 * Registres paroissiaux
 * Etat civil - Tables decennales
 * Tables decennales

Ressources

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

Societies

 * Allier Généalogie 83 avenue des Célestins 03200 Vichy

Web Sites

 * 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)