Dordogne, France Genealogy

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

History
Dordogne is one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from the former province of Périgord, the county of Périgord. Its borders continued to change over the subsequent decades. After Guienne province was transferred to the English Crown under the Plantagenets following the remarriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, Périgord passed by right to English suzerainty. Being situated at the boundaries of the monarchies of France and England, it went between the two dynasties for more than three hundred years of struggle until the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453. The county had been torn apart. During the calmer periods of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the Castillon plain on the banks of the Dordogne saw a development in urban architecture. In the second half of the sixteenth century however, the terrors of war again visited the area, as the attacks pillaging and fires of the Wars of Religion reached a rare degree of violence. At the time, Bergerac was one of the most powerful Huguenot strongholds. Following these wars, Périgord, was to return to the Crown for good and would continue to suffer from the sudden political changes of the French nation, from the Revolution to the tragic hours of the Resistance. Wikipedia

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 Dordogne, where you will find these records.
 * Department Archives of Dordogne
 * 1540-1896 - at FamilySearch — index

See Using France Online Department Archives for step by step instructions on finding and reading these records.

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.
 * Department Archives of Dordogne census records
 * FamilySearch census records:
 * (index and images)
 * (index and images)

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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Geneanet Collaborative Indexes Search by locality (parish or commune).
 * Genea-Bricolo
 * Bigenet
 * List of civil registers published by the Cercle d'Histoire et de Généalogie du Périgord($)
 * Notary records published by the Cercle d'Histoire et de Généalogie du Périgord($)
 * Surname frequency list by the Cercle d'Histoire et de Généalogie du Périgord($)
 * '''Emigrant List of PeriGen (Association Périgourdine pour la Recherche Historique et Généalogique)
 * '''Births, marriages, and deaths records, PeriGen, incomplete, free.
 * Les Fauxois et leurs Voisins
 * 1542-1900 - at FamilySearch — index

Microfilm Records of the FamilySearch Library
The church and civil registration records have all been microfilmed. Currently, they are being digitized, and plans are to complete that project by 2020. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. In the meantime, some of them might be available at a Family History Center near you. To find a microfilm: Click on, find and click on "Places within France, Dordogne," 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)

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.

There is a three-lesson course in reading handwriting in old French records:

These lessons focus on reading church record and civil registration records: Another resource is the French Records Extraction Manual, Full Manual. Much more is covered, but these first four lessons are especially useful.
 * France Church Records
 * France Civil Registration- Vital Records
 * Chapter 1: OLD FRENCH RECORDS
 * Chapter 2: PARISH CHRISTENING AND CIVIL BIRTH ENTRIES
 * Chapter 3: MARRIAGE ENTRIES
 * Chapter 4: OTHER ENTRIES
 * Chapter 5: FRENCH HANDWRITING AND SPELLING

Search Strategy

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all family members.
 * Then repeat the whole process for both the father and the mother.
 * If earlier generations are not in the record, search neighboring parishes. 

Genealogical Societies and Help Groups

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

12 cours Fénelon 24000 Périgueux Phone: 05 53 46 63 30 E-mail: chgp@orange.fr
 * Cercle d'Histoire et de Généalogie du Périgord
 * Website


 * Association Périgourdine pour la Recherche Historique et Généalogique: Contact

Websites

 * Tout en Un Dordogne
 * GenWeb, Dordogne Portal
 * Cousins 24
 * 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.