Finding online French records

Many French records are available online.  You will usually find records at the departmental level. For a description of French administrative divisions, please consult this earlier post.  Many records like civil records, parish registers, and censuses are kept at the departmental archives.  Fortunately, many of these records have been digitized and are free and easily accessible. Lists of archive websites can be found on the following sites:

• ArchivesGenWeb on FranceGenWeb - A list of departmental archives with a listing of the online content.  The list is not necessarily up-to-date or complete, and the page is in French.
• Online Departmental Archives on GeneaNet - A similar list of departmental archives with similar information in English.

Each department is separate and may have a very different set of records available online, from very extensive offerings to none at all. If your ancestors lived in a city, records may be available through a municipal archive as is the case with the city of Nantes (see earlier post).

Next time, I'll present some key words that you will need to navigate the websites of French archives.