The French Connection .....

[dmacdiarmid]

I am very new to internet geneology and this is my first posting.With GREAT help from lbathgate at college WE have found a "French connection" in my family.This has opened a very close link i was unaware of.WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?The names i am looking for in France are DUPUIOS. DUPRE. CHOLET. And REYMOND. Any information would be very much appreciated.
David

[LesleyB]

Hi David
Great to see you made it to Talking Scot! Welcome aboard
Hope someone can help you with your French query. You might need to give a few dates or indication of names & ages so that folk know what time period to look in and who they are looking for.

Meanwhile this may be of some interest;
http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa070700a.htm

This is a web site a Goalen contact sent me recently - we're always trying to prove that Huguenot link which came down in family stories ...but not quite getting there! Anyway interesting to see the Dupre concentrations:
http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/car ... ?nom=dupre

Best wishes
Lesley

[LesleyB]

There are some French records on the IGI too ( www.familysearch.org , then Search tab, then IGI ) - choose Continental Europe, then France, but I'm not having much success with some of your name combinations.

Best wishes
Lesley

[CatrionaL]

Hi David

Have you any idea at all where in France your family originated? Each town hall has it's own archives.

Best wishes
Catriona

[dmacdiarmid]

HI LESLEY,thanks for your advice.I wiill try those sites tonight.The ages of my grandparents are GABBRIELLE ALBERTINE DUPUIS 1881-1955 died in Edinburgh birthplace unknown.Her husband CHARLES VICTOR DUPRE 1873- ?.Birthplace and death unknown.Married in Edinburgh 1905.She divorced him and remarried in Kirkcaldy 1923.He remarried in Edinburgh in 1927.They both i think were born in France. GABRIELLES parents were ALFRED LOUIS DUPUIS AND PAULINE EUGENIE REYMOND.birthpace and unknown.CHARLES'S parents were CHARLES DUPRE and AMELIE(millie)CHOLET or CHOLAT.Birth and death again unknown,although i have just discovered o town in France called CHOLET.ps is this posting too long?David

[dmacdiarmid]

HI CATRIONA,do you know of any English speaking French sites where i may advance my search?David.

[LesleyB]

Hi David
I posted a few more French sites here after your post last night which may or may not be of help:
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5453

Remember the mention on the National Archives site regarding the document about Charles's Nationality and Naturalisation? I wonder if that document would tell you something about where he lived in France or, better still where he was born? You can request photocopies on line. I have not seen one of these documents so I have no idea how many pages it would contain or what type of information would be held within it. It may just be "a certificate" as mentioned - a one page document with very little on it, I don't know. Has anyone seen one of these?

Or what about his army records? - Private, Gordon Highlanders S/18768
The army records I have for my great uncle give a fair bit of detail. That might be worth following up too, if his records have survived. However, my great uncle's records only give his date and place of birth at the point when he applied for Officer Trianing Corps, so I'm not sure if those records would give you what you are looking for.

My only other thought at the moment (its a long wait till the 1911 census!!) as to how you would find his place of origin would be - I wonder if Charles applied for a passport after being "naturalised"? And is it possible to see post 1920 passport applications? Maybe not...again I don't know.

Hmm...is there a French equivalent of the 1901 census?

Posting too long? Naw...you should see some of them on here! (some of my own have been pretty long )

Best wishes
Lesley

[LesleyB]

Arghh
I'm answering my own questions now:
http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa070700e.htm

Census Records
Censuses were taken every five years in France beginning in 1836, and contain the names (first and surname) of all members living in the household with their dates and places of birth (or their ages), nationality and professions. Two exceptions to the five year rule include the 1871 census which was actually taken in 1872, and the 1916 census which was skipped due to the First World War. Some communities also have an earlier census for 1817. Census records in France actually date back to 1772 but prior to 1836 usually only noted numbers of people per household, though sometimes they would include the head of household as well. Census records are located in departmental archives and some have been microfilmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon church) and are available through your Local Family History center. Some voting lists from 1848 (women are not listed until 1945) contain useful information such as names, addresses, occupations and places of birth. Census records in France are not often used for genealogical research because they are not indexed making it difficult to locate a name in them.

Which is a bit of a nuisance - we're back to having to know where they came from in order to find them....
Best wishes
Lesley

[dmacdiarmid]

Hi Lesley,my head hurts with all this "knowledge".Tested your French sites tonight.A wee smattering of francais would help.Collecting my 8 cd's on French from the "EXPRESS"(hard work)and so are the cd's. thanks again.David

[DavidWW]

David

Before venturing into the area of French research, I'd strongly recommend following up on Lesley's suggestion of looking for his naturalisation and army records, one of which, I'd hope, would provide some info on the "where" in France.

In addition, if you haven't already done so, I'd have a look at every open census, as it's not unusual to find a bit more info in one census compared with the others.


In general a good starting point for research in any other European country is Angus Baxter's "In Search of Your European Roots",- the section on France is 13 pages long in the 2nd edition. Any decent library will have this book, or be able to get it via inter-library loan. Many LDS FHC and FHS libraries will also have it.

(The 3rd Ed list price is $18.95, but there's 2nd hand copies of the 2nd Ed at as low as $0.44 )

David