PDA

View Full Version : French Birth



rayrussell2000u
31-07-2008, 3:41 PM
How do I obtain a french birth certificate. All I know is that her name was Marie Pauline Zazzi known as Polina aswell. She married Pietro Agazzi. She was born in 1851 in France Paris. I only know Paris there is no other region.

Can anyone help?

Sue Mackay
31-07-2008, 6:13 PM
I have no experience of researching in France but you may find something useful here (http://www.cyndislist.com/france.htm)

margarita
31-07-2008, 11:19 PM
I Googled "France genealogy" and came up with, amongst others, this

A Beginner's Guide to Researching Your French Ancestry
http://tinyurl.com/6e3bg8

Regards,

maggie

MartinM
01-08-2008, 5:41 PM
Hi,

You need to try and find out which 'arrondisement' of Paris.

Births are registered at the town hall (Mairie) and each arrondisement has it's own.

You can then contact the department of 'etat civile' at the Mairie, who are normally very helpful. Entries are normally photocopied and sent to you for free within two or three days.

There are volunteers as in this forum, who will search the records for you, but this often takes a long time, particularly in Paris, where there is a high demand.

If I can help with translations or other French ancestry, please feel free to contact me.

Regards
Martin

rayrussell2000u
01-08-2008, 8:39 PM
Thank you that is very helpful. However the only place of birth I know is Paris and this is from census records. They literally only tell me that she was born in France in Paris.

What can I do now? Am I at a dead end?

Thank you

Ray


Hi,

You need to try and find out which 'arrondisement' of Paris.

Births are registered at the town hall (Mairie) and each arrondisement has it's own.

You can then contact the department of 'etat civile' at the Mairie, who are normally very helpful. Entries are normally photocopied and sent to you for free within two or three days.

There are volunteers as in this forum, who will search the records for you, but this often takes a long time, particularly in Paris, where there is a high demand.

If I can help with translations or other French ancestry, please feel free to contact me.

Regards
Martin

MartinM
02-08-2008, 5:34 AM
Hi Ray,

Don't give up!

There are 20 arrondissements in Paris, and therefore the same number of town hall's. They are all contactable by email, and in my experience are very helpful. They will probably respond to an email in English, but if you prefer, I can draft a model for you in French.

I would suggest first contacting the principal 'Mairie de Paris', who hold details of most records dating before 1860 for all arrondissements, and who can point you to the remaining Mairies

You may be aware that some Paris records were lost in a fire at the end of the 19th century, but obviously much will depend on the area of the city concerned.

You can try posting a forum message on 'fil d'arianne' a genealogy forum similar to this one, where volunteers do their best to help.

If I can help further, please let me know.

Regards
Martin

rayrussell2000u
02-08-2008, 10:29 AM
Thank you that is excellent.

Could you possibly please draw me up a draft email? Id really appreciate it.

I wondered also do you know what the email address I need to send it to is? Because I can't seem to find it on g.oogle.

Thank you for your time and help.

Ray



Hi Ray,

Don't give up!

There are 20 arrondissements in Paris, and therefore the same number of town hall's. They are all contactable by email, and in my experience are very helpful. They will probably respond to an email in English, but if you prefer, I can draft a model for you in French.

I would suggest first contacting the principal 'Mairie de Paris', who hold details of most records dating before 1860 for all arrondissements, and who can point you to the remaining Mairies

You may be aware that some Paris records were lost in a fire at the end of the 19th century, but obviously much will depend on the area of the city concerned.

You can try posting a forum message on 'fil d'arianne' a genealogy forum similar to this one, where volunteers do their best to help.

If I can help further, please let me know.

Regards
Martin

MartinM
02-08-2008, 10:51 AM
Hi Ray,

Ok, I've just been digging around the Paris web pages, and they have changed things a little since I last used them. We cannot get to them direct by email, but can do so either by phone or post..

The postal address you will need is:

Service des Archives départementales
18 boulevard Sérurier
75019 Paris

All archives pre 1903 are now stored at this address. Anything from 1903 will still be at the relevant Mairie.

I'll draft you a letter and send it by pm. You'll just need to fill in the names and dates. If you need help with interpreting the act when it comes back then let me know.

Regards
Martin

rayrussell2000u
02-08-2008, 11:08 AM
Thank you so much! That is great.. Hopefully I should get somewhere now. Fingers crossed.

Thank you.

Ray


Hi Ray,

Ok, I've just been digging around the Paris web pages, and they have changed things a little since I last used them. We cannot get to them direct by email, but can do so either by phone or post..

The postal address you will need is:

Service des Archives départementales
18 boulevard Sérurier
75019 Paris

All archives pre 1903 are now stored at this address. Anything from 1903 will still be at the relevant Mairie.

I'll draft you a letter and send it by pm. You'll just need to fill in the names and dates. If you need help with interpreting the act when it comes back then let me know.

Regards
Martin

pottoka
01-02-2009, 4:41 AM
It seems that you were born under a lucky star!

As Martin said earlier: "You may be aware that some Paris records were lost in a fire at the end of the 19th century, but obviously much will depend on the area of the city concerned" Some eight million records from before 1860went up in smoke in May 1871, but some of them have been recreated from the bits that didn't burn and also from copies brought in by people who had them.

The birth certificate of Marie Pauline ZAZZI is one of the ones which was recreated, and she was born on 12th January 1851.

The volunteer who found the information will be sending me more information as soon as she can, and I will pass it on as soon as I get it. I'll be interested myself to see what a recreated certificate is like.

rayrussell2000u
02-02-2009, 11:34 AM
WOW!! I cannot believe this, I am so excited|jumphappy

I have been wanting this for so long. Thank you so much. How did you manage to find it??

Will you be able to send me a copy of it??

Thank you so much for your kindness.

Ray

pottoka
15-02-2009, 9:50 AM
Marie Pauline's birth certificate has arrived and I will put it in the post to you today.

Unfortunately, compared to a normal French birth certificate, there is very little information on this "re-created" certificate. It's also rather faded and difficult to read, but you will be able to make out that her parents were Jacques Zazzi and Marguerite Morello.

It appears that she was born in La Chapelle which the Internet tells me was a village near Montmartre which was annexed by Paris in 1860. All that remains of the village, also known as La Chapelle Saint-Denis, as it was attached to the Abbey of Saint Denis (who is the patron saint of France, although most French people don't know it!) is a cemetery which, although it has no-one famous buried there, is a peaceful place to visit, with some quite venerable trees.

rayrussell2000u
16-02-2009, 12:54 AM
That is great thank you so much. Thats another name to add to the tree. Do you think it will be possible for me to research the Morello side of the family or is this going to be near impossible?

I really appreciate your help. Please let me know if you want me to pay for the postage costs.

Thanks

Ray

pottoka
04-03-2009, 8:17 PM
Jacques Zazzi married Marguerite Morello at the Town Hall of the third arrondissement of Paris on 7th November 1850.

This is another re-created certificate so there isn't much information on it, but it does say that they were living in the rue du Faubourg Saint Denis at the time, that he was a carpenter, and the names of their parents (possibly Gallicised, if they were Italian):
- Pierre Dominique Zazzi and Marie Louise Antoinette Audin
- Jean Baptiste Morello and Marie Zazioni

I'll translate it and put it in the post for you asap. http://freesmileyface.net/smiley/Happy/happy-093.gif (http://freesmileyface.net)

pottoka
04-03-2009, 8:34 PM
That is great thank you so much. Thats another name to add to the tree. Do you think it will be possible for me to research the Morello side of the family or is this going to be near impossible?


I've put in a request for Marguerite's death certificate, but, as Jacques was a widower on the Jersey Census of 1871, that will mean that, even if it can be found, it won't have all the usual information of a French death certificate, i.e. date and place of birth and date and place of marriage (because it will, again, be a re-created certificate, the fire having been in May 1871).

Her parents' surnames sound Italian to me, although they could have been immigrants into France. The problem is that with neither dates nor places to start looking, the task of tracing the Morello line, or indeed that of Zazzi, looks pretty bleak to me.

The only possibility would be if you could pinpoint the names to a specific place in Italy, but even then you would never be sure.

rayrussell2000u
05-03-2009, 12:41 AM
Wow!!!

That is absolutely amazing!! Thank you so much! I never expected that you would be able to find their marriage. That has added a whole new set of names for my tree which is just brilliant.

Thank you for sending me a copy that will be brilliant I really appreciate your help.

And I shall keep my fingers crossed for the death certificate.

Once again Thank you!!! :):):):):)