Joseph Godchaux/Godchaus and Leontine Weill

[harbourlady99]

Is there anyway of looking up records on the net or do you have to use someone in the country of origin to help? I am trying to get a birth certificate for my GGF and GGM who both originated in France, moved to the USA then on to the UK. I know a rough year of birth and I believe their youngest daugher was married in Paris in 1897. But as to where in France they were both born I do not know. How can I move forward on this, any suggestions? Joseph Godchaux/Godchaus c1835 and Leontine Weill c1846.

[pottoka]

There is no centralised system of BMDs in France as there is in England & Wales, so there is no way of looking up a French person's birth (or a British person born in France, etc) on the Internet. There are a few who are on the IGI, but it's very hit and miss.

This explains the French system very well: https://genealogy.about.com/od/france...h_ancestry.htm

The biggest problem is that you need to know where exactly a person was born to be able to apply to the Town Hall of that town, city or village to get a copy of their birth certificate. Since I've been part of Brit-Gen, I've noticed that people sometimes gave a town in France for their birthplace, but have not been found there; my theory is that it was easier to give the name of the closest large town, which probably had a name they knew how to spell (more or less) than a little village with a complicated name.

France is divided up into départements, and some départements have got their archives wholly or partially online. But you would still need to know which town to start looking for.

[pottoka]

What makes you think that one of their daughters was married in Paris?

This could possibly be a lead as marriage certificates in France have information about the couple's parents which could help. There would also be the date and place of birth of the bride (and the groom) which could lead to more information about the origins of her parents.

If you can give me the daughter's name, age, place of birth, date of birth and what you do know about her parents, including if they were still alive at the time of the marriage, I can put a request on a French web-site for you for a volunteer to look for the marriage at the Archives départementales de Paris. Basically, as much information as you have - the more the better.

I can't promise results, and certainly nothing soon as I'm going away until early September and will be without Internet access during that time !

[harbourlady99]

The daughters name is Jeanne Godchaux which has also been spelt Godchaus. She was born in San Francisco at about the time all the records were destroyed. 1877 Her parents are Joseph Godchaus and her mother Leontine Weill (can also be found as Veil or Weil) I believe that at least one of the families is Jewish and maybe originated in Germany many generations before. Jeanne married in Paris to John Shrager (Schrager) 1897 Jan 24. One possible place was Indre et Loire as there was an address on the sheet but it could have been a couple of places in France, Marseilles was another. Sorry not to have got back sooner. Any help whenever it fits in with you is fine. Thanks

[pottoka]

The daughters name is Jeanne Godchaux which has also been spelt Godchaus. She was born in San Francisco at about the time all the records were destroyed. 1877 Her parents are Joseph Godchaus and her mother Leontine Weill (can also be found as Veil or Weil) I believe that at least one of the families is Jewish and maybe originated in Germany many generations before. Jeanne married in Paris to John Shrager (Schrager) 1897 Jan 24. One possible place was Indre et Loire as there was an address on the sheet but it could have been a couple of places in France, Marseilles was another. Sorry not to have got back sooner. Any help whenever it fits in with you is fine. Thanks

If I read you rightly, Jeanne Godchaux/Godchaus married John Shrager/Schrager in Paris on January 24th 1897. Do you by any chance know in which arrondissement (district) of Paris the marriage took place - it would make it easier to look for the record.

There is a famous French politician called Simone Weil who was responsible for legalising abortion in France, among other things. She was deported to Auschwitz as a child, being a Jew, and was one of the few survivors. Maybe the Weil/Veil family is your Jewish family.

I'll get onto the search for Jeanne's marriage certificate this weekend.

[pottoka]

The daughters name is Jeanne Godchaux which has also been spelt Godchaus. She was born in San Francisco at about the time all the records were destroyed. 1877

What happened? An earthquake, fires after a quake like in 1906 or something totally different?

Coincidentally, the records in Paris were destroyed by a fire in 1871; their website says "all the Parish Registers of baptisms, marriages and burials, recorded before 1792, and all the Registry Office records drawn up before 1859 in the former 12 Parisian arrondissements and in the suburb parishes fully annexed in 1860, were lost in May 1871 in fires which devastated the Archives of the Seine and the Paris Law Courts. It is estimated that some eight million records were destroyed."

They have managed to re-constitute some of them, with people, at the time, taking in their own copies for example, but there are still a lot missing. Luckily, Jeanne got married well after that.

[pottoka]

One of the volunteers has added Jeanne's marriage certificate to her list of look ups, so things are moving. Keep your fingers crossed!

[pottoka]

Céline - "my" volunteer - has put a post on the forum to say that she has found the marriage certificate for Jacob SCHRAGER and Jeanne GODCHAUX. The wedding took place on 8th February 1897.

She is sending me a photocopy. There are a few hiccups in the postal system at the moment with lightning strikes and go-slows, because it's due to be de-nationalised, but the post seems to be getting through. I'll let you know as soon as it arrives.

[harbourlady99]

Sorry to sound ungrateful but sadly the obvious certificates I already have. I was hoping to go slightly further back and get the parents births/marriage. I know they are called Louis and Rachel and their address at the time of the marriage you mentioned but I can't find anything further back. I am not sure if there is a census done in France because that might be a way of verifying how long they were there. As they are jewish families I have also been searching on the jewish gen site but again alot of the surnames were changed so looking for them is more difficult. Thanks

[pottoka]

The marriage certificate arrived today, and I find it difficult to believe that you have a copy of it for various reasons:

1) you don't seem to know the daughter's date of birth
2) you say you know where the Schrager parents were living at the time of the wedding
3) you say that the wedding took place on January 24th 1897

According to the certificate:

1) Jeanne Godchaux was born in San Francisco on 23rd March 1877
2) the Schrager parents were both dead at the time of the wedding of their son to Jeanne Godchaux
3) the wedding took place on 8th February 1897 at half past ten; it was the banns which were published on 24th - and 31st - January 1897.