France, Church Marriages and Civil Marriages

140,303,615 records

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France, Church Marriages and Civil Marriages

France, Church Marriages and Civil Marriages

140,303,615 records

This is a collection of church marriages and civil marriages and select marriage banns recorded in France. Before marriages could be performed, banns were required to be read at three Sunday masses in each of the parishes of the bride and groom. The indexed records include the name of the bride and groom, their marriage date, and the marriage location. Additional details can often be found on each record’s associated image including information about the couple’s birth dates and places, their parents' names and sometimes death of one or more of the parents as well as the names and details of witnesses, often with recorded relationships to the bride and groom. These records are the vital marriage records for France and of great genealogical value in establishing the marriage relationship as well as the couple’s relationships to their parents. During the French Revolution and starting in 1792 religious marriages were no longer legally valid and couples wishing to marry were required to do so civilly. A law passed in 1798 required citizens to be married at the canton seat instead of the local commune. This law was abolished in 1800 when couples were again allowed to marry in their local commune. Except for this small time period (1789-1800) it was customary for at least one member of the prospective marriage to be a resident of the commune where the civil marriage occurred. The Registrar (Officer de l’Etat Civil) recorded the marriages they performed, usually in a prescribed paragraph format, bound in a book and kept in the registrar’s office. Few parish registers from before the mid-1600s have survived and coverage and completeness of this collection varies by department and records prior to 1700 are rare in this collection. This collection was added following MyHeritage's acquisition of Filae.

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Marriage & Divorce

France

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Sample record

Jules Gabriel VerneMarried: Jan 10 1857

Jules Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. He is the author of bestselling adventure novels including Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Jules Verne has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979.