Marriages & Baptisms in Paris, France

[j9dw]

Hi, I'm searching for the marriage of the parents of Reine V CUQUEMELLE who was born in Paris in about 1861. Her mother was Reine as well, but I've no idea who her father was (other than being Monsieur CUQUEMELLE).

Perhaps the info would be in Renie V's baptism record, but I've no idea how to go about searching for French baptism records either.

They came to the UK 1861 & 1869. I've found the family in 1881, 91 & 1901, but Reine (the Mum) was already widowed by then & I'm having trouble finding them in 1871, I expect that'll be down to a transcription error. In 1871 they would probably have ben in Clerkenwell or Staffordshire.

Sorry it's a bit empty of substance, but can anyone help?

Thanks
Janine

[jorose]

(civil) Records from Paris are online here:
http://canadp-archivesenligne.paris.fr/

It will already be a bit tricky as you don't know the area (arrondissement) - you'll have to look at the indexes for each arrondissement in turn. If she was born in Paris (and not one of the nearby communes that are part of the greater "Paris" area, for which the records are separate) she should turn up there.

I think in 1871 they are at RG10/3038 78/48  (Harbourne, Worcestershire)
Adele "Cregnell", 30, (widowed)
Victoria, 10
Charles, 8
Adele, 2

All listed as b. Paris, although Adele Jr is probably the Adele Caroline whose birth is registered in Clerkenwell - her birth certificate would help by giving you the mother's maiden name, father's name and occupation, etc.

It is common to find French emigrants swapping between their first names - I presume she was Reine Victoria and her mother might be Reine Adele/Adele Reine.

freebmd.rootsweb.com  - if you search on Cuqu* for the surname you can find a likely death for the father "Alfred Cuqu_melle", aged 40, d. 1869 in Westminster.

For earlier records in Paris you'll run into trouble due to the destruction of many records in 1871 (the Hôtel de Ville was set on fire), which means that pre-1860 records are reconstructed from a mix of sources and some do not survive.

[j9dw]

Wow! Thank you so much. It never occurred to me that Reine, the mother, would have Adele as a middle name, but it makes perfect sense, believe it or not, I'd searched for every Reine, Rene, Raine & Rain born in France with any surname, but with no luck.

Alfred Cuqu_melle is likely as Reine (the mother) was born around 1842 (according to the censuses) so the age would fit, I didn't think of searching in the free BMD for mis-spellings, I must be tired! Mind you, Reine had another daugter, after Adele, in around 1872 in Staffordshire, naughty Reine lol.

Thanks again, that gives me more structure for my searches, now I'll go & find out what happened to Victoria & Charles; that might give me more hints.

Janine

[Redroger]

I have searched the Paris records for around the same time, late 1860s in my case. Like you I had no idea of the arrondissement, but found the records clear and easy to use. I was assisted too by a scarce surname Feuvrier, and it looks as though you will have a similar advantage.

[jorose]

Note that coverage of French BMDs is very patchy and dependant on area; you might find everything has been indexed or that the archives for the area you want to look at don't even have a webpage.

Took a quick look on the Paris Archives for you, her birth can be found:
9 Jan 1861, 13th arrondissement
Reine Victorine, daughter of Louis Alfred Cuquemelle, aged 32, and his wife Reine Warnier, 21

[j9dw]

Hi Jorose, the people here, on Rootschat, never fail to amaze me!

Thank you so much for looking for me; I'd started, but only got about half way through (I think).

Redroger, I've come acrosss the name Feuvrier or LeFeuvrier in my own falily tree in Jersey, Channel Isles, but on a disdtat branch.

[j9dw]

I wiah I'd paid attention at school, in French!

[jorose]

There's a nice genealogical word list here which might help some.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/RG/Guide/WLFrench.ASP

Luckily the format of the French records is reasonably consistent so it won't take too long to get familiar with the common words. The "tables décennales" are the indexes, have a look through those first.  Since the name isn't that common it would be worth checking all the Cuquemelle/Cuquemel and Warnier names you can find for the 1860s to see if your family get a mention anywhere (e.g. as witnesses to a birth, marriage, or death).

The 1859 and before records are up but just as indexes (I think they do intend to put the actual records up eventually but I can't find the page again where they were talking about timescales).

https://www.familysearch.org/
 does have a possible baptism for Louis Alfred Cuquemelle, bap. St-Sulpice, Paris in 1828 and various indexed records for his family.  If this is him, his parents' marriage is indexed as in Saint-Germain-En-Laye - very close to Paris (wikipedia describes it as being part of the "western suburbs" of the city) but officially part of Yvelines department, so the records are at http://www.yvelines.fr/archives/archives/accueilbase.htm

[Redroger]

The Jersey link to Feuvrier interests me, though the birth of my distant relative was in Paris, the family were clock makers who oddly originate nr. Switzerland.