French birth records

[Flouncylicious]

I am looking to find some information on Joseph Adolphe Emile Derouet, who was born c.1881 in Havre France and possibly came to the UK in 1901/2. I have tried to find the best resource for this and am not getting anywhere as I have no experience of French records. Can anyone assist with this please, or point me in the direction of the best resource.

Many thanks in advance.

[Jed59]

Luckily its over 100 years sinceJoseph was born; less than that you'd have to prove direct descendancy
Records are kept in the local "mairie"  or twon hall, and every year copies deposited at local magistrates court. and exactly 100 years after the event, archived with the department (county)

http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa070700b.htm?terms=22civil+register%22

www.genealand.com       

www.guide-genealogie.com                 

hope that helps

Jed

[Flouncylicious]

Thanks Jed, I shall go have a look 

[jorose]

The best place to look for records online are the departmental archives (in a few cases with large cities, the municipal archive).  In this case we need Seine-Maritime.
http://www.archivesdepartementales76.net/rechercher/archives-en-ligne/

The "registres matricules" (scroll down, bottom of that page) are possibly a better place to start. Why? Because they give info that can help track down the birth but also information about residence etc over the years, sometimes up to and including death which can help determine if you have the right person. There are also indexes per bureau (larger area than commune), which can be a big help if your person was actually born in the next town over from where you thought.  In this case, they're even name indexed.

The entry for Derouet, Joseph Adolphe Emile confirms his birth as:
b. 7 April 1880 in Havre
son of Joseph Adolphe Emile and Marguerite Catherine Fishan,
resident (around 1917/1918), at 79 Calidonian Road, Kings Cross, England.

Cross-checking against the birth shows father as Joseph Marie Theophile Derouet (aged 36, restauranteur)  and mother Marguerite Catherine Fichan, aged 37.  Parents married in Guernsey, 8 Dec 1876.

I would have expected a 1900-era military record for him (aged 20), but there doesn't seem to be one (even manually checking the 1900 and 1901 indexes).  Possibly a point in favour of him not being in the area in 1900/1901.

[Flouncylicious]

Thank you so much Jorose    I have been struggling with this for ages now, can't tell you how much I appreciate your help.

[Flouncylicious]

Jorose if you're still around how did you find the actual birth please? I found the  "registres matricules" part very easily (what a fabulous document), but am struggling with the rest. I found books of parish records for Havre but after looking at the amount of books the search brought up I think I must be in the wrong place. I must admit I find French records very confusing.

[jorose]

A lot of the French archives are not very well laid out, unfortunately.  Once you get the hang of them, there's lots of information, though.

From the top:
"L’Etat Civil" = civil registers
on next page
"Cliquez ici pour accéder à l’Etat Civil en ligne" = click to access the civil registers online

Under "commune" choose "Havre" and for "Période entre" put 1880 in both boxes.

You're looking for the third image set down:
1880 - 1880/06/30 (4E 08890)
Havre (Le) > Registres Etat Civil > Naissances (Births)

Click on the image, and then on the next page, on the image again, and a new image should open up.  He is acte 917 on image number 259.

For looking for other family records, look out for the "Tables décennales" which are the French indexes (each covering ten years of bmds).  Hopefully this links to the right part of the site for Havre. Open stuff up with the little + marks (because it's a large place, there are separate sets of indexes for Havre for births, marriages, and deaths, then often split up into sections, e.g. just births A-D)
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01a67/

For some births there are notes in the margin - these are references to later marriage/death records.

[Flouncylicious]

Once again thank you so much