MyHeritage have published 463 million historical records from France. The collections provide the most comprehensive coverage available for vital records from France in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Until now they have been available exclusively through Filae, a leading French genealogy company recently acquired by MyHeritage. By the end of the year, MyHeritage will publish hundreds of millions of additional records from Filae, further solidifying its position as the market leader for European genealogy.
The addition of these historical records benefits millions of genealogy enthusiasts in France, as well as MyHeritage users worldwide who have French roots. The records will be automatically compared to the 81 million family trees on MyHeritage using its Record Matching technology, and users will be automatically notified of matches that may help them advance their knowledge of their family history and make new discoveries.
The records in these collections date back to the late 16th century, when priests performed and documented baptisms, marriages, and burials. Later records in the collections date back to the period following the French Revolution, when civil registration officers began recording vital records. The baptism/birth, marriage, and death/burial records in these collections serve as the preeminent source for French vital records, covering all but one department around the country, and covering most of the French population since the 18th century. The collections in this release include:
- France, Church Baptisms and Civil Births with 154.4 million records.
- France, Church Marriages and Civil Marriages with 125.3 million records.
- France, Church Burials and Civil Deaths with 149.1 million records.
- 1872 France Census, taken in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War and consisting of 16.4 million records from 67 French departments.
- 1906 France Census, consisting of 17.6 million records from 63 departments in France. Paris is not included in the 1872 and 1906 collections, as census taking in Paris only began in 1926.
All of the collections include a high-quality index of the transcribed records and digital images of the original documents. Among the many gems in these collections are records documenting the birth of Emile Zola, the death of Marcel Proust, the marriage of Jules Verne, and an 1872 census record that lists Claude Monet.
“Since acquiring Filae two months ago, we have been working closely with Filae’s team to advance French genealogy,” said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. “Today we mark an important milestone on this journey by making these significant historical record collections available on MyHeritage, so that anyone with French roots, not just in France but worldwide, can learn more about their family history. We have tripled Filae’s content budget to accelerate the digitization and transcription of additional historical records and look forward to bringing French genealogy to new heights in the coming months and years.”
“We could not be more pleased with our collaboration with MyHeritage so far,” said Toussaint Roze, Founder and CEO of Filae. “We are extremely proud to see the fruits of our labor bringing insights and discoveries to millions of people all over the world who want to learn more about their French heritage.”
These new collections significantly bolster MyHeritage’s historical record offering in France, with a total of 514 million French records, and bring the total number of historical records on MyHeritage to 15.6 billion.
The new collections from France are available on MyHeritage’s search engine for historical records. Searching the collections is free. A subscription is required to view the full records and to access Record Matches.
Search the French historical records on MyHeritage.
