Genealogy in Savoie and the Comté de Nice - Part 2

As explained in the post Genealogy in Savoie and the Comté de Nice - Part 1, with a potted history of Savoie, the region is now two departments, that of la Savoie and that of Haute-Savoie, having spent time as a part of other political entities. Worth noting is that Geneva was a part of Savoie and some records for that city are held in the French archives, while some of Savoie are in Geneva's archives. Researching ancestors from the region is, at times, different from researching those from other parts of France.

• Parish and civil registrations of births, marriages and deaths:
  • Before 1792, as with France, registrations were created and maintained by by parish priests. Unlike the rest of France, this is also the case for the years 1814 to 1860, when the region was a part of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
  • Where duplicates were made, one set is with the town hall, mairie, the other with the relevant Departmental Archives. 
  • There are not consistent or complete ten-year indices, tables décennales, for all years of registrations.
• Census records , including for Geneva, exist  for the years 1832, 1838, 1848 and 1858, and after 1860, as for all of France.
• Some very interesting military records exist:
  • A few conscription lists of men of all ages for 1635 and 1698 are in the Archives départementales de la Savoie sub series SA
  • Incomplete lists, including for Geneva, of the same exist for the years 1726 to 1733 and are in the Archives départementales de Haute-Savoie
  • Some registers of volunteers exist in both Departmental Archives in series C.
• Tax and fiscal records include:
  • Lists of hearths from 1422 to 1700 in la Savoie
  • Lists of heads of families subject to special taxes in both the Departmental Archives of la Savoie and Haute-Savoie
  • Lists of those who had to pay the salt tax, which are almost like a census, for the years 1561 to 1576, in both the Departmental Archives of la Savoie and Haute-Savoie
• Exclusive to the Departmental Archives of  Haute-Savoie:
  • A list of magistrates by name from 1559 to 1713
  • A register of foreigners from 1841 to 1859
  • A register of patients -- both civilian and military -- at the hospitals of Annecy from 1800 to 1819.

The archives for Savoie are very rich and have a greater variety among the older records than is found in many other regions of France.

Very little of the above is on the internet. Appropriate genealogy associations which could help with research in Savoie are:

• Centre Généalogique de Savoie
• Centre Généalogique Savoyard - Paris et Région Parisienne
• Maurienne Généalogie
• GeneaWiki gives a long list of genealogy circles in the region at its most expanded
• Les Marmottes de Savoie are working hard to extract and data from parish and civil registrations

 Additionally, the Savoie GenWeb and the Haute-Savoie GenWeb pages are quite good.

Happy hunting!

©2011 Anne Morddel

French Genealogy

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