Explore The Online France Department Archives

We cried “Where can we find French birth, baptism, marriage, death, military and census records?” And then it was so. The online France Department Archives genealogical records were digitalized, uploaded, and available for viewing. And it is free.


This is a French Genealogy miracle for those researching their French ancestors from afar. Parish, civil, military, and census records were digitized and uploaded. Depending on the department, you can find additional information.


This is an alphabetical list of each online continental France departmental archive and the available church and state vital records. France to provinces of the ‘ancien régime’ Roman Catholic clergy were the ‘official’ scribes that recorded the baptism, marriage, and burial occurrences. In 1792, France was no longer governed by the Catholic church or exist in provinces, After 1792, France was divided into separate departments from the provinces by the new French Republic.

Each department varies on what is scanned and available for viewing. Here’s what you should find :

  • Registres Paroissiaux (church records: baptemes, Mariages, Sepulture (burial)- BMS; before 1793
  • Etat civil numérisés (civil vital records: naissance (birth), Mariages, décés (death) – NMD; after 1792
  • Recensements de population (census);
  • Registres matricules militaires (military enlistments),

Elise Noble explains the names of records in an easy-to-read format. (She has a great website filled with historical information.

updated: Dec 4, 2024

Aisne (02)

Allier (03)

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04)

Haute-Alpes (05)

Alpes-Maritimes (06)

You need a France IP via VPN to access

Ardèche (07)

Ardennes (08)

Ariège (09)

(Links work It takes a few seconds to verify)

Aube (10)

Aude (11)

Aveyron (12)

Bouches-du-Rhône (13)

Calvados (14)

Cantal (15)

Charente (16)

Charente Maritime (17)


Cher (18)

Corrèze (19)

Corse (20)

(link works)

  • Corse-du-Sud (2A)
  • Haute-Corse (2B)

Côte d’Or (21)

Côtes-d’Armor (22)

You need a France IP via VPN to access

Creuse (23)

Dordonge (24)

Doubs (25)

Drôme (26)

Eure (27)

Eure-et-Loire (28)

Finistère (29)

Gard (30)

Haute-Garonne (31)

Gers (32)

You need a France IP via VPN to access

Gironde (33)

You need a France IP (VPN) to access

Herault (34)

Ille-et-Vilaine (35)

Indre (36)

Indre-et-Loire (37)

Isère (38)

Click on “VOIR LES DOCUMENTS NUMÉRISÉS”

Jura (39)

Landes (40)

You need a France IP via VPN to access

Loire-et-Cher (41)

Loire (42)

Haute-Loire (43)

Loire-Atlantique (44)

Loiret (45)

Lot (46)

Lot-et-Garonne (47)

Lozere (48)

Maine-et-Loire (49)

Manche (50)

Marne (51)

Haute-Marne (52)

Mayenne (53)

Meurthe-et-Moselle (54)

Meuse (55)

Morbihan (56)

Moselle (57)

*You need a France IP via VPN to access

Nièvre (58)

Nord (59)

click on consulter

Oise (60)

*You need a France IP via VPN to access

Orne (61)

Pas-de-Calais (62)

Puy-de-Dôme (63)

Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64)

Hautes-Pyrénées (65)

Navigating the Archives of Hautes-Pyrénées

Pyrénées-Orientales (66)

You need a France IP via VPN to access

Bas-Rhin (67)

Haut-Rhin (68)

Rhône (69)

Haute-Saône (70)

Saône-et-Loire (71)

Sarthe (72)

Savoie(73)

Haute-Savoie (74)

Paris (75)

Seine-Maritime (76)

Seine-et-Marne (77)

Yvelines (78)

formed out of Seine et Oise in 1968

Deux-Sèvres (79)

Somme (80)

Tarn (81)

You need a France IP via VPN to access

Tarn-et-Garonne (82)

You need a France IP via VPN to access

Var (83)

VanCluse (84)

Vendée (85)

Vienne (86)

Haute-Vienne (87)

Vosges (88)

Yonne (89)

Territoire-de-Belfort (90)

Essonne (91)

Hauts-de-Seine (92)

Seine-Saint-Denis (93)

Val-de-Marne (94)

Val-d’Oise (95)

 

Tutorial 7 -Navigating the France Archives >>


  *Why are certain French department links timing out or blocked? Because more and more departments have implemented geo-restrictions on countries outside of France by blocking non-France IPs. Their purpose is to block potential hackers and other nasties. Good for France, but bad for us. More and more French departments are turning to France IPs only. You can access those department’s records through a VPN that bypasses geo-restrictions and censorship. With a VPN, You can switch to one of France’s IPs with no problem. Here’s a list of highly-rated free trial versions of VPN services you can try out at VPNMentor

(You should skip free VPN services. They offer minimal features, and not much in the way of security and memory usage.)