·         Description

 

• Introduction
  The former Duchy of Lothringen (Lorraine) became a French province in 1766. Later the German-speaking area of Lorraine became part of Elsass-Lothringen, German Reichsland after the Franco-German war of 1870-1871 until 1918 when it reverted to France. Today, the region of Lorraine is divided into the four departements of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges. This region is limited to the north by Belgium, Luxembourg and the German states of Saar and Rhineland-Palatinate, to the east by the region of Alsace, to the south by the region of Franche-Comté and to the west by the region of Champagne.

 

• Political Divisions
• Before 1648:
  Since the 12th Century, Lorraine was divided into many states among which the Duchy of Lothringen, the Republic of Metz and the Bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun were the most important ones. All these states belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. In 1648, according to Treaty of Westphalia, Metz, Toul and Verdun became French cities.
• 1648-1766:
  The Duchy of Lothringen, then surrounded by French territories, was repeatedly occupied by the French troups. When the Duke Stanislas Leszcynski died in 1766, the Duchy of Lorraine became a French province.
• 1790:
  After the French Revolution of 1789, France was divided into départements and Lorraine was made of the four départements of Meurthe, Meuse, Moselle, and Vosges. Nancy, Verdun, Metz and Epinal became the capitals of these départements.
• 1871-1918:
  At the time of the French defeat of 1871, the German-speaking parts of the département of Meurthe and of the département of Moselle were merged to build one of the 3 districts of the Alsace-Lorraine Reichsland,:
• Bezirk (district) of Lothringen with capital Metz and (8) Kreise (counties):
  Bolchen, Chateau-Salins, Diedenhofen, Forbach, Metz-Stadt, Metz-Land, Saarburg, Saargemuend.

At this time, the remaining French-speaking parts of the départements of Meurthe and of Moselle were linked together and became what is still the present département of Meurthe-et-Moselle.

• 1945-present:
• Meurthe-et-Moselle: département 54; capital: Nancy
• Meuse: département 55; capital: Bar-le-Duc
• Moselle: département 57; capital: Metz
• Vosges: département 88; capital: Epinal

 

• Religious Divisions
  Before 1802, five dioceses existed in Lorraine: Metz, Toul, Verdun, Nancy and Saint-Dié (Nancy and Saint-Dié were created in 1777). All of them belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Trier.
  The diocese of Toul was suppressed in 1802 and its parishes were shared out among the dioceses of Nancy, Verdun and Saint-Dié. Since then, these dioceses belong to the archdiocese of Besancon (today called the apostolical region of Besancon).

 

• Court Districts
  The communities of Lorraine were subordinated to the Parliaments of Metz, Nancy or Paris until the French Revolution. In 1900, during the Alsace-Lorraine period, the highest court was the Oberlandesgericht in Kolmar. The lower courts were
• Landgericht Metz with (12) Amtsgerichte:
  Ars, Bolchen, Busendorf, Chateau-Salins, Delme, Diedenhofen, Dieuze, Metz, Remilly, Rombach, Sierck, Vic.
• Landgericht Saargemuend with (11) Amtsgerichte:
  Albesdorf, Bitsch, Drulingen, Falkenberg, Forbach, Grosstaenchen, Rohrbach, Saaralben, Saargemuend, Saar-Union, St.Avold.

Genealogical and Historical Records

·         Church Records
Church registers are sometimes available from 1648 when the Thirty Years War ended. Some few registers go back to 1600, but most of them begin before 1690. The region has always been predominantly Catholic with only a few well known Protestant strongholds like Metz and Courcelles-Chaussy, Badonviller, Fenétrange, Ogéviller, Bayon, Neuviller, Phalsbourg, Lixheim and Saint-Mihiel. Priests were in charge of the recording of baptisms, marriages and burials until the French Revolution. Parish registers are usually available until 1792. All the Church records of the départements of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse and Vosges were put on microfilms which you can consult at the Family History Library. The département of Moselle was only partly microfilmed.

• Civil Registration Records
  Births, marriages and deaths registers begin in 1793. Convenient indexes called tables décennales exist for each category of records and each index always covers a period of 10 years. A yearly index which appears after the records of each year, was usually made. Like the Church registers, all the civil records and the indexes of the départements of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse and Vosges are available on microfilms which you can consult at the Family History Library. The département of Moselle was only partly microfilmed.
• Other Records
• Census Records and Polling Lists
• Every 5 years a national census was made in France between 1836 and 1936. One was deferred from 1871 to 1872 and those of 1916 and of 1941 were cancelled because of wartime. The following censuses occurred in 1946, 1954, 1962 and 1968. A census list of names usually displays the following information:
• Family and given names
• Age or year of birth
• Occupation
• Address
• Position in household (since 1881)
• Nationality
• Since 1848, when the law which established the universal male suffrage in France was passed, polling lists are useful to genealogists. They are available either in town halls or at the Départemental Archives. In France the vote was given to women only in 1945.
• Emigration Records
• Options of Alsatians and Lorrainers
  In 1871, many people desired to leave Alsace-Lorraine and their names were recorded in these records of 523,000 persons, arranged in 395 alphabetical lists which the French government published in supplements to the Bulletin Des Lois [Bulletin of Laws]. They list birth dates, place of birth and some list destination. Family History Library microfilm numbers are: 787154 (middle) to 787166. (Note: The last two films also give information on persons emigrating to the USA and Canada.)
• Options in hardcopy.
  These records have also been transcribed into book form. They are collected in 11 volumes organized by destination. See Publishers for information on availability from the Centre départemental d'Histoire des Familles.
• See also a number of more specialized books on emigration in the Bibliography section.
• Military Records

Conscription lists and personal notices are available at the Départemental Archives. The covered period is 1798-nowadays. Most of the French military records are stored at the Service historique de l'armée. No answer is made to any written request, but this center welcomes searchers who notify of their visit a few days before their arrival. Information about officers and other ranks can be retrieved since 1791 and sometimes even since 1715.

• Notarial Records

A search of these records is a rather difficult and time-consuming task but exploring this source is worth the trouble. Notarial records usually begin before the Church records and they are available at the Départemental Archives. The most frequent records found are:

• sales (often contain useful information)
• loans (lenders and borrowers are sometimes relatives)
• leases (usually of little genealogical interest)
• marriage settlements (give an approximate date of the marriage and list parents and other relatives. Many are for marriages of widows or widowers)
• exchanges (often of land or buildings between coheirs)
• wills (contain interesting information but most are from the well-to-do)
• inventories after death (very interesting documents with detailed information about the dead person like her possessions, her way of living and a list of other official records she made)

 

• Calendar
• Gregorian Calendar adoption
  The Gregorian calendar had been adopted in France in 1582, but at this time Lorraine was not yet under its domain. Thus, in Lorraine, this change did not occur before 1648, when a big part of it became French. In Protestant territories, the King of France imposed this calendar in 1680-82. In the records, you may find the following abbreviations after a date: "st.v." and "st.n.", which stand for stylo vetero (Julian) and stylo novo (Gregorian), respectively.
• French Revolution.
  The calendar in France was dramatically changed during the revolutionary period, 1792-1805. A conversion table is provided by Philippe Chapelin (Research Service) at Genealogy & History in France.
  Winmoret is a nice shareware for date conversions in the Julian, Gregorian, Hebrew, Republican or Islamic calendars.

 

• Emigration and Immigration Waves
• late 18th - early 19th centuries: emigration to Donauschwaben lands conquered from the Turks by the Austrian Empire
• 1803-4, 1808: emigration to Russia by invitation of Catherine the Great during the French Revolution
• 1814-1824: large scale emigration to Russia and America
• 1825-1871: greatest period for emigration to America