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French ancestry help please

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George

George Report 22 Dec 2006 14:50

Hi folks can any one please help my G.grandfather was French how do I go about finding info i have all my mothers side done ENGLISH/WELCH and have his marrage cert from 1863 and all it says is born in France

Caz

Caz Report 22 Dec 2006 16:06

George There is no centralisation of births, deaths and marriages in France so unless you know where he was from it could be difficult getting any further back. Have you checked all the census images? You might get his town of birth on there. Also if he became a British citizen then there could be some sort of mention in the naturalisation records - sorry I don't have direct experience of this so it's just a guess. pm me directly if you think I can be of any further help Caz

Joe ex Bexleyheath

Joe ex Bexleyheath Report 22 Dec 2006 17:47

Unfortunately all that Caz has written above is true. Is the name you are searching - LERU ? Even the IGI is not very helpful with this name which can be taken as alm,ost a one-off. The IGI shows only one person with this name and she appears to have been born in north-west France. Further showings of the name on a French site show that the name was predominant in Paris but then moved out to the Brittany/Normandy areas. Today, the telephone directory shows only eight people in France with the name (on phone) and they are mainly in the Brittany/Normandy areas. You will need something special in your personal archives to find where your LERU family came from and then you will be able to find further information on the family - without the place of birth you have little hope. If they were naturalised then the National Archives, Kew may have some information on the origins. Sorry.

George

George Report 23 Dec 2006 15:08

hi Caz & JOE. THANK YOU both for your help, joe i do remember Brittney being mentioned when I was a boy so that could help George

Caz

Caz Report 23 Dec 2006 16:49

As Joe says, the name seeems to be mainly in the Brittany area specifically in the departments of the Finistère and the Cotes d'Armor. If you go to this site and type in the name it will bring up a list of people researching Leru . Check out too the listing on the 'carte des noms link - it will show you the incidence of birtths for this name in France since about 1900 - could give you an idea. www(.)geneanet(.)org/ Remove brackets Caz