Hello, I'm Armand
A French genealogist on the Atlantic coast, searching the archives for families across the ocean.
I live and work in La Baule, in Loire-Atlantique, on the west coast of France. Every day, I read French parish registers, civil records, military files and maritime archives, in French, old French and Latin.
I created Found My French Ancestor for one simple reason: many families in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia know their ancestor came from France, but the records are here, in French, spread across dozens of archives. I find them, translate them, and send them to you.
My background
I started genealogy in March 2020, during the first lockdown. What began as curiosity about my own family quickly became a passion: first online, then in the reading rooms of the archives, going through registers page by page.
I am self-taught. I learned the way most great genealogists did: by reading thousands of records, deciphering old handwriting and Latin, and knowing which archive holds what. I am a member of at least eight genealogical societies, where I keep learning and sharing.
A few searches I am proud of
- A sailor's voyage. Discovering an ancestor who was a seaman led me to follow his journeys all the way to the fishing grounds of Iceland and Newfoundland.
- A family rumour. An ancestor the family believed to be Italian: it took days and days of searching, but I finally found him, in Italy.
- A family secret. In another family, the records revealed that the biological father was not the Frenchman everyone thought, but a man from southern Italy.
- Lost registers. I tracked down registers that had been lost in the prefecture of Angoulême, in Charente. They have since been transferred to the departmental archives, where everyone can consult them.
No diploma on the wall: just years of daily practice, and a real love of the chase.
My speciality: sailors and soldiers
Living on the Atlantic coast, between Saint-Nazaire and the Breton ports, and with a seafaring ancestor of my own, I naturally became specialised in maritime and military records. They are often the key to ancestors who left France:
- Maritime records: since the 17th century, France kept a register of its seamen (the inscription maritime). Sailors, fishermen, ship's carpenters and their careers can often be followed port by port.
- Military records: from the late 1860s, every young man's military file (the registre matricule) gives his description, his address and his service. Earlier soldiers can be found in regimental records.
These records are rich, but scattered and difficult to read. That is exactly where a professional saves you months.
How I work
- France only. I do one thing, and I do it well.
- Found, or nothing to pay for a single record.
- Honest from the start. If the registers do not exist, I tell you before you pay.
- You write to me directly. No call centre, no anonymous team.
Why "Found My French Ancestor"?
Because that is the sentence I want every client to say, the day they open their ancestor's record and read their name, written by hand, centuries ago, in a small French town.