Frequently asked questions

That is the card hold. When you order, the amount is reserved on your card but not taken, just like a hotel does when you check in. It appears as "pending" on your statement.

If I find your record, the hold becomes a real payment and you receive your record. If I don't, I cancel the hold and the pending amount disappears, usually within a few days depending on your bank. More about the card hold.

For a single record: nothing to pay. The hold is cancelled and I tell you which registers I searched.

For several generations: an ancestor searched but not found costs only a small research fee () instead of the full price, and I stop searching that branch.

Yes. Prices are set in your own currency, depending on the country you live in: US dollars, euros, Canadian dollars, pounds sterling or Australian dollars. You pay the round amount shown, with no conversion.

Yes, for orders of or more: 3 payments with no fees, one every 30 days. How it works.

Yes. Request a quote: it starts with a research plan, paid in euros. I tell you whether the search is possible and send you a quote in euros.

Payments are handled by Stripe, one of the world's largest payment platforms. You pay on Stripe's secure page: your card details never pass through this website and I never see them.

Yes. You can withdraw within 14 days using the online withdrawal form. If the search has already started at your request, you pay only for the days of research already carried out (out of 5). Once the record has been delivered, the right of withdrawal no longer applies. Details in the terms of sale.

Not at all. We communicate in English, and every record comes with an English translation.

For a single record: your ancestor's surname, a given name, their sex, the town in France and the year (within 5 years). The more you add (parents' names, occupation, documents), the better.

French records are kept town by town, so the town is essential for a targeted search. Start with a research plan: I study your clues (American census, naturalization papers, passenger lists…) and tell you whether a search is possible.

That is very common: names were often written the way they sounded, or anglicized. Give me the spelling your family uses; I know the usual transformations and I search the variants.

Civil registration has existed in France since 1792. Before that, parish registers go back, depending on the parish, to the 17th century and sometimes the 16th. How far a family line goes depends on which registers have survived.

• Some registers were destroyed: wars, fires, and in Paris, the fires of 1871 destroyed the civil records from before 1860.
• The event took place in another town than the one the family remembers.
• The year or the name given differs too much from reality.

That is why I check the registers before you pay, and why a single record not found costs you nothing.

No. For now, I specialise in French archives only.

No. In France, recent birth and marriage records (less than 75 years old) are restricted. I work on the records of ancestors, not on living people.

I reply to your request within 48 hours. Each search then takes up to 5 days from its start date, which I give you when I accept your request.

For a single record: an image of the original record, a full transcription, an English translation, and the archive references.

For several generations: full transcription and translation for your starting ancestor and their parents; for every other ancestor found, the image of the record and an English summary sheet (name, dates, places, parents, archive reference). A full transcription and translation of any other record can be added.

See the sample reports.

The copy I send is a research copy, not a certified document. For official procedures, a certified copy must be requested from the French town hall or archive concerned. The references I give you make that request easy.

Yes. Tick "This search is a gift" in the form: if the record is found, I email it directly to the person of your choice, with your message.

I use it only to carry out your search and send it to you. No advertising cookies, no trackers, and your data is never sold. See the privacy policy.