How it works
No French needed, no archives to travel to, and nothing to pay if nothing is found.
From your request to your record
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You tell me what you know
Fill in the request form: your ancestor's name, the town in France, the approximate year, and the record you are looking for. A photo of an old document, a family Bible page, a gravestone or a passenger list can make all the difference, so add it if you have one.
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I check your request, within 48 hours
I make sure the registers exist for that town and that period, and that they can be consulted. This check is free of charge: if I cannot take your request on, I tell you why, and nothing is charged. If some information is missing, I suggest a research plan instead.
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You receive your start date and a secure payment link
I book a slot for your search and tell you when it starts. You then authorize the payment on Stripe's secure page. Your card is not charged at this stage: the amount is only put on hold (see below).
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I search the registers, for up to 5 days
Parish registers, civil registration, ten-year indexes, military and maritime records: I go through the sources a professional would use, in the original French and Latin.
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Found, or nothing to pay
Found: great news! Your payment goes through and you receive, in the same email, your receipt and your record: the image, a full transcription and an English translation. Every record is read, transcribed, translated — then read again, line by line, before it reaches you.
Not found: the hold on your card is cancelled and you pay nothing. I tell you which registers I searched.
The card hold, explained simply
When you order, I do not take your money straight away. Stripe, the payment platform used by millions of businesses, asks your bank to reserve the amount on your card. It is the same thing a hotel or a car rental company does when you check in.
A hold lasts about 7 days. That is why every search is completed within 5 days: you always know the outcome before the hold expires.
Your card details never pass through this website. You pay on Stripe's secure page. I never see your card number.
Several generations
For a family line, I start exactly like a one-record search, then I go back generation after generation. Each generation has its own price per ancestor, shown on the services page.
Full transcription and English translation included for your starting ancestor and their parents. For every other ancestor found, you receive 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 for .
- Ancestor found: you pay the price of that generation.
- Ancestor searched but not found: you pay only a small research fee () instead of the full price, and I do not search further back on that branch.
- For smaller searches, the card hold is placed one generation at a time, so you are never committed to more than one generation.
- For large full generations (16 ancestors or more), payment is made in advance and the difference is refunded for every ancestor not found.
Paying in several instalments
For orders of or more, you can pay in 3 payments, with no fees, one every 30 days. Your card is saved securely by Stripe for the next two payments. If some ancestors are not found, the difference comes off your last payment(s).
Prices in your currency
Prices are set in your own currency: US dollars, euros, Canadian dollars, pounds sterling or Australian dollars, depending on the country you live in. You pay the round amount shown, with no conversion.
Living in another country? Request a quote: it starts with a research plan, paid in euros.
What you receive
- A clear image of the original record
- A full transcription of the text, as written
- An English translation, with the old terms explained
- The references of the record (archive, register, page), so anyone can find it again
See what a delivery looks like on the sample reports page.
French archives are open to everyone. Reading them is another matter.
- Most old records are online — scattered across 100+ archive websites, each with its own search system. Even French people who have never done genealogy get lost in them.
- They are handwritten, often in 18th-century script, church Latin, old abbreviations and the French Revolutionary calendar.
- Records that aren't online must be requested in writing, in French. Answers can take weeks, sometimes months.
Many family searches don't fail — they simply stall, one branch at a time.
| On your own | A large agency | Found My French Ancestor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reads old French handwriting and Latin | To be learned | Yes | Yes |
| Knows how each French archive works | To be learned | Often | Yes |
| Reads what the record actually says | It's your family: easy to see what you hope to see | Yes | Yes |
| Knows your story | Yes | One file among many | Yes, followed personally |
| Who does the research | You | A researcher you never meet | Armand, by name |
| Turnaround | Weeks, or never | Often 4–6 months | 5 days per record |
| If nothing is found | Time lost | You pay anyway | Nothing to pay |
An old record may call your ancestor sieur — a simple title of respect, like "Mister". Read too quickly, and hopefully, it becomes seigneur — a lord. The two words look alike. They mean very different lives.
My commitments
- Found, or nothing to pay for a single record.
- Prices shown up front, before you order.
- A real person: you write to me, Armand, not to a call centre.
- Honesty: if a search is impossible, I tell you before you pay.
- Your data stays private: no advertising cookies, no trackers, and your information is never sold. See the privacy policy.