Bonjour Hard for me to explain in english. I shall try. Tables décennales : for ech town or parish lists in alphabetic order (1st letter) of acts (Birth or Batism, marriage, death or burial) with type of act (N = naisssance birth, M mariage, D = Décès death or S sépulture burial), the name with or without first name, the date (DDMMYYYY) and the page were the record is (folio Recto or Verso sometimes). One list covers 10 years. One film of tables décennales covers often 2 or 3 or more towns or parishes. In french colonies (West Indies for example) the registers were written by catholic priest only before Révolution. In France l'état civil (civic state) starts in 1792. In West Indies later : Guadeloupe 1793 and Martiniquie 1812 (or around) because the english occupation. Year 1776 Louis XVI asked for all the old registers be copied and the copies sent to Versailles. But... hurricanes and others earthquake had destroyed some registers. The priests who must copy the acts have or not do the job. It is the reason why registers of Guadeloupe are oldest than those of Martinique. You can look at http://members.aol.com/GHCaraibe/geo/communes.html Sorry this page is in french. If somebody could translate... So for a search you must start with films of tables décennales, note the pages of acts and go to th film containing the acts. What are the problems encountered ? About Tables décennales which were made years after the copies of registers. 1° Some acts are missing in the tables particularly for free colored people (Remenber the registers do not have acts of slaves) 2° The tables were made fom some registers now losts and the pages' number is not corresponding to the registers available. 3° Some names are mispelled, even the first letter 4° You must look at each part of names eg : REVERCHON de LA CROIX look at R, D, L and C If the person you are looking for has only first names you have to look at each first letter eg : Uranie Pierre Moyse : look at U, P and M About Acts 1°) A lot of missing acts 2°) The copist had not copy all the act : lines are missing. 3°) The copist has replaced a name by an other 4°) The copist had tried to copy what he read without understandins the meaning. You must read aloud to understand. Last thing : In the films some pages are missing or unreadable I do not know the references of LDS films because they have been renumbered in the french Archives. After the acts you have to look at "notariat". Have a good time and go to Martinique or Aix en Provence in the "old european country" (:-((( Philippe Rossignol Dans l'article <19d.151c4849.2bf94063@aol.com>, PennyKilbane@aol.coma écrit : > >I think the "tables décennales" are the civic / state records (rather than >Church records), is this correct? I looked on the family search web site and >found thousands of records for films related to "tables décennales". Could >you guide me a little further please? > >Where do I find the references to the films of the "tables décennales" where >I can search to order the correct one from the LDS? Is there anywhere else >that I should be looking? >