Can anyone point me in the right direction, i.e. suggest where I might start looking for the records of the death of a kinsman, said to have taken place in Tours in the 1850s? Would it be worthwhile writing to the Mairie at Tours - or are there too many clustered round that city!?

The French Genealogy Blog: http://french-genealogy.typepad.com/genealogieis my first stop for answers to questions like this. Down the left hand side of the page are links to the websites of the Departmental Archives. Wikipedia tells me that Tours is in the Department of Indre-et-Loire. The French Genealogy Blog gives a link to the Departmental Archives of Indre-et-Loire: http://archives.cg37.fr/index_archive.php and states that: "Parish registers have just gone up! Also: Ten-year indices, land records, old post cards and records of wills filed (Tables de successions - very useful, these), military conscription lists." Civil registrations are not mentioned, so it would seem those are not yet online for Indre-et-Loire, but you would need to check the Departmental Website. I have had excellent results using the online archives of Ille-et-Vilaine, to which I found a link from The French Genealogy Blog. The civil registration entry for my 2x great grandfather's death in Dinard was extremely informative, including details of his son and widow. The latter was his third wife and I would never otherwise have known that she existed. I subsequently found that she was English and that he had sneaked back to London to marry her, despite being wanted by the police. (See http://cmgurney.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/black-sheep-sunday-rev-frederick-davis.htmlfor the back story.) You will obviously need a good working knowledge of French to negotiate the website of the Departmental Archives and the records themselves. Good luck with your search! Caroline Caroline Gurney <http://www.carolinegurney.com> On 23 February 2014 16:39, Don Montague <don.montague@virgin.net> wrote: Can anyone point me in the right direction, i.e. suggest where I might start looking for the records of the death of a kinsman, said to have taken place in Tours in the 1850s? Would it be worthwhile writing to the Mairie at Tours - or are there too many clustered round that city!?

Don, Civil registration records for Tours are online.   http://cg37.oxyd.net/   First, access the 10-year indexes by selecting “Collection des tables décennales de l’état civil numerisées”. Select the appropriate decade, and click the icon “Accès au Document Numérisé” -- Décès (Deaths). The images are browsable, but not searchable.   If you find an entry of interest, note the day and month. To access the entry in the death register, return to the above link, then select “Collection des registres d’état civil numérisés”, and drill down through the registers to find the relevant date.   The process is cumbersome but can be worthwhile, as French civil registration often provides a great deal more information than English.   HTH   Judy London, UK ________________________________ From: Don Montague <don.montague@virgin.net> To: sog-uk@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, 23 February 2014, 16:39 Subject: [SOG-UK] Death & Burial in Tours, France, 1850s Can anyone point me in the right direction, i.e. suggest where I might start looking for the records of the death of a kinsman, said to have taken place in Tours in the 1850s? Would it be worthwhile writing to the Mairie at Tours - or are there too many clustered round that city!?