Documents available from the Civil Status Division are
Birth certificates
Marriage certificates
Death certificates
Death medical reports
The approximate starting dates for records held are below:
| North and Central Mahe | 1902 |
| South Mahe | 1902 |
| Praslin and La Digue | 1874 |
| Records before these dates are held at the Seychelles National Archives | |
The records of the Civil Status Division are not generally available to private sector genealogists and researchers. The public can apply for copies of any birth, marriage and death certificates that they require. However copies of the indexes are held at the Seychelles National Archives where they are accessible to the public (see following section).
Two types of certificates are available
Abbreviated Certificates.
Full Certificates. It is advisable to obtain full certificates as they contain much more information of interest to researchers.
The repository of the Seychelles National Archives holds a large range of documentation from the time that Seychelles was first settled up until today. I have tried to list below some of the records that might be of use to genealogists and family history researchers .
In Seychelles there are government public cemeteries and private family cemeteries.
The public cemeteries are administrated by the Cemetery Office of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. This office is located at the Mont Fleuri Cemetery which is the main cemetery of Mahe. The burial registers are kept at this office. These records start from 1903.
The main cemetery is located at Mont Feuri while the other cemeteries are located in each parish normally not far from the Roman Catholic parish church.
The majority of the family cemeteries fairly small in size. Many are no longer used as there is no space for additional tombs or the family concerned has left the area.
Cemeteries are also found on the principal outer islands where settlements were formed. These cemeteries are no longer used.
The main religions in Seychelles are the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church were established in the 1830s and the Roman Catholic Church in the 1850s. Records available include
For the Anglican Church the records start from the 1840s.
In more recent times other churches and religions have started in Seychelles. However some have not kept detailed records that could be of use to researchers.
Return to my Seychelles Genealogy Home Page
This Page was created in November 2003 and last updated on 7
April 2004
© copyright Clive Barker 2003
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