France Genealogy

France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and which also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents.^[1] Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to Metropolitan France as L'Hexagone (The "Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory.

The borders of modern France are roughly the same as those of ancient Gaul, which was inhabited by Celtic Gauls. Gaul was conquered for Rome by Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC, and the Gauls eventually adopted Roman speech (Latin, which evolved into the French language) and Roman culture. Christianity took root in the 2nd century and 3rd century AD, and became so firmly established by the fourth and fifth centuries that St. Jerome wrote that Gaul was the only region “free from heresy”. In the Middle Ages, the French would adopt this as a justification for calling themselves "the Most-Christian Kingdom of France".

In the 4th century AD, Gaul's eastern frontier along the Rhine was overrun by Germanic tribes, principally the Franks, from whom the ancient name of "Francie" was derived. The modern name "France" derives from the name of the feudal domain of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris. Existence as a separate entity began with the Treaty of Verdun (843), with the division of Charlemagne's Carolingian empire into East Francia, Middle Francia and Western Francia. Western Francia approximated the area occupied by modern France.

The Carolingians ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of France. His descendants, the Capetian, Valois and Bourbon dynasties progressively unified the country through a series of wars and dynastic inheritance. The monarchy reached its height during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV. At this time France possessed the largest population in Europe (see Demographics of France) and had tremendous influence over European politics, economy, and culture. Towards the end of this era, France played a major role in the American Revolution by providing capital and some military assets to the anti-British rebels.

The monarchy ruled France until the French Revolution, in 1789. King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were executed, along with thousands of other French citizens. After a series of short-lived governmental schemes, Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the Republic in 1799, making himself First Consul, and later Emperor of what is now known as the First French Empire (1804–1814). In the course of several wars, his armies conquered most of continental Europe, with members of the Bonaparte family being appointed as monarchs of newly established kingdoms.

Following Napoleon's final defeat, in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, the French monarchy was re-established. In 1830, a civil uprising established the constitutional July Monarchy, which lasted until 1848.

The short-lived Second Republic ended in 1852 when Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaimed the Second French Empire. Louis-Napoléon was unseated following defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 to be replaced by the Third Republic.

France had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, its global colonial empire was the second largest in the world behind the British Empire. At its peak, between 1919 and 1939, the second French colonial empire extended over 12,347,000 square kilometres (4,767,000 sq. mi) of land. Including metropolitan France, the total area of land under French sovereignty reached 12,898,000 square kilometres (4,980,000 sq. mi) in the 1920s and 1930s, which is 8.6% of the world's land area.

The following are surnames of persons, found within our databases,

as having been either born, married or died in this geographical location.

McVicker; Moreland; Pinnell; Scruggs and allied families

Aquitaine; Artois-Capet; Banzet; Beaumont; Belleme; Brienne; Brullhard; Caquelin; Chaumont; Christman; Claude; Cloue; Craon; England; Eremburgis; Falaise; Flanders; Fresney; Gagnier; Grandgeorge; Grimbaldus; Haschelman; Herriatte; l'Aigle; Lavel; Loux; Malaise; Mans; Mareschal; Marmet; Mauduit; Mohun; Moleyns; Montrevault; Moots; Morel; Mougenat; Muller; Neuvillers; Nevers; Normandy; Parmentier; Pinkele; Plantagenet; Poynings; Provence; Ringuelsbach; Ropp; St. Suzanne; Taillefer-d'Angouleme; Talvas; Thon; Vere; Verley; Verly; Vonie; Vouliat; Werli

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families

Gotta; Schatto (Chateau)

To find out more about each surname listed above click on the corresponding LINK.

Additional information regarding these surnames may also be found at:

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Our Ancestral
Locations

The following named French departments are associated with the history of our DIRECT ancestors. To select a specific ancestral department, click on the following links. Here you will find additional links to pages where you can obtain information about our family gen-sites, images of localities, and surnames of persons, in our database, who have lived in the selected department of France.

Use your browser’s ZOOM feature to best view this map

Bas-Rhin(67); Bouches-du-Rhône(13); Calvados(14); Charente(16); Eure(27); Eure-et-Loir(28); Gironde(33); Indre-et-Loire(37); Loiret(45); Maine-et-Loire(49); Manche(50); Mayenne(53); Nord(59); Orne(61); Pas-de-Calais(62); Pyrénées-Atlantiques(64); Sarthe(72); Seine (historical department of Paris); Seine-Maritime(76); Seine-Saint-Denis (93); Tarn-et-Garonne(82); Vaucluse(84)

Use these LINKS to find out more about the locations listed above.

DEPARTMENTS OF FRANCE

ANCESTRAL LOCATIONS

Comparisons of French and American administrative divisions.
U.S.A.		FRANCE
COUNTRY	United States	PAYS	France
STATE	New Jersey	REGION	Alsace
COUNTY	Gloucester	DEPARTEMENT	Bas-Rhin
COUNTY SEAT	Woodbury	PREFECTURE	Strasbourg
DISTRICT		ARRONDISSEMENT	Molshiem
TOWNSHIP	West Deptford	CANTON	Schirmeck
COMMUNITY	Thorofare	COMMUNE	Fouday