SUMMARY

In the 19th century, and especially in the 20th century, France was a land of welcome for Spaniards driven from their country by poverty or politics. The first Spanish surname in terms of frequency, borne by fewer than a thousand people in France in 1900, Garcia is now the 8th most common surname in France. This shows that millions of French people now have Spanish people in their family tree. How do you go about finding these ancestors from across the Pyrenees?

This practical guide links genealogy to history: if you know when your Spanish ancestor migrated and understand the historical context of the time, you'll know which archives to look for in France. Because research starts here. It is the documents held by the family or found in the collections of our departmental archives that provide names, dates and places that are sufficiently precise for the search to continue in Spain. Access to documents in Spain is not the same as here, nor are the places where they are kept, and genealogy is not yet a mass pastime. But with diplomacy, perseverance and patience, you will be able to trace your tree back into the past, as parish archives generally begin in the 16th century, and digitisation is becoming more and more widespread. This book guides you step by step

AUTHORS

Valérie Franco-Courtillet founded the Gen-Ibérica association to help individuals trace their ancestors in Spain. A member of the association Les jeunes et la généalogie (Young people and genealogy), in 2011 she published Se découvrir par l'arbre généalogique (Discovering yourself through your family tree), the first book on this subject to be published by the French Ministry of Education.

Mélanie Ruiz, co-founder of Gen-Ibérica, was the association's secretary.

Brigitte Sancho-Bourdenet succeeded Valérie Franco as Chairman in 2017.

Isabelle Tornel-Gomez took over from Brigitte as secretary in 2017.

All are daughters or granddaughters of Spaniards who arrived in France at the time of the First World War or the 1939 Retirada.

With contributions from Éric and Christiane Jariod for the chapter on religious archives, and the chapter on series M and W in the departmental archives.