Genealogy in the Vosges (88): trace your ancestors

Genealogy cheat sheet - All useful links to guide your research in the Vosges: archives, registers, maps, department history, association sites

©️Wikimedia - Philippe Poix

Updated: April 17, 2024

The department of Vosges is located in the Grand Est region, in the northeast of France. It is bordered by the departments of Meuse, of the Meurthe-et-Moselle, of the Lower Rhine, of the Upper Rhine, of the Territory of Belfort, of the Haute-Saône and of the Haute-Marne.

It takes its name from the Vosges mountain range that extends over much of its territory. The prefecture of the department is the city of Epinal, but the most populated city is Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. 

The Vosges department was created during the French Revolution in 1790. It is composed of part of the province of Lorraine and a few communes of Champagne and Franche-Comté. 

📜 Archives in the Vosges

Departmental Archives of the Vosges

Visit the Departmental Archives of the Vosges:

📍8 rue de la Préfecture, 88088 Epinal

Contact the Departmental Archives of the Vosges:

📞  03 29 29 88 88

📧  Contact the archives

Digitized Archives of the Departmental Archives of the Vosges:

Browse the departmental archives of the Vosges online, searching for your ancestors. Easily access the database and digitized images of the AD:

• Parish and civil registers
• population censuses
• military recruitment
• Notary records
• cadastre maps
• iconographic funds
• Great Collection 1914-1918
• communal monographs
• Lutherie and bow making of Mirecourt

Online Records

• On FranceGenWeb: "Miscellaneous records" - Marriages - Migrant marriages  - Marriages of migrants originating from the Vosges - Notaries - Protestants
• Online Records of the Vosges 88
• Genealogy of the Southeast Vosges

Unusual Records

• A resurrection, the birth of a prince, a monster in the land of Joan of Arc and many more on the website of J. Marchal.

🏔️ Migrations in the Vosges

The department of the Vosges and its region, Lorraine, have experienced several waves of migration throughout history: 

• Celtic and Roman period : The Celts (the Leuques and the Mediomatrici) settled in the region around the 5th century BC. Then, the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC led to the arrival of Roman colonists and the romanization of the local population. 

• Period of great invasions (3rd - 5th century) : The Alamans, a Germanic people, invaded the region several times. Then, the Franks, another Germanic people, settled in the region in the 5th century and founded the kingdom of Austrasia, which included part of current Lorraine. 

• Industrial Revolution (19th century) : The industrial revolution led to significant migration from the countryside to cities, particularly to industrial centers like Épinal and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. Industrialization and coal mining in the western part of the department explain this phenomenon. At the same time, many Jewish families settled in the Vosges. They most often came from Alsace and Lorraine hoping to find a better economic situation. They worked in trade or industry. 

• World Wars : While World War I was particularly deadly in the department, during the interwar period, it was Poles and Italians who helped rebuild the department and partially relauch the industrial economy in the Vosges. The arrondissement of Saint-Dié hosted several thousand Italian immigrants until the mid-20th century. They were first seasonal masons or granite workers, then worked in construction and factories before participating in the reconstruction of devastated communes at the end of World War II. 

🏔️ The Vosges in Images

Videos

• The Vosges Massif – 1930
• Winter in the Vosges – 1937
• The Vosges Massif – 1937
• Joining Hands – 1937
• Ruins and Mourning: The Devastated Vosges – 1944
• From the Vosges to the Kehl Bridge – 1944
• The Battalion of the Returned – 1944
• Through the Vosges  – 1948
• Four Mort – 1950
• A Concrete Plant – 1950
• The Daffodil Festival in Gérardmer  – 1958
• Driving Through the Vosges  – 1959
• A 74-Year-Old Skier in the Vosges  – 1965
• Walking in the Vosges Massif and Riquewihr  – 1966
• Cross-Country Skiing in the Vosges  – 1969
• Daily Life on a Mountain Farm – 1969
• Rural Guesthouses in the Vosges  – 1969
• A Butcher at the Market in the Vosges – 1970
• The Village – 1975
• Images of Épinal – 1976
• The Beast of the Vosges Still Lives – 1977
• The Beast of the Vosges – 1977
• Wolves: Legend and Reality – 1978
• The Vosges: Trout in White Wine  – 1978
• Vosges: After Boussac  – 1979
• Boussac Willot – 1981
• Battlefields 14-18: The Vosges – 1983
• Bituminous Shale in Tranqueville Graux – 1983
• A Prototype of a Ski Towed Lift Invented in the Vosges – 1986

Old Images and Postcards

• On Gallica: The Vosges in Images
• On Europeana Collections: theVosges in Images
• On Clochers de France: thebelfries of the Vosges
• On Mémorial GenWeb: postcards of the war memorials 
• Old Postcards of the Vosges

Old Maps of the Department

• From Cassini’s villages to today’s communes: the department of the Vosges
• On Old Maps Online: old maps of the department
• On Gallica: old maps of the Vosges

📆 The History of the Vosges

• History of the Vosges department
• Agricultural journey in the Vosges in 1820 or brief description of the main faults and main improvements of the Vosgian rural economy, etc – 1821
• Picturesque views of the Vosges drawn from nature – 1837
• The Vosges department: historical and administrative statistics - 1847
• Rare and unpublished documents of the History of the Vosges – 1878
• Population movement in the Vosges department – 1899
• The Jews in the Vosges - 1994
• Representatives on mission facing the dilemma of supplying the armies or the civilian population (the example of the Vosges in 1793) – 2007
• Female workers in mines and salt works, between the Vosges and Jura, 15th-18th century - 2007
• From ecclesiastical libraries to public libraries, the example of the Vosges – 1789-1840 - 2011
  
  

On Gallica: the books, the press and the manuscripts to learn everything about the Vosges department

🖱️ Genealogy Sites in the Vosges

Genealogy Circles and Associations in the Vosges or Nearby

• Vosges Genealogy
• Genealogical and Historical Circle of the Pays de Charmes

Accounts to Follow on Social Media

• Twitter : @archivesvosges
• Facebook : @Archives88 – Genealogy Vosges 88
  
  

Happy researching!

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