Genealogy in Ain: Help, Resources, and Useful Archives

Genealogy Cheat Sheet - Links to archives, civil status, registers, old postcards, books about the department, and more

©️Wikimedia - Benoît Prieur

Updated: April 2, 2024

The Ain department is located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France. It was created during the French Revolution, in August 1793, from several provinces of the Ancien Régime - Bresse, Bugey, Valromey, and the Pays de Gex.

The Ain department is now bordered by the departments of Jura, the Haute-Savoie, the Savoie, the Isère, the Rhône and the Saône-et-Loire.

📍 Good to know: Family names in the Ain department are often characteristic of the region. For example: Bressan family names often end with "-et" or "-at", while family names from Bugey often end with "-az" or "-ex".

📁 Ain Archives 

Visiting the Departmental Archives of Ain :

📞 1 boulevard Paul Valéry, 01000 Bourg-en-Bresse

Contacting the Departmental Archives of Ain :

📞 04 74 32 12 80

📧 archives.departementales@ain.fr

Departmental Archives of Ain: Searching for Your Ancestors

Start searching for your ancestors in the digitized records of the Departmental Archives of Ain: 

• Parish and civil records
• Cadastral archives
• Population census
• Photos, postcards, and engravings
• Military census
• Notarial archives
• Electoral lists
• Inheritance records
• Newspapers
• Mortgages
• Administrative and commercial directories
• For the curious
• Municipal Archives
• Bernard Fund
• Postcards
• Posters

Municipal Archives of Bourg-en-Bresse Available Online

The municipal archives of the city of Bourg-en-Bresse in the Ain department are digitized and available online: 

• Deliberations
• Tables of deliberations
• Municipal Council debates
• Municipal bulletin since 1966
• Decrees
• Tables of decrees 
• Atlases
• Alignment authorization registers
• Cartularies
• City accounts
• Revolutionary correspondence of the deputies of Bresse
• Evacuees from Belfort and refugees
• Parish registers
• Civil records
• Decennial tables
• Population census
• Hôtel-Dieu - Tables of deliberations
• Hôtel-Dieu - Deliberations
• Hôtel-Dieu - Estates
• Charity - Will of Anne-Marie Crollet 
• Charity - Inventory of titles from 1653 to 1689
• Charity - Inventory of foundation titles
• Charity - Deliberations
• Charity - Estates
• Charity - Assisted children
• Charity - Elderly

Online Records 

• On FranceGenWeb: "Acts in bulk" - Marriages - Marriages of migrants - Marriages of migrants from Ain - Notaries - Protestants
• Ain Online Acts - a service by Aborisgen

Unusual Records

• The Sunday of the Brandons as told by a country priest on To my Ancestors
• Unusual testimony in the archives of Ain

🧳 Migrations in Ain

The Ain department has not experienced significant waves of migration. Here, however, is a brief overview of population movements in the department: 

- During Antiquity: at the Gallo-Roman period, the region was inhabited by the Sequani, the Aedui, and the Allobroges. The Burgundians, a Germanic people, also settled in this territory. 

- In the Middle Ages: the region experienced barbarian invasions, with the Huns, the Burgundians, and the Franks. 

- In the 16th and 17th centuries: the religious wars caused population movements, particularly to Protestant Switzerland. 

- In the 18th century: the region experienced significant seasonal worker migration to Switzerland, particularly in watchmaking and lace.

- In the 19th century: a significant period of migration to the industrial cities of Lyon and Saint-Etienne, in the fields of silk and metallurgy, marked the region. 

For more information:

• Views on migrations in the 19th and 20th centuries in Rhône-Alpes

🖼️ Ain in Pictures

Videos

• Kayak: Nautical Derby on the Upper Rhone – 1943
• Those of the Maquis – 1944
• Génissiat: The Most Formidable Dam in Western Europe – 1948
• Inauguration of the Ornithological Park of the Dombes by Pierre Anthonioz – 1970
• Foreign Workers' Hostels in Ain – 1973
• Bresse: Creamy Bressan Chicken – 1976
• Incident at the Bugey Nuclear Power Plant – 1979

Images and Old Postcards

• On Gallica: Ain in pictures
• On Clochers de France: the belfries of Ain in pictures
• On Mémorial GenWeb: postcards of the memorials to the Fallen
• On CPArama: collection of postcards from Ain

Old Maps of the Department

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

📆 The History of Ain

• History of the Ain department
• Observations on the marshes of part of the Ain department
• Observations on some roads of the Ain department
• General statistics of France. Ain department- 1808
• Historical research on the Ain department– 1838
• Biography of famous men of the Ain department, who distinguished themselves by their sciences, talents, actions, virtues or vices– 1840
• Historical notice on the spread of vaccination in Ain (1808-1839)- 1840
• Directory of the Ain department for the year 1846
• Visit of the President of the Republic in the Ain department in 1850
• Biographical dictionary of notable figures of the Ain department– 1878
• Historical monuments of Ain- 1913

On Gallica: the books and the manuscripts to learn everything about the Ain department

🏠 The 50 most common surnames in Ain

Top 10 surnames in Ain: 

• MOREL
• PERRET
• BERNARD
• BLANC
• PONCET
• PERRIN
• MARTIN
• FAVRE
• CHANEL
• JACQUET

the other 40 most popular surnames in the department (according to the INSEE file): 

• LAURENT
• ROBIN
• MICHEL
• DURAND
• BOUVARD
• GIRARD
• DUBOIS
• GAILLARD
• JOSSERAND
• PERDRIX
• MARECHAL
• BROYER
• GUILLOT
• ROUX
• DESMARIS
• BERTHET
• MATHIEU
• CHARVET
• MILLET
• JOLY

• HUMBERT
• BRUNET
• BREVET
• BERTRAND
• MERCIER
• PROST
• FAVIER
• CLERC
• MONNET
• GUILLERMIN
• BERGER
• GAUTHIER
• PAUGET
• PERRIER
• COCHET
• BOUVIER
• TOURNIER
• CURT
• PETIT
• COLLET

🗺️ Genealogy sites in Ain

Genealogy circles and associations in Ain and nearby

• Ain-Genealogy
• ArborisGen – Pays de l’Ain
• CousAin
• Heritage of the Pays de l’Ain
• Heritage and history of Champfromier

Genealogy blogs in Ain

• Whispers of Ancestors

Useful social networks

• Twitter : Departmental Archives of Ain – Ain Genealogy
• Facebook : Departmental Archives of Ain

Happy researching!

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