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Municipal and electoral archives can be very useful for your genealogy. We guide you to find your elected ancestors.
©️Gallica - BnF
On June 28, 2020, three and a half months after the first round, 16 million voters were called to vote in the second round of municipal elections.
Did you know? Electoral and municipal archives can help you unlock your research and find an ancestor.
Electoral archives can be very useful for your genealogy.
You can find in the records of the prefecture (series M), sub-prefectures (series Z), municipalities in the AD (sub-series E) or municipalities (series K) electoral lists but also administrative archives such as statistics, correspondence documents related to the organization of elections, and political propaganda documents.
As early as 1789, all men could be voters or elected if they were of age (21 years old). In 1817, we find census lists that record the names of the wealthiest men, who were subject to taxes. The electoral age is 30 years old, and it costs 300 francs in taxes to be a voter.
In 1848, the Second Republic proclaimed universal direct suffrage for men of age (21 years old) and soldiers could vote if they were present in their municipality of residence at the time of the elections (they would no longer have the right between 1871 and 1945). Women were granted the right to vote in 1944 and it became effective starting on April 29, 1945.
These electoral lists, for the period 1806-1934, provide useful information: name, first names, date of birth, place of birth, profession, address, and sometimes even the level of education and various observations.
Articles R16 and L28 of the Electoral Code make electoral lists freely accessible, without any communication delay at departmental archives or at town halls. Some departmental and municipal archive websites have digitized and put these electoral lists online. This is the case for the Departmental Archives of Ain, the Departmental Archives of Eure-et-Loir, the Departmental Archives of Paris, the Departmental Archives of Somme or the Municipal Archives of Nantes.
The deliberations of the Municipal Council are very interesting for delving into the life of a municipality and for hoping to find the trace of an ancestor. These registers of deliberations are easily accessible at Departmental Archives or Municipal Archives (series D) and town halls. It is within the municipal deliberations that you can find land purchases, donations, and various appointments of the municipality's personalities.
Some departments also provide you with a collection of departmental directories. If the viewer allows it, a keyword search will facilitate your search in the directory. These archives are useful for finding the trace of mayors and their municipal council, as well as merchants, artisans, teachers, and farmers, among others.
Finally, old press is also an excellent resource for your genealogy and for finding information about a particular municipality. A search on Gallica or on Retronews, two references in the field, will allow you to discover many elements about the town of the municipality: news, grant requests, sales notices… This information can turn out to be nice surprises!