Genealogy in Aisne (02): Archives and Historical Resources

Genealogy Cheat Sheet - All our useful links to guide you in searching for your origins in Aisne: archives, old maps, History and more...

©️Wikimedia - Claude Villetaneuse

• Updated: May 6, 2024
  

The department of theAisne is located in the Hauts-de-France region, in northern France. It gets its name from the Aisne river that flows through it. This department is at the center of the departments of Nord, of the Somme, of the Oise, of the Seine-et-Marne, of the Marne, of the Ardennes and not far from the Pas-de-Calais.

The Aisne department was created during the French Revolution, in 1790. It groups together former provinces of Île-de-France, Champagne, and ancient Picardy. 

This department was the theater of many battles during World War I, which gives it a particular interest for genealogy enthusiasts. 

📄 Archives in Aisne

Departmental Archives of Aisne: Resources to Find Your Ancestors 

The Departmental Archives of Aisne hold nearly 25 kilometers of documents from the 9th century to the present day. Part of this collection is available online. 

Visit the Departmental Archives of Aisne:

📍 Parc Foch - avenue du Maréchal Foch, 02000 Laon

Contact the Departmental Archives of Aisne:

📞  03 23 24 61 47

💌  Send a message

Digitized Archives of the Departmental Archives of Aisne

Browse the digitized collection of the Archives from home: 

• Parish and Civil Registers
• Census Records
• Cadastral Plans
• Mortgages
• Notary Records
• Cahiers de doléances of 1789
• Military Engineering Inventories
• Conscription Registers
• Deliberation Registers
• Communal Monographs
• Iconographic Funds
• Vehicle Registration Records
• All Archives by Commune

Online Records

• On FranceGenWeb: « Miscellaneous Records », the marriages, the migrant marriages, the migrant marriages from Aisne the notaries and the Protestants
• Records and Indexes for Vervins, Hirson, Guise, St Michel, La Flamengrie, Crupilly, Chigny
• Records for Châtillon sur Oise, Chevresis Monceau, Villers le Sec, Monceau le Neuf, Paperville, Itancours, Surfontaine, Pleine Selve, Mesnil Saint Laurent, Chevresis le Meldeux
• Decennial Tables for the Canton of Aubenton
• Decennial Tables for the Canton of La Capelle

• Records for Tergnier, Fargniers, Quessy, Vouel, Condren, Frière-Faillouel, and Liez en Mennessis
• Indexes for La Selve and Montigny-la-Cour
• Aisne-Archive.com

Unusual Records

• Hundred Years' War, earthquake in Tardenois, mysterious gunshot, and much more on the J. Marchal's website
• Unusual Testimonies in the Registers of Aisne

🧳 Migrations in Aisne: An Overview of Population Movements

• Gallo-Roman period : at this time, the region was inhabited by the Suessions, a Gaulish people who left traces of their presence in cities like Soissons and Château-Thierry. 

• In the Middle Ages : the region experienced significant migrations, particularly during the Barbarian invasions. The Franks, the Burgundians, and the Alamans settled there. 

• From the 9th century : the Vikings began to sail up the Seine and plunder the region's cities. The Frankish kings then encouraged people to gather in fortified cities like Laon and Soissons for protection.

• From the 12th century : the economy in the Aisne department developed. The city of Saint-Quentin and its textile industry thrived, attracting many. The textile and embroidery industry would be a real source of work for many workers and merchants for several centuries. Agricultural workers also left the countryside to work in coal mines and railways.

• At the beginning of the 19th century : agriculture lost importance and struggled to modernize. Only the beet crop managed to stand out and spread throughout the 19th century, until the First World War.

• During the World Wars : the Aisne department was one of the hardest hit by the First World War, with, among other things, the Battle of the Chemin des Dames, in 1917. At the end of the war, the department had to be rebuilt. During the interwar period, many Polish, Belgian, and Ukrainian immigrants came to work in agriculture, and specifically in beet farming. By the time of the Second World War, as the department was split in two, resistance activities flourished in the areas of Tergnier, Saint-Quentin, Château-Thierry, Laon and Hirson.

• From the mid-20th century : foreigners came to work in the more industrialized south of the department, closer to the Paris region. They are Portuguese, Algerian, Moroccan, Spanish, or Italian.

For more information: History of Immigration in Amiens and Picardy

📜 The Aisne in Images

Videos

• Gérard de Nerval's Childhood - 1967
• At Butte Chalmont, General de Gaulle Commemorated the Start of the Victorious Offensive of 1918 - 1968
• The Development of the Valleys of the Oise and Aisne - 1970
• Rail Disaster Near Soissons - 1972
• Septmonts - 1972
• The Story of the Village of Septmonts - 1973
• Aisne: Leek Tart - 1977
• The Caves of the Chemin des Dames - 1987
• Bas-Reliefs of the Poilus - 1987

Old Images and Postcards

• On Gallica: the Aisne in images
• On the archives website: Postcards from Aisne
• On CPArama: Postcards from Aisne
• On CPA Bastille91: Old Postcards from Aisne
• Postcards and Documents about Vailly-sur-Aisne and Chassemy
• On communes.com: Postcards from Vailly-sur-Aisne
• Once Upon a Time: Resigny, Thiérache, Aisne
• Moy de l’Aisne in Images
• On Clochers de France: the belfries of Aisne in imagesOld Postcards of the War Memorials

Old Maps of the Department

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

📄 The history of Aisne

• History of the Aisne Department
• History of the Revolution in the Aisne Department, 1789
• Statistics of the Aisne Department: Topography, Population, History, Administration
• Historical Manual of the Aisne Department
• Historical Essay on the Reformed Churches of the Aisne Department based on documents mostly unpublished, published under the patronage of the Consistory of Saint-Quentin
• History of the town of Sainte-Ménehould and its surroundings
• History of Soissons, from the most distant times to the present day according to the original sources
• The origin of the name Folembray
• The first farmers in the Aisne
• The Aisne, cradle of the Gaulish civilization

On Gallica: the books, the press and the manuscripts to learn everything about the Aisne Department

💬 The 50 Most Common Surnames in Aisne

Top 10 Surnames in Aisne: 

• LEFEVRE
• LEGRAND
• LEMAIRE
• MARTIN
• LEROY
• CARLIER
• DUPONT
• DUBOIS
• DUFOUR
• LEFEBVRE

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

• PETIT
• CARPENTIER
• FONTAINE
• CHARPENTIER
• MERCIER
• BOURGEOIS
• LAMBERT
• RICHARD
• CARON
• LECLERE
• VASSEUR
• GOSSET
• CAMUS
• MOREAU
• DUMONT
• MEUNIER
• FRANCOIS
• LEROUX
• BERNARD
• LAURENT
• DUVAL
• MICHEL
• POULAIN
• FLAMANT
• LECOMTE
• ROBERT
• VIEVILLE
• ROGER
• VENET
• LEVEQUE
• BERTRAND
• LECLERCQ
• THOMAS
• LEMOINE
• RICHET
• SIMON
• LEJEUNE
• BOULANGER
• LANGLET
• MARCHAND

🗃️ Genealogy sites in Aisne

Genealogy circles and associations in Aisne and surrounding areas

• Genealogy Aisne
• Genealogical Circle of Aisne
• Aisne-Archives
• Picardy Genealogical Circle

LGenealogy blogs that talk about Aisne

• Genealogy Aisne
• The Ancestors' Round
• The Guivry Gadas

Accounts to follow on social media 

• Twitter : Genealogy-Aisne
• Facebook : Genealogical Circle of Aisne – Genealogy-Aisne – Projet Genealo Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Aisne, Belgium

Happy researching !

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