Genealogy in Yonne (89): Archives to Find Your Ancestors
Genealogy Antis: Looking for ancestors in Yonne? Everything is here! Links to archives, books, images, videos, and more...
©️Wikimedia - Benoît Prieur
updated: September 2, 2025
Yonne, now part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, is a department formed during the French Revolution in 1790 from fragments of Burgundy, Champagne, and Île-de-France. The department is bordered by the departments of Aube, the Côte-d'Or, the Nièvre, the Loiret and the Seine-et-Marne.
This territory, crossed by the eponymous river, was once occupied by the Gaulish peoples Senones and Lingones, then colonized by the Romans who founded the city of Sens (Agedincum), a Gallo-Roman capital and major ecclesiastical center from late antiquity.
The wars of religion, the plague, the Hundred Years' War, and agricultural crises successively marked its history, while abbeys and castles testify to its rich feudal and ecclesiastical past.
📜 The Archives of Yonne
The departmental archives of Yonne: the useful site to find your ancestors
Visit the Departmental Archives of Yonne:
📍 37 rue Saint-Germain, 89000 Auxerre
Contact the Departmental Archives of Yonne:
📞 03 86 94 89 00
📧 Send an email
Do your genealogical research by browsing the site of the departmental archives of Yonne:
Online Records
Unusual Records
🌍 Migrations in Yonne
The department of Yonne can be considered a land of migrations:
- Prehistory and antiquity: Burgundy, including Yonne, was successively crossed by peoples from Central Europe from the Bronze Age, who brought craft and commercial innovations. During antiquity, the settlement of the Senones and Lingones, then the Romans, marked the first structured wave of settlement in the territory.
- 19th century - rural exodus and early immigrations: The 19th century was marked by massive rural exodus: the phylloxera crisis severely affected local viticulture, pushing many people from Yonne to migrate to Paris and the Île-de-France region, facilitated by the development of railways. At the same time, Yonne began to attract modest foreign populations, with the arrival of Belgians and Swiss, mainly settled in the north of the department.
- First half of the 20th century - foreign workers and refugees: Industrialization and economic recovery after World War I led to the arrival of Italian, Spanish, Polish, and Russian populations for agricultural and industrial needs. During the interwar period, new flows concerned Maghrebian, Chinese, Portuguese, and Czech workers, responding to recruitment organized by the state and companies in the region. Like Burgundy, Yonne also welcomed many refugees following conflicts in Europe.
- Second half of the 20th century - diversification of migrations: After 1945, the department saw the permanent settlement of new communities, including Portuguese and Moroccans, who became the main immigrant populations by the 1970s. Algerians remained present, particularly in rural areas, while Turkish immigration gradually increased from the 1980s.
Learn more:
🍷 Yonne in Images
Videos
Old images and postcards
Old maps of the department
- From Cassini's villages to today's communes: the department of Yonne
- On Old Maps Online: the old maps of the department
- On Gallica: the old maps of Yonne
📚 The History of Yonne
On Gallica: the books, the press and the manuscripts to learn everything about the department of Yonne
🗂️ Genealogy Sites in Yonne
Genealogy circles and associations in Yonne
Accounts to follow on social media
Happy researching!
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