Since its creation in 1899, each successive generation of the Pérotin Genealogy Office has contributed to enriching and increasing an exceptional private archive collection. The archives constitute an irreplaceable resource available for our genealogists to use, enabling quicker and more reliable inheritance research.
Civil status records
Decennial tables enable research over ten-year periods, but must be consulted in town halls or archive centres. For civil status records over 75 years old, the records of the Pérotin Genealogy Office archives enable our genealogists to scan a period of nearly two centuries. These documents also contain marriage registrations, which are not always easy to find in the tables of public archives, as many have been destroyed.
Registered lists of population censuses
Registered lists include the place of birth of each member of a family. These lists have been recopied at the office, with a hard copy for each Bordeaux family listed in the census of 1921. The office also uses lists from the Bordeaux census of 1886. This information is crucial for understanding the composition of families.
Obituaries
Each obituary published in the daily regional press provides valuable information about the family of a deceased person, which speeds up developments in the research process. In Petite Gironde, announcements are presented in linked sections. In Sud-Ouest, the number of announcements is gradually increasing. Between 1903 and 1992, the announcement combined with each obituary was cut out and a hard copy was created, before being filed away in office storage. In 1992, Benoît Pérotin opted to give priority to computerised records for each announcement. From 2003 onwards, the office now purchases an electronic version of Sud-Ouest each year, in order to archive and index the obituaries contained therein.
Directories
For ordinary users, directories become outdated as soon as they are replaced by a new version. Conversely, for our genealogists, old, regional and sometimes distant directories can provide valuable information to help us find an heir. Our archives contain directories dating back to the Ancien Régime which can still prove useful today. The Pérotin Genealogy Office also holds directories from different parts of the world.
- Almanacs from the Ancien régime, for Bordeaux
- The Annuaire du Gotha (from the end of the 19th century)
- The Annuaire de la Gironde (1864-1941) has been kept at the Pérotin Genealogy Office since its first publication. Its classification of inhabitants by name and street makes it a highly practical resource. The office also holds archives of its predecessors, known successively as Calendrier (1836) and Almanach (1849).
- Various professional directories, notably for the legal professions (lawyers and solicitors), doctors, architects, the clergy… These records cover the second half of the 20th century.
- The pre-war Annuaire des châteaux and more recent editions of Who’s Who and Bottin mondain are useful in providing additional 20th century information.
- Finally, we hold several full collections of telephone directories covering the whole of France, and a number of directories from around the world, notably for the countries of South America and North Africa.
Bordeaux bread cards
During the Occupation, rationing led to the establishment of a nominative bread card list. A single document which sometimes provides missing information…