Because that bit of Africa belonged to France ;-) so French admin. The same applies pretty much in GB, my Scottish grandmother was born in Darjeeling, she still has a perfectly normal birth certificate seeing it was the British Empire. Birth certificates are issued & held by the Mairie of birth, for people like my family it's either Nantes or the Quai d'Orsay. All French citizens born abroad are registered with the office in Nantes if their parents are organised enough.
ah...understand...so you are talking ancestors a long time since...? I suppose if you know your ancestors started off in a town in the UK...you can often find the marriage records at the local church...and the register office has the births and deaths.
It's a pleasure :-) Problem pre-Revolution is that lots of parish records were destroyed - IF the parish you need was lucky then you have no problem finding stuff, but it's a big if.
So you can get all your records from an office in a village in France despite all of you being born and living elsewhere....because you are French? how do they know about someone born in Africa? just interested how they manage that.
Well Carol I was born in Scotland, my mother was born in Vietnam, my grandfather was born in China, my grandmother in Cochinchina, my great-grandfather was born in Africa... all FRENCH. So nobody stayed put, really. The difference is ADMIN.
Honestly...almost all companies in UK on the internet...my sons fiance has parents that run a small B&B in Inverness...everything they do is on the internet...ordering food, laundry, bookings. In fact most hotels charge you more if you book via the phone rather than the internet. Stick with it Alan...when my husband is in France he does everything for our UK flat via the internet...not something we manage to do for our French properties when we are in the UK!
Its the difference between a country where people stay put in their locality and those who move around. Even my grandparents, and great grandparents apparently walked from places like Hertforshire and Bedfordshire to London to make their fortune. Non of my family have stayed in one place for any length of time, ditto my husbands family who came from Canada and returned twice before settling in the UK. I have relatives in all four corners of the world...and now have children living abroad. My husband is hoping to get to Canada next year to find out more about his father who, though born in Canada, we understand was a child born of unmarried immigrants who met on the boat over to Canada.
Sounds like you and I are on the same wave length in respect of how we prefer to deal with our lives. Your comments give me some hope
Didn't know that! Thank you Veronique :)
Blimey....where are you in the UK? I have my insurance/house and car, all my utilities on email. If you go into Google and put your insurance company does it not come up with a contact box that includes phone and email? I would be very surprised if it didnt. I dont like using the phone..its irritating when the lines are busy or the person you wants isnt in that day...the only time I use the phone is for my bank nursing at the local hospital...to get the jobs you need to nab the co-ordinator early!
Hi Carol, I suppose we all have different experiences,but I cannot deal with my Insurance or my utilities by email, they only have phone numbers. Maybe I am dealing with the wrong companies. Even local and Central Government force me onto premium phone lines.
I am obviously taking time to adjust.
French people enquire directly at the Mairie where their family come from. My ancestors (eg) are documented up to 1310 and I have original pre- and post-revolution paperwork. We don't tend to use websites to search for our ancestors because most of us know about them. The French Etat Civil has existed since 1792 and registration of births baptisms etc was made compulsory in 1590 something.
Really Alan? must say in the UK I do 99% of everything online....my bills, my contact with companies, banking...applying for jobs...the last stamps I bought were for a 'hard copy' birthday card for my mum who doesnt use the internet! In France I was horrified to realise they 'dont email'. It felt like stepping back 30 years. I am now back in the UK happily joined to my MacBook, Mac, Dell laptop, Ipad and Ipod..oh..and my Kindle Fire...I am a happy bunny again...
No different to UK. Europe in general does not seem to be in the Communications 21st Century. We come from Australia where everything is done by email, it is taking lots of time and frustration to get used to the "Quill Pen" methods of UK and France.
But French lifestyle makes us persevere
I asked a councillor on the municipal council why our pop 808 commune doesn't have a website with a list of activities, contact points etc and he answered that they do not need one because everybody already knows all the information anyway. They seem to ignore tourists (we have a few) and incomers be they British or of whatever origin. When I asked about sources of commune history I was met with a blank wall and the statement that "nobody here is interested in history". I wrote a chronology of village history which I have posted on the internet but only incomers have been interested. ( historyofscrignac.wordpress.com/ ) I asked locals to correct a french version I did but nobody ever concluded it. Whilst we do live in quite an isolated village I think that the lack of interest in the history of one's commune would not apply so much in the UK.
Brian , its because the French" know better " than the rest of the world that the internet is obviously a white elephant and certainly not to be put in pole position in front of the telephone / letter or a personal visit as a form of interaction / communication. So because they know the internet isnt up to much they just dont bother with it , the Government is setting the tone here with a total lack of functional online access and so almost everyone else does the same.
some exceptions i noted lately are the likes of leroy merlin who have an online ordering facility for diy goods so you can pick the items up without actually shopping / queing etc. WOW
so whilst the rest of the world wastes its time /using / learning / developing computer based activities & online systems the French are at the real cutting edge with bits of paper / fiches and dossiers /feuilles and cahiers !
Steve
This seems to be "normal". Even on "snail-mail" is not followed up. And then, when someone desperately needs service, even showing up at the buzz premises, a good opportunity may turn up and its very likely that an even much, much better service could be sold. My experience is that it does not make any point to be involved in business relations which are not on a mutual agreement.
Blimey John....that one takes the biscuit! though have to say I send all legal/important papers registered, just not every letter to a company. I have come across this before where something in an envelope is received, but something else lost.....I think that pretty much indicated who the culprit is regarding losing the item. I tend to go on the offensive in situations like this and advice them they lost the item, you have the receipt to prove they received it...if they want to take this further....my solicitors name is.....they usually back down.
It doesnt just happen in France the big companies in the uk do the same the DVLA are trying to bill me through a recovery firm for unpaid tax in 2012 on a vehicle that left the uk in 2010 send a registered letter i was told giving dates and reg number job done same day, it was recieved on the 20 April at 11.59 am and signed for i even have the persons name thanks to the Post Office but they deny all knowledge send another letter i'm told, why you lost the slip from the V5 i sent back but you got the one for car and they were in the same envelope, lost the registered letter i sent are we going for a hat trick didnt go down to well, they will clamp my vehicle ooh clamp a french reg bike i dont think even they could be that stupid
If a company doesnt reply to emails, then I cross it off my list. If you run an effective business...part of that is answering all queries quickly and efficiently...if they dont, then I reckon you can expect they will not come up to scratch....it shows wooly thinking.