(see Using AI in Genealogy and Family History for a detailed description of how this was created with Google Gemini) Chapter VII: The Cold Ash and the New Dawn The winter wind that blew across the high plateau of the Jura in February 1791 brought no mercy to the stone hearths of Montécheroux. Within the low-ceilinged farmhouse where the Voisards had worked the soil for … Continue reading Part II: The Continuing Chronicles of Montécheroux

(see Using AI in Genealogy and Family History for a detailed description of how this was created with Google Gemini) Book I: The Elders and the Dual Altars (1740–1764) In the high, limestone foothills of the Jura Mountains, where the breezes from the Swiss border stirred the pine forests of Franche-Comté, the village of Montécheroux lived by the tolling of church bells and the scratch … Continue reading The Chronicles of Montécheroux (Pt. I: 1740–1789)

I have access to a set of records that focus on a specific branch of my father’s family tree – our Franco-Swiss ancestors. These are the Montécheroux BMD records, which cover a period of 50 years from 1740 to the very eve of the French Revolution in 1789/90. In addition there are other sets of these records, one that covers a period from 1791 to … Continue reading Using AI in Genealogy and Family History

After examining all 188 images of the Montecheroux BMD records from 1740 to 1790 multiple times, I believed my five years of French and basic Latin had allowed me to extract all relevant information about my ancestors, their siblings, and their close descendants. Nevertheless, a few unanswered questions lingered: I wondered about the purpose of the annual French declaration introducing each year, the reason behind … Continue reading Montecheroux BMD Records Redux