Page 19 - index

possible to find out where the address originated. If an official-looking direc-
tory is used. please make sure that it is fairly recent. However sometimes the in-
formation has come from the local consular officiais who mav not have the best
genealo1;ical addresses for the simple reason that genealogy is not, as yet, as
popular in France as in Anglo-saxon countries and there is no organisation
likely to keep the embassies and consular offices supplied with updated lists.
Occasionally though, the address has obviously been copied wrongly as no
such stn:et has ever existed.
Replios to the eleven mentioned above will be posted fairly soon but only to
eight of them. Why? Because four envelopes came from the rame person! One
was seni directly while the others have been transmitted from other sources. It
is perhaps understandable for someone sending out an inquiry to a foreign
country to want toincrease chances of success but the reaction at this end was
slight ex.asperation. This followed a discussion at the general meeting of a
nation-uiide genealogical association when it was found that three memhers
had al1 receivd the same inquiry and unknown to each other, had started the
search. If the local archivist had not noticed that they were al1 working on the
same subject and suggested they pool information, these amateurs, doing un-
paid work, would have wasted valuable time they could use on more useful
tasks. Needless to say, they will now be rather reticent about taking on this ex-
tra work.
A few of the letters in the mailbae refer to ~revious letters not vet received.
,
uhile \orne outgoing lefier, drc unakuercd ktcr \e\erdI monrhs lhis m8' hi
due IO pi)sidl or transport strikes dt either end. lhis is aomeihing ihat cdnnot be
avoided but most letters do arrive eventually.
However there is also one reason for late replies that may not occur when
both parties use the same language - that is the bottleneck due to the fact that
there are so few bilingual searchers or French searchers able to afford the help
af a bilingual secretary. After checking directories published in 1985 by the As-
sociatiori of Professional Genealogists (APG) in the United States and the As-
sociation~ of Genealogists and Record Agents (AGRA) in England, there are
merely eleven names for France of whom, only three are French residents:
The Chambre Sydnicale des Généalogistes Héraldistes,
74 riue des Saints-Pères, F-75007 PARIS, France.
(grouping several professionals who are not necessarily completely bilingual).
Mrs. Joan Brower,
8 rue de la Closerie, F-78240 CHAMBOURCY, France (mentioned by
APCi),
mysi:lf (listed by both APG and AGRA)
but 1 am no longer availahle for private research unless it is a question of Brit-
ish in France during the Napoleonic times).
Of the others, one is based in England and seven in the United States. Ther
are at least two unlisted French-based proCessional genealogical searchers able
to correspond in English and German!
Cabinet Généalogique François-Robert Magdelaine,
9 rue des Greffes, F-30000 NIMES, France
Mmi:. M.-O. Péres,
-
24 Ouai Roueet de Lisle. F-67000 STRASBOURG. France
and there are several other very competent people working and reporting in
French. Two new groups claim to be able to provide competent contacts in
various parts of France:

20