Le Centre Départemental d'Histoire des Familles (CDHF)

How to use the Le Centre Départemental d'Histoire des Familles (CDHF) website. Thanks to my partner in the Alsace Chat project, Jean-Pierre Daeschler, for forwarding the CDHF announcement. They have recently added new data. I can't read French, but Babelfish has helped me figure out some of it. Giliane and Lorine kindly sent the list some explanations of how to read and use the site. Thank you, Giliane and Lorine!

Marriages: http://cdhf.net/fr/index.php?t=bases&d=bases/mariages&c=mariages&f=selection
   Marriages by bride or groom's name. Listed are Groom's surname, firstname on top, Bride's surname, firstname in the middle, year on the bottom. Remember, the data is more for the Department du Haut-Rhin, and it is far from complete When you find a marriage record from an ancestor, you can click on a little blue basket on the right, which will put this in a "basket" and you can then order a copy of the record. The order is not online, but it produces a form with the details on the data you need, which you print and mail to them.

Villages: http://cdhf.net/fr/index.php?t=villages&d=villages&c=villages&f=presentation
   This is the best link, because it provides a lot of information on what they have collected over the years, and it is mostly for Haut-Rhin, although you can find details on some Bas-Rhin towns. From this link you can access several databases, i.e. marriages in the selected town; archives, military, "optants", armoiries, village pictures etc.

All databases: http://cdhf.net/fr/index.php?t=bases&h=bases/aide
   Lorine (from Olive Tree Genealogy), says a bit about this part:

This is where you find the list of all the databases - in the box on the right (Les bases sont accessibles dans les différents cadres de droite.) See the box labelled: Patronymes. That is all the databases. Under the title are clickable lists of the databases, including names of soldiers (soldats) etc. You can use wildcards in your search (acceptent les caractéres jokers). They are the * to replace zero or more characters and the question
mark ? to replace one character in your search.

Click on one (soldats). There is a page explaining that specific database and the words Accéder à la base. You must click on that link to search. A new page loads. Type your search term into the box, then click the little arrow.

Lorine's search: I went to the soldats one, typed in JEANNE, and got no results.It came up with a reminder about using wildcards, so I typed in JEAN* and got 14 results. You can order articles (they show beside the names you find when you search the databases). You add articles to your basket (panier) top right, where it says utilisation and under that panier. If you click on the panier vide' (empty basket/cart) you will find another page of explanation starting with the heading Panier vide (empty basket/cart). Then it explains the 2 hour anonymous cookie life. You can add the articles to your basket but if you go past 2 hours, they are all lost.

So I tried it with my search of the SOLDATS database. Did the "JEAN*" search again and then clicked on the article to the right of the first name. There's a bit of info, including author's name, and a price. The first button/icon to the right says, in a little bubble when you run your mouse over it, ADD TO YOUR BASKET (ajouter au panier). The second says MORE INFORMATION (plus d'informations). I clicked, it was added and a window popped confirming that. Then go to the top RIGHT of the page. 3 icons in a row - first is "access the cart/basket" (acces au panier) second is "Write to us" (nous contacter) third is "print" (imprimer). When I clicked to access (see) my basket (panier) it showed the article!

Thanks to Giliane and Lorine for helping us understand how better to make use of this wonderful resource. Thanks for any clarifications, additions, or corrections.


The greatest and noblest pleasure which we have in this world is to discover new truths, and the next is to shake off old prejudices. - Frederick II (the Great)