Search for your French ancestors or those who came to France
guided by genealogy and archives specialists who double as real investigators…
Mike’s inspiring testimony -USA
My family history was a subject of interest to me, my older cousin having done some research into the Dulon (Dulong) family, their settlement in Quebec, Canada, providing me with a starting point for my research. I studied French in high school, without associating the language with my family history, and I certainly didn’t expect to use the language of my ancestors in France, their country of origin. Arriving in the village of Dulong, I looked out over the landscape, trying to imagine a country without modern roads. I imagined my ancestors tilling the earth, perhaps by hand, perhaps with the help of horses or oxen. Although I couldn’t find any Dulongs to talk to, I was connected to the town, being from a very small farming town in Wisconsin myself. The gravestones in the cemetery and the quaint little church made the story more real. Reading the names and dates, touching the old bricks of the church and looking through the old windows reminded me of earlier times. I stood up and looked at Dulong village church and realized it would have looked much the same a few hundred years ago. The door hardware would have been touched by my great-great-great-grandparents and family members, and most likely, their descendants (my distant relatives) still attended church services there.
A unique experience…
I wandered the dirt paths to pick raspberries, almost certainly from the regrowth of hundreds of years of raspberry sprouts that the Dulongs had missed, which had fallen to the ground and grown back every year since. The modern inhabitants of one of the farms were not Dulongs, but kept pigeons, ducks and other livestock, continuing practices that would have been practiced over the past few centuries. Their desire to explore brought them to the New World, first to Canada, then to the United States. In a world of irony and destiny, many members of my family would return to France, both the Dulongs and on my father’s side. My great-great-uncle returned to Normandy during the Second World War. I came first for language immersion, then to follow in my ancestors’ footsteps. When my great-great-uncle arrived, he didn’t know that his family name would be attached to the name Dulong later after his death, and when I first visited France, I didn’t know much about my great-great-uncle’s history or the existence of my great-great-uncle. or history of the village of Dulong. How things are connected and impact on the future is an exciting mystery to discover and can greatly enrich the way we think about life and how we fit into the world.
It’s your turn to experience this incredible adventure!
Don’t hesitate to get in touch to talk about it.
We can create an à la carte stay for you too.
How to proceed?
6 steps to actively prepare your stay
- Gather all information on the first generations: date and place of birth, date and place of marriage, date and place of death of parents and grandparents, even great-grandparents.
- Collect as many official documents as possible: family record book, military record book, service number…
- Recover photos, visuals…
- Start looking at the databases available online: Généanet, My Héritage, ….
- Get in touch with people who have already started researching in the family.
- Write down memories passed down from generation to generation in a special notebook…
An all-inclusive package
More than just a language trip, it’s a personalized adventure in search of the history of your ancestors.
1450 euros
- personalized follow-up and advice
- hosting
- full board
- tour of the region
- definition of objectives, data verification, planning, overall strategy
Hébergement
Hébergement
15 heures de cours
Matériel pédagogique
Transfert
HOW CAN WE GET STARTED TOGETHER?
The first thing I propose is a free initial discussion to better assess your needs in the light of the media available to you. Then I’ll make a precise diagnosis of the possibilities of succeeding in your search.
Next, I’m going to draw up a list of actions to be implemented, and draw up a specific program.