On March 28, 2012, a new site was officially announced which enables researchers to access at present about 75,000 beautifully digitized records for the most part presented for the fist time, from private collections, from the Museum, the Library or the Archives of the city of Andenne.
The site is the product of many years of hard work supported by the Echevinat de la Culture and the city of Andenne, Belgium. I introduce to you
Bibliotheca Andana
Among the images you will find
post cards, books, old local newspapers, funeral cards and notices, and last but by far not least, the images of Civil Registers for the towns of
Andenne, Bonneville, Coutisse, Landenne, Maizeret, Namêche, Sclayn, Seilles (work still in progress), Thon-Samson, Vezin.
Also
Passports of two kinds: some used for travel within the country, some used to travel abroad. These also provide a physical description of the bearer, like the WWI Draft Registration Cards in the US.
I will attempt to translate pertinent information here below:
Civil
Register Records
Today the
Civil Registry is now made up of records of birth, marriage and death kept
pursuant to the "Civil Code".
It is into
the hands of the College of Aldermen that section 125 of the New Law expressly
commends the duty of keeping such records. The Mayor acts as the officer of the Civil
Register and is "specifically instructed to observe all that concerns the records
and record keeping."
The New
Municipal Act succeeded the Municipal Law of March 30, 1836, from which Article
93 derived similar provisions. Article
131 ordered the city council to account annually for the cost of maintaining
the Civil Registry, as outlined in Article L 01/01/1321 ° of the code of local
democracy and decentralization.
The Municipal
Law of 30 March 1836 confirmed, with respect to the registrar of civil status,
a principle enshrined in Article 109 of the Belgian Constitution of February 7,
1831 as currently in section 164 of the revised Constitution February 17, 1994:
"The drafting of civil register records and record keeping are exclusively
within the competence of municipal authorities."
The Belgian
Constitution and Municipal Law of 30 March 1836 thus secularized the Civil Registry
born out of the French decree of 20 September 1792, applied in Belgium by the
Executive Directory decree of 29 Prairial, Year IV (17 June 1796), Belgium having
been annexed to France by the decree of 9 Vendémiaire IV (October 1, 1795).
This marks the moment
when local secular authorities really began to take charge of the Civil
Registry.
The
decree of September 20, 1792 is basic: it determines the mode of
recognition of the civil status of citizens, mode of observation which was
previously in the hands of ecclesiastics.
The
separation of Belgium from France, brought by the treaty of May 31, 1814, did
not significantly change things except for changing the words for Mayor to
Burgmeister and the Deputy Mayor became known as the alderman or the assessor. The matter was settled, during the short lived
Dutch period, by Article 59 of Regulation of 19 January 1824 for the
administration of cities and by Articles 77 and 95 of the Regulation of 23 July
1825 for the administration of "low country" (rural municipalities).
To access the images of the available registers, go to
http://www.bibliotheca-andana.be/
In the black Menu Bar, hover over "Etat Civil" then choose a town among those available:
Click on the town's name of your choice. I picked Maizeret:
Choose between the type of record you want to examine:
Naissances = Births
Mariages = Marriages
Décès = Deaths
Tables annuelles = annual indexes
Tables décennales = 10y tables = indexes of names
Let's say I want to look at the births
I click on "Naissances" and a list of years available comes up on the next page, like this:
Click on the year of your choice and you will come to the record images which you will have to open one at a time. They are in pdf format so make sure your computer has Adobe Reader. If you need to download it, go to www.adobe.com and download the free Adobe Reader.
To view the record image, click on the red link
"Telechargez ..."
At the bottom of the page the zoom in and out option that come in pdf format will enable you to better look at the record and save it too.
Under the other headings you will find local postcards, photos as the titles indicate.
Under "
Documents" you will find
- posters of different types, advertisements, etc
- business cards, and other business letterhead items
- bills issued from a variety of businesses for various items
- promotional items, catalogs
- maps and blueprints
- envelopes
- funeral announcements/cards
Under "
Livres" you will find a variety of local history books in review. They are not downloadable unfortunately.
Under "
Journaux" you will find 9 old local newspapers that you can read online or save.
Under "
Registres" hides a series of decisions and minutes from local authorities' meetings.
Under "
Dossiers" expect an amalgam of papers pertaining to a particular topic.
More explanations on how records were kept:
Parish Registers
The
decree of September 20, 1792 provides that "municipalities will receive
and retain from here on, records intended to witness births, marriages and
deaths"; it treats, under Title VI, the fate of the old parish registers:
"...
Within a week after the publication of
this decree, the mayor or a municipal officer ... shall be required ... to go
to clerks of the Parish churches, presbyteries and deposit records of all
religions, where they will develop an inventory of all existing records in the
hands of priests and other stakeholders. Current records will be closed and
approved by the mayor or municipal officer ";
under Article 2, "all books, both old and new, will be taken to and deposited at the town
hall";
Finally, under section 4: "... Within two months from the publication of
this decree, an inventory of all registers of baptisms, marriages and burials
existing in the court registries will be created. Within one month after that, records and inventory
will be entrusted to the attorney
generals ...for transport and deposit in the department’s archives "
While
the Civil Registry (Births, Marriages, Deaths) has been kept by the secular
administration since 1792, Parish Registers were kept by clergymen who recorded
baptisms, marriages and burials. These church records, at the time, carried as
much legal weight as the Civil Registry, which is no longer the case.
The keeping
of these church records originated with legislation in part secular and in part
religious in origin, which can easily be traced back to the Ordinance of
Villers-Coterets, and is actually older.
The
order, which was enacted by Francois I, King of France, on August 25, 1539, is
the work of Chancellor William POYET, hence the name of Guillelmine or Guillemine
that it was sometimes given. it covers the registrers of burials (Article 50)
and baptisms (Article 51). Section 53 requires the Chapters, convents and cures
to file annually with the registry records of the headquarters of
"bailiff" or "royal seneschal" for preservation and to use
it when needed.
Other texts of interest
- The
proceedings of the Council of Trent (24th session of November
11, 1563), by which Parish priests were ordered to record the names of
godparents in the baptismal register. These
annotations were based on purely religious grounds, indeed, at the time, the
spiritual relationship created at baptism, translated into marriage impediments.
The
Council of Trent circumscribed it so as to avoid the disadvantages arising from
the multiplicity of spiritual alliances, contracted only by godparents.
- The
order called "of Blois", work of Chancellor Hurault Cheverny,
which dated back to May 1579. Under
Article 40, we can not marry without "prior
proclamations made by three different holidays, with appropriate intervals"
and, in order to show that proper form was observed for these weddings, at
least four trustworthy people will, attend, which will be written into the
record.
- The
order called "Saint-Germain-en-Laye" also called "Code Louis," of April 1667.
This
ordinance standardizes the preparation of records. It
requires signature of the godparents on baptismal records; of spouses and
witnesses on marriage records; of both parents, or friends present on burial
records, confirming what was already done in many areas.
- A
royal decree of Louis XV dated April 9, 1736: there will be kept in every Parish
in the kingdom two copies of registers, both considered authentic before the
courts, to record baptisms, marriages and burials which would be used through
the course of year. These registers would be provided at the
expense of the Fabrique. All
records of baptism, marriage and burial would be kept in these registers, chronologically
with no blanks, and would be signed by those who must. Both
registers would have to be signed by the officiator, contracting parties and
witnesses.
- The
order and perpetual edict of sovereign princes and archdukes of July 12,
1611: given the frequent difficulty in proving one’s age "when getting
married or at someone’s death, magistrates and other legal representatives, for
towns as well as villages, are directed to collect an authentic copy of the
registers of baptism, marriages, and burials that every priest has held in his
parish. This
duplicate register should be sent to the clerks of the City Registry… for preservation.
What a wonderful site for us to use!
If you have a minute, click on "remerciements" to discover those who made the site possible for us!
And share with your friends on Facebook! And at the bottom right of the page, sign up for updates. ("S'inscrire au flux RSS")
Have fun!
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