Unexpected places

I have family that came from Limoges, France.  I haven’t worked on that line in years and decided to try again.  It’s important to know the region of your family when looking outside the United States.  I searched the department (region) of Haute-Vienne, where Limoges is the capital.  They have made microfilm available online that one can view!   There I found my 2nd great grandfather’s birth and marriage record which listed his parents – giving me his father’s date of birth and his mother’s full name, which I didn’t previously know!  It was a good day!

Lessons: 1. Things are constantly being put online.  Come back to things occasionally to see what you can find now.  2. Google search the name of the region of your family (i.e. Haute-Vienne France genealogy) or search the regional governmental website which led me to http://archives.haute-vienne.fr/.  Use google which can translate the website for you if needed.