Great Alsatian Resource

Thanks to reading a tweet posted by BBPetura directing me the TransylvanianDutch  Genealogy and Family History blog's Weekly Genealogy Picks I was sent to another wonderful blog for French genealogy, The French Genealogy Blog by Anne Morddel. What a wonderful find for anyone doing French research and, as in my case, Alsatian research.

I've been wondering just how many members of Ruch/Siegler families of Bouxwiller, France opted to leave their homes in order to remain under French rule. I'm convince that Charles Ruch & Salome Siegler immigrated to America due to their choice but I've had not real proof of  that; in fact I didn't know if any such proof would exist.

One of Anne's categories is Alsace and Lorraine so, hoping for some new insight into the lives and times of the these families. In her post of 30 June 2009, Les Optants of Alsace-Lorraine, she gave a clear, concise and descriptive account of not only the demands placed on the people of Alsace but also the eventual documents created declaring the option to remain French.

Anne directs us to the Historical Society COMAD: The Seekers Optants Departments of Alsace and Moselle which was created specifically "to: search, collect, count and list the individuals who opted for 1871 to 1873 for the French or German nationality, collect all the historical documents and edit, publish and disseminate research results." The site is in French but do not despair Google Translate does a nice job of translating. (Go to Google, at the menu bar choose MORE, then TRANSLATE, choose translate from FRENCH to ENGLISH, copy the URL to the translate box, click TRANSLATE and, voila, you're reading English!) COMAD has created notebooks including great family information and an index to determine what notebooks in which your ancestor may be included. Type the surname into the search box and see what is returned.


 The name RUCH returned a large number of entries but because I know they resided in Bouxwiller I was able to narrow the list to 12. The name SIEGLER return was much smaller and I was able to narrow that list to 4. However, this does leave me with a dilemma. The cost of each notebook is 18 Euro and I'm not sure where to start. I'm finding the cost a bit prohibitive so I'll have to think it through:)
Regardless of what I do as to purchasing, both Anne's blog and COMAD's site have added much to my knowledge and understanding.