My great great grandfather's name was Jean Marie Mathurin Theophile Dutreix. He was born in 1833 and emigrated to Louisiana from France in 1856. He came from the Limoges area. I have a family tree that goes back farther than that, but I have no idea if it is accurate or not. It was created by someone who supposedly went to France and looked up some old records. I know there are plenty of Dutreixs in France, and the Limousin area was an area where a lot of them lived.

Is there anyone familiar with the genological records of the area that could give me some information about how to go about digging deeper into the past? I have seen some names that could possibly match up, but the spouses don't, which means either I'm looking at the wrong records or perhaps they remarried and I only have one of the spouses.

Hello Gregory?

I think you need to give us all the details you have. There is no centralised registration system in France so, you need to know EXACTLY where in the Limousin you want. Limoges "area" is not good enough. You need to know the exact commune. From there they have 10-year indexes for each class of registration (B, M, D). Cities, such as Limoges have many many records and searching can be really difficult without knowing the area. Post what you have and then I will look and see what the departmental archives holds and let you know. Email me privately if you prefer (sherry@slanda.fsnet.co.uk).

HTH
Sherry (23170, Viersat)

Okay then.

Jean Marie Mathurin Theophile Dutreix. b (1833 or 1836?) in Limoges, Hautte Vienne, France

His parents were supposedly:

Pierre Dutreix (b July 7, 1813 d April 21, 1853) in Limoges, Haute Vienne, France (was a balancier)
Alexandrine Elizabeth Celerier (b 4 Sept. 1815) (was a couturier)

Theophile is the only child I have on record from them.

Pierre's parents were supposedly:

Mathurin Dutreix (b oct 23, 1772 d jan 1 1810) in Limoges, Haute Vienne, France (serruirer)
Catherine Delage (b June 3 1775) in St. Priest, Haute Vienne, France (d Apr 5 1814) in Limoges, Haute Vienne, France (parents: Pierre Delage and Marie Vetoulie)

Pierre's siblings were (Pierre (b 1801) and Gilles (b 1804))

Mathurin's Parents were:

Pierre Dutreix (b march 25, 1740 in Limoges France), (christened in Parish Saint Michel des Lions) (married April 2, 1769 in Limogs, France)
Marie Anne Bayle (parents Antoine Bayle, Marie Gossas)

Pierre's parents were:

Pierre Dutreix (married at St. Michel des Lions, limoges, France) (seurrieur)
Jeanne Deluret (born at Village of Poutinoux at Meilhac, France) (parents Jean Deluret and Jeanne Doudet)

They lived in Village of Poutinoux, apparently, because their children were born there.

(children include Leonard and Elie)

Do you speak French?
http://www.archives-hautevienne.com/accueil/index.php4 is the home page for the archives.
http://www.archives-hautevienne.com/guide_chercheur/serie.ph... is the list of civil registrations on microfilm for the various communes.

Jean Marie Mathurin Theophile Dutreix. b (1833 or 1836?) in Limoges,
The indexes for the commune of Limoges from 1833-1842 are on 5 Mi 85/10 This is where you need to start. The birth entry should be indexed under DUTREIX. From there when you have the reference (year) you’ll be able to find the right film for the actual register. Then you look the entry up. The entry will be in handwritten French. 1830s should not be TOO bad but it’s not the same as modern French, entirely (the handwriting especially): Each entry is in narrative so it will say the year and then the date and then the hour at which the witnesses presented themselves to the mayor (or his deputy). It will then state where and when the child was born, its sex, name and that of its parents. The parents’ ages (sometimes dates of birth) and occupations will be given. The mother’s maiden name will be stated as standard. It might give a street address or it might just say “of the commune”. Then there will be a note about the witnesses, their occupations, ages, addresses etc. Sometimes the witnesses are family. Sometimes it was the midwife, just depends. Normally there are 2 witnesses. Occasionally it will tell you where and when the parents married (this is especially true if they married out of the area).
I doubt he was an only child. So, if it was me, when I looked at the film index for 1833-1842 I would note ALL the DUTREIX names and dates. Once you are sure you know the right names for the right parents then you can look at the births either sides of his date and possibly find siblings for him. You might be able to discount certain dates due to the age of the mother or things like a marriage date. You might find their marriage on the same film or it might be in the period 1829-1832. You’ll be able to cross-check against the deaths in that time frame too, to see if any of the siblings (assuming there are some) died etc.
Now to how you see the films! I assume you can’t go yourself? The archives will NOT search on your behalf. You can try the following associations, but they are likely to have a waiting list (and they only work on post/phone although a web search might bring up something like a webpage with email addresses).
• le Cercle généalogique historique et héraldique de la Marche et du Limousin : 26 rue de Nexon, 87000 Limoges (tél. : 05 55 06 39 84)
• les Amitiés généalogiques du Limousin : Espace associatif, 40 rue Charles-Sylvestre, 87100 Limoges (tél. : 05 55 37 08 07)
Otherwise you can try to find a private individual who will look for you for a fee. I know someone BUT you need to email me PRIVATELY (sherry.landa@wanadoo.fr) for that information because I can’t give details on a Rootsweb Board.
HTH
Sherry