Source Information
Belfort, Alsace, France, Censuses 1836-1911 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2020.Original data: Archives départementales du Territoire de Belfort; Belfort, France; Belfort Census.
About Belfort, Alsace, France, Censuses 1836-1911
This collection contains censuses from Belfort, France.
The department Territoire de Belfort was created in 1871 as a result of the Franco-Prussian War and the capture of the Alsace region by of eastern France by Germany. Tthe Territoire de Belfort was formed around the city of Belfort which was once part of the department of Haut Rhin; the earlier records from Haut Rhin which relate to the region arouof Belfort are now held in the Territoire de Belfort and are present in this collection. Detailed censuses in France began in 1836, and continued every five years, except for 1871, which was taken in 1872, and 1916. The standardization of forms on a national level was a large step forward in official record keeping, and helped usher in the modern era of national record keeping.