Hi everyone.
Maybe someone can help me with a particular problems i am having.
A few of my relatives have visited the French consulate in Haifa in Israel and were shown records of my grandparents and great-grandparents in the system.
My great grandfather came from Algeria (Shlomo Aaron Shushan/Soussan) and great grandmother from Morocco (Phrecha Yaffa Alkobi/Kobi).
They were both French nationals and came with French papers.
I have been trying for a while now to contact the French consulate and embassy in Israel, but i am not making any progress.
I keep getting replies that they don't hold these kinds of records and to look somewhere else.
My quest to find records of my family has led me through many sites, most in French or Arabic.
But so far i am not able to find anything relevant.
How can I proceed?
Is there a database from the Ottomans, that has been translated to English that i could search?
Is there a database for Algeria or Morocco that is in English?
Regards
Nisim
Bien que je puisse vous répondre en hébreu, je choisis de vous répondre en français. Vous trouverez dans l'ouvrage de Joseph TOLEDANO sur les noms de famille en Afrique du Nord, une réponse partielle à votre question tant sur les familles SOUSSANA que SOUSSAN, pp 774-779. L'auteur habite Jérusalem et vous pourriez donc le contacter par le biais des pages jaunes locales
(BEZEQ, 144). KOL TOUV.
Hi Nisim,
BMD records for Algeria (1830-1918) can be searched online here. There are quite a few SOUSSAN and CHOUCHAN. Experiment with multiple spellings, as names were spelled in literally hundreds of different variations. The ANOM site has registers until 1918 but indexes for them only until 1904. Members of CGJ have access to some additional indexes to these records, beyond 1904.
French "Archives Nationales d'Outremer" might keep additional relevant records, e.g. passports issued to French citizens/subjects in Algeria, although probably not accessible online.
If your ancestors were French nationals when arriving in Israel from Algeria or Morocco, they might have registered for French consular protection. Members of CGJ have access to an online index of French consular protection in Jerusalem which includes a SOUSSAN from Algeria (although not a Shlomo or Aaron). In general, French consular archives are kept in Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes. The fonds for French consular agencies in Israel might also include other relevant documents, e.g. passports kept or stamped for French nationals, passenger lists, etc.
Finally French consular BMD records might hold relevant information, either for Morocco or for Israel - these can be browsed on microfilm at the Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de la Courneuve near Paris.
Hope this helps, Thierry