I want to find my ancestors, can someone help please.?

Question:

I want to find my ancestors, can someone help please.?

I live in Mauritius and my ancestors came from Africa /Madagascar, as slaves under the French rule in that part of the world. As such, it is very difficult to get informations in archives as names may have changed over time.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: If they were under French rule, does that also mean that they were Catholic? If so, trace them through the parish sacrament books. Every birth, first communion, confirmation, marriage, extreme unction and burial will be documented. Parents will be documented (regardless of name change) and you'll have an unbroken line of information back to at least 1400...albeit most of it written in Latin. But a standard wording was used, so pulling the information won't be difficult.

The reason name changes in their civil lives would be irrelevent is that a Catholic is known throughout their lives by their Christian name, the one given at baptism. Even if Henry decides to be known as George, the priest will still list him in perpetuity as Henry.