Palatinate (Pfalz), Rhineland, Prussia, Germany Genealogy

Guide to The Palatine or The Pfalz, a non-political region in Germany, ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, family history, and military records.

Definitions of the Palatinate or Pfalz
The Palatinate or The Pfalz, like most of Germany, was defined by different boundaries throughout history.area was more geographical than political in its boundaries and spread over more than one political jurisdiction. Once, fragmented territory stretched from the left bank of the Upper Rhine, from the Hunsrück mountain range and the adjacent parts of the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine, to the opposite territory on the east bank of the Rhine in present-day Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, up to the Odenwald range and the southern Kraichgau region, containing the capital cities of Heidelberg and Mannheim.

Historical Background

 * From the Middle Ages until 1792, the Palatinate was divided into 45 secular and ecclesiastical territories, some of which were very small. The largest and most important of these was the Electorate of the Palatinate (Kurpfalz). Other larger regional entities included the Duchy of Zweibrücken and the Prince-Bishopric of Speyer.


 * The Rhine County (German: Rheinkreis) or Rhine County, sometimes the Bavarian Rheinkreis (bayerischer Rheinkreis or baierischer Rheinkreis), was the name given to the territory on the west bank of the Rhine from 1816 to 1837 which was one of 15 administrative districts of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Before the French revolutionary wars (1792) most of the land had belonged to the Electoral Palatinate. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it was initially promised to the Empire of Austria after having been under a provisional joint Austro-Bavarian administration since 1814. However, in the Treaty of Munich (1816), Austria relinquished the territory to Bavaria.


 * In 1837, Rhine County was renamed the Palatinate (Pfalz). It was also referred to as the Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz). The territory remained Bavarian until 30 Aug 1946, with the exception of the area detached in 1920, which roughly corresponded to the present day county of Saarpfalz-Kreis. It then became part of the newly formed federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

German Palatine Emigration to America

 * The German Palatines were early 18th-century emigrants from the Middle Rhine region of the Holy Roman Empire, including a minority from the Palatinate which gave its name to the entire group. They were both Protestant and Catholic. Throughout the Nine Years War (1688–97) and the War of Spanish Succession (1701–14), the depredations of the French Army created economic hardship for the inhabitants of the region, exacerbated by a rash of harsh winters and poor harvests.


 * The "Poor Palatines" were some 13,000 Germans who migrated to England between May and November 1709. No more than half of the so-called German Palatines originated in the namesake Electoral Palatinate, with others coming from the surrounding imperial states of Palatinate-Zweibrücken and Nassau-Saarbrücken, the Margraviate of Baden, the Hessian Landgraviates of Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Homburg, Hesse-Kassel, the Archbishoprics of Trier and Mainz, and various minor counties of Nassau, Sayn, Solms, Wied, and Isenburg.


 * Throughout the summer, ships unloaded thousands of refugees, and almost immediately their numbers overwhelmed the initial attempts to provide for them. Their arrival in England, and the inability of the British Government to integrate them, resulted in major disruptions, overcrowding, famine, disease and the death of a thousand or more Palatines.


 * The English transported nearly 3,000 German Palatines in ten ships to New York in 1710. Close to 850 families settled in the Hudson River Valley, primarily in what are now Germantown and Saugerties, New York. About 350 Palatines had remained in New York City, and some settled in New Jersey. Others travelled down the Susquehanna, settling in Berks County, Pennsylvania.


 * Because of the concentration of Palatine refugees in New York, the term "Palatine" became associated with German. Until the American War of Independence "Palatine" henceforth was used indiscriminately for all emigrants of German tongue. Wikipedia (German Palatines)

Finding Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for the Palatinate (Pfalz)
'''Most of the information you need to identify you ancestors and their families will be found in two major record groups: civil registration and church records. To locate these records, follow the instructions in these Wiki articles.'''

1. Find the name of your ancestor's town in family history records.
Records were kept on the local level. You must know the town where your ancestor lived. If your ancestor was a United States Immigrant, use the information in the Wiki article Germany Finding Town of Origin to find evidence of the name of the town where your ancestors lived in Germany. Also, see:
 * Bavaria &amp; Pfalz Emigrants
 * Auswanderkartei, 1840-1930: Cards of emingrants from Bavaria most of whom are born during the time frame 1870 to 1900; however, there are some emigrant dates from the late 1600's and from the 1840's. The cards contain surnames, maiden names, given names, places of birth, and addresses in the country to which the people are moving.
 * List of Pfalz Immigrants to America, 1724-1749.
 * The Birkenhördt Project
 * Bavaria and Pfalz Emigration Database
 * Ships carrying Palatines from Germany to Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808
 * Palatines from England to New York 1709
 * Palatine Children Apprenticed by Gov. Hunter in New York 1710-1714
 * SHIPS TO PENNSYLVANIA 1700-1749
 * Palatine Arrivals in New York in 1710

2. Use gazetteers and/or parish inventories to learn more important details.
Your ancestor's town might have been too small to have its own parish church or civil registration office. Find the location of the Catholic or Lutheran (Evangelical) parish that served your ancestor's locality. Find the name of the civil registration office (standesamt) that serves your ancestor's locality. Use the Wiki article Finding Aids For German Records for step-by-step instructions.

Germany was first unified as a nation in 1871. An important gazetteer, Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, "Meyer's Gazetter" for short, details the place names of villages, towns, counties (kreise), and higher jurisdictions used at that time. In the Research Wiki, FamilySearch Catalog, and FamilySearch Historical Records, the records of Germany are organized using those place names.

At the end of both World Wars, the boundaries of the states were changed dramatically, as areas of Germany were distributed among the Allied nations. Eventually, after re-unification in 1990, the states of Germany settled into what they are today. It is also necessary to understand Germany by this system, as it affects the locations of civil registration offices, archives, and mailing addresses used in correspondence searches.

4. For baptism, marriage, and death records, use church records or parish registers.
Remember that immigrants in the first wave of Palatine immigrants were from several different areas, and not just the Palatinate. The link to church records is given for each region:

Bavaria (Bayern), German Empire Church Records Rhineland (Rheinland), German Empire Church Records Baden, German Empire Church Records Hesse (Hessen), German Empire Church Records Hesse-Nassau (Hessen-Nassau), German Empire Church Records
 * the original Electoral Palatinate
 * Palatinate-Zweibrücken
 * the Archbishopric of Mainz
 * Nassau-Saarbrücken
 * the Archbishoprics of Trier
 * minor counties of Sayn, Wied, and Isenburg
 * Margraviate of Baden
 * Hesse-Darmstadt
 * Hesse-Homburg
 * Hesse-Kassel
 * minor counties of Nassau and Solms

Remember that in the later part of the 1700's all German immigrants could be referred to as Palatines. You need to try to find evidence of a more specific town, then find out the German Empire state of that town using Meyer's Gazetteer. Then use the church records Wiki article for that state.

More Research Strategies and Tools

 * Germany Online Classes and Tutorials
 * Reading German Handwritten Records  Practice exercises to build your skills and confidence.
 * Old German Script Transcriber (alte deutsche Handschriften): See your family names in the script of the era. Type your name or other word into the font generator tool. Click on the 8 different fonts. Save the image to your computer and use it as you work with old Germanic records.
 * Finding Aids for German Records
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * Print these handouts for ready reference when reading German Handwriting:
 * Kurrent Letters Handout
 * Numbers Handout
 * Birth Records Handout
 * Marriage Records Handout
 * Death Records Handout
 * Days and Months Handout
 * Common Symbols Handout
 * Common Abbreviations Handout
 * List of Names in Old German Script A comprehensive list of German given names,  written in old script, with possible variations.
 * Fraktur Font--Many forms and books are printed in this font.
 * German Research, BYU Independent Study, no cost.