Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate Church Record Extractions and Family Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
Deutschland, Rheinland-Palatinate, Kirchenbuchabschriften und Familiennamenkartei

Record Description
This collection includes images of a combination of church family register extractions and indexes for the district of Rhine Hesse-Palatinate (Rheinland Hessen-Pfalz) in Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz). Most image sets are arranged chronologically (by year of event) or alphabetically (by surname).

Family registers may go back to the 1500s, when they began during the time of the Reformation. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many churches were destroyed, along with all or part of their records. Very few church records go back before 1650 because of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). Family registers were created with information from the parish register and should be used as a guide to search the actual church records for the ancestors’ christening, marriage, and burial information. The text in church family registers is written mainly in German. However, earlier text could be handwritten in Latin and after 1945 handwritten in Gothic script. The headings for the extracted information are in English.

For a list of records by date or locality currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

This collection of records includes information extracted from church family registers for the years 1600-1925.

Beginning in the 1500s, churches began keeping family registers. This collection of extracted data was created to make it easier to research ancestors.

Church records (Kirchenbücher) are excellent sources for accurate information on names, dates, and places of birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial. They are the most significant source of genealogical information for Germany before 1876. Most people who lived in Germany were recorded in a church record. However, the information found in a family register depends on how detailed the minister made his record. The extraction of data depends on how well the records were read.

Citation for This Collection
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Record Content
The key genealogical facts found on most family registers include the following:


 * Name of the ancestor, either as a parent or child
 * Names of the ancestor’s siblings, parents, grandparents
 * Date of the ancestor’s birth
 * Place of the ancestor’s birth
 * Occupation of the ancestor’s father
 * Birth dates of the ancestor’s siblings and parents
 * Date of the ancestor’s marriage
 * Date of the ancestor’s death
 * Death dates of the ancestor’s siblings and parents
 * Information concerning emigration in the family

How to Use the Records
Family registers were created with data from the parish registers and should be used as a guide to search the actual church records for the ancestor’s christening, marriage, and burial information. Data of an ancestor can be searched by surname and place of residence. Make sure the record found is your ancestor; it is recommended to use the elimination system when more than one family has the same family name. After you have found the information for your ancestor, transfer the information onto your family history record. With this information, the data of siblings or other family members could also be researched.

Related Websites
Germany Genealogy

Related Wiki Articles

 * Germany Genealogy
 * Germany Church Records

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
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Citations Examples for Records Found in a Collection
''The following are examples of records found in different collections. Please help us by replacing these examples with a citation for a record you have found in this collection.''


 * “Delaware Marriage Records,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 4 March 2011), entry for William Anderson and Elizabeth Baynard Henry, married 23 November 1913; citing marriage certificate no. 859; FHL microfilm 2,025,063; Delaware Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Dover.
 * “El Salvador Civil Registration,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 21 March 2011), entry for Jose Maria Antonio del Carmen, born 9 April 1880; citing La Libertad, San Juan Opico, Nacimientos 1879-1893, image 50; Ministerio Archivo Civil de la Alcaldia Municipal de San Salvador.

When the citation has been replaced with a citation specific to the collection described, please change the heading to "Citation Example for Records Found in This Collection".