Haunkenzell, Bavaria, Germany Genealogy

History And Geography
Haunkenzell is a small village in the eastern part of Bavaria. It is 3.6 km from the larger town of Rattiszell, situated in Straubing-Bogen, Niederbayern, Bayern, Germany. It's geographical coordinates are 49° 2' 0" North, 12° 38' 0" East.
 * Straubing-Bogen is a Landkreis (district) in the eastern part of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Cham, Regen, Deggendorf, Dingolfing-Landau, Landshut and Regensburg. The independent town of Straubing is surrounded by the district. The seat of the government of the district (Landratsamt) is located in Straubing. Wikipedia Straubing-Bogen
 * The district was created in 1972 by merging the previous districts Straubing and Bogen and parts of the district Mallersdorf

Online Records

 * There are not any records on microfilm listed in the FamilySearch catalogue from Haunkenzell yet.
 * There are a few things available from Bavaria, Germany, WWI Personnel Rosters (1914-1918) about soldiers from Haunkenzell on Ancestry.com. These records can be very valuable, because they usually include the soldier's name, birth date, birth place, parents names and sometimes the name of his spouse and the number of children they had.
 * There is some Haunkenzell information at Find A Grave

Civil Registration
There is not a Rauthaus (civil records office) in Haunkenzell. Stallwang Standesamt Straubinger Straße 18 4375 Stallwang Germany E-Mail:info@vg-stallwang.de
 * The administrative community is Stallwang. See Wikipedia

Catholic Church Records
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St. Martin Catholic Church
St. Martin-Strasse 8 94372 Rattiszell Germany


 * There is a beautiful yellow Catholic church at the entrance of town. It is the chapel of the St. Martin parish. The priest here serves Haunkenzell and other small villages close by. It is difficult to find him on site and there are no parish records kept at this church. The priest in Ascha had some of the old record books in 2005, but they may have been sent to Regensberg and digitized by now. It is best to go to the archives in Regensberg to do research. Regensberg is 56.5 km from Haunkenzell.
 * }

Regensburg Catholic Archive
Regensburg Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv - for most of Oberpfalz St.Petersweg 11-13 D-93047 Regensburg Germany archive@bistum-regensburg.de
 * List of parish registers This shows the index for the microfiche that are available for reading at the Regensburg Archive. The towns/villages are listed alphabetically and tells you which events are on the different microfiche.
 * Information for requesting research by the archives for a fee.

The records in the Regensburg Catholic Archive are on microfische which takes time and patience to read. It is necessary to make an appointment to use a film reader. There is a 5 Euro fee per day per person to do research and a charge per document you ask to have copied.(I think we paid about 8 Euros per page) This can add up to an expensive way to gather information, however you can just take a pencil (not an ink pen) and paper and write down what you find. The people that work there don't usually have much time to assist you, so go planning on spending the first half of the day just learning how to use their system. Also, if you complete your research at the end of the day they may not be able to have the documents you need copied until the next day. You can return the next day to pick them up or you can pay them to mail them to your home.
 * The archives can do genealogical research for you. Requests can be made by mail or email. The fee for genealogical research is Euros 35.00 per half an hour plus postage. Keep in mind that they receive many requests and it can take months for them to find time to do your research. So if you are in hurry to gather genealogy from that area you my want to consider another approach.

Lutheran Church Records
Bavaria was and is predominantly Catholic. If your ancestors lived in Hunkenzell, there is a chance they affiliated with the Catholic Church, since there is not a Lutheran Church in Haunkenzell. However, if you do not find them in Catholic records, you should search the Lutheran records. Today there are a few Lutheran churches close. The closest is in Bogen.
 * According to Meyer's Gazetteer, the closest Lutheran church in 1871 was in Kleinhöfling, 3 miles away.

Church of St. Peter
Petersgasse 50A 94315 Straubing Germany website phone +49 9421 21532
 * Many records for the Lutheran (Evangelical) church are digitized and available online through Archion.
 * Archive of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (Nuremberg), ($). Detailed Instructions

Cemeteries
There is a small cemetery in Haunkenzell behind the church. However, some of the families from that area use cemeteries in nearby larger towns. The two closest would be Stallwang and Rattizell.If you want to find information on your ancestors in a cemetery, keep in mind that in most Bavarian Cemeteries they recycle or resale the grave plots as often as every 25 years. (sometimes 50 -100 years). An explanation of the regulation of reusing graves is given in german here. Haunkenzell is a great place to visit if you want to get a feel for Bavarian life. There isn't much there in the way of services so go with a full tank of gas and a sack lunch:)