Brunswick (Braunschweig), German Empire Genealogy

The German Empire, Meyer's 1871 Gazetteer, and FamilySearch Records
Germany was first unified as a nation. 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. As FamilySearch began microfilming the records of Germany, those records were organized in the Card Catalog using those place names. That system is still in use today in the FamilySearch Catalog and FamilySearch Historical Records.

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 archives and mailing addresses used in correspondence searches.

Maps
'''The enclaves of Calvorde and Blankenburg are now in Saxony-Anhalt. The rest of Brunswick is now in the state of Lower Saxony.'''

1. Find the name of your ancestor's town in family history records
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:
 * Emigration lists of the former Duchy of Braunschweig,1846-1871, index
 * Niedersachsen Archives Search Page, enter "Auswanderung" and surname.

2. Use gazetteers and/or parish inventories to learn more important details.
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 Studying Your German Locality for step-by-step instructions.

3. For birth, marriage, and death records after 1 January 1876, use civil registration.
Follow the instructions in Braunschweig, Germany Civil Registration.

4. For baptism, marriage, and death records, use church records or parish registers.
Follow the instructions in Braunschweig, Germany Church Records.