Schönsee, Bavaria, Germany Genealogy

History
Schönsee is located in southeastern Bavaria, Germany. It is situated near the border of the Czech Republic, 38 km northeast of Schwandorf, and 34 km southeast of Weiden in der Oberpfalz.
 * In 1912, the town had 1331 inhabitants and its own Catholic parish. See Meyers Gazetteer for more details.
 * Today, Schönsee is a town in the municipality of Schwandorf, in Bavaria, Germany. See Wikipedia
 * See the German GenWiki for a list boundary and jurisdiction changes

Online Records

 * Heiratsbelege: Schönsee, 1862-1915 This link takes you to the FamilySearch Catalog list of microfilmed documents for civil records of marriage proclamations, marriage supplements, and permissions to change residence for Schönsee residents (BA. Oberviechtach), Bayern, Germany. Digitized films (camera icon) can be viewed at a family history center or affiliate library. Requests to digitize can be submitted for films not yet available online (microfilm icon). For more information about this record type see Bavaria Marriage Proclamation and Residency Records.
 * There is some Schönsee information at Find A Grave
 * Bavaria, Germany, WWI Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918 include soldiers from Schönsee on Ancestry.com
 * Various records found through the Meta-search tool on the website of the German Society for Computer Genealogy

Civil Registration
The records they have are great and it is a good place to start. However, the person over vital records is not always there or always available to assist with research. It is important to contact them ahead of time to make an appointment. The good news is that they don't usually charge for making a copy of anything they are able to find on your family. (As of 2010) Schönsee Standesamt Hauptstraße 25 92539 Schönsee Germany Phone: 09674 / 9212-0 Fax: 09674 / 9212-29 info@vg-schoensee.de
 * Website

St. Wenzeslaus Catholic Church
Some of the Catholic parish records are kept at the Catholic parsonage in Schönsee.

Katholisches Pfarramt St. Wenzeslaus Pfarrgasse 4 92539 Schönsee Germany Tel .: 09674/230 Website

Regensburg Catholic Archive
Many more records are available at the Archive in Regensburg.

Regensburg Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv - for most of Oberpfalz St.Petersweg 11-13 D-93047 Regensburg Germany The records in the Regensburg Catholic Archive are on microfiche which takes time and patience to read. It is necessary to make an appointment to use a film reader. There is a 7 Euro fee per day per person to do research and a charge per document you 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 figuring out 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.
 * List of parish registers This link takes you to a listing of the records available on microfiche at the Regensburg Catholic Archive. It is organized in alphabetical order of the towns and villages in the diocese. It also tells you what kind of documents are available in which years. It is good to know that Taufen means baptisms, Trauungen means marriages, and Beerdigungen means burials.
 * Information for requesting research by the archive for a fee.
 * The archive will 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.

Cemeteries
There is a beautifully kept cemetery in Schönsee just down the street from the Catholic Church. If you want to find information on your ancestors in a cemetery, keep in mind that in most Bavarian cemeteries the grave plots are re-used as often as every 25 years. (sometimes 50 -100 years). An explanation of the practice of reusing graves is given here. However, there are a few tombstones back into the 1700's there. If you have family from one of the small villages near this town and you cannot find a cemetery there, check out Schönsee. Dietersdorf and Schwand are among those places that use the Schönsee parish church and cemetery. The four cemeteries of Schönsee, Gaisthal, Stadlern and Weiding are within the jurisdiction of the administrative community of Schönsee.