User:Amberannelarsen/sandbox90

Guide to German ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Country Information
Germany is a vibrant country with a rich history and heritage. As with many countries of Europe, Germany has seen dramatic changes to its borders and even its internal regions. Over the centuries, Germany consisted of numerous independent kingdoms, duchies, principalities, and states. Then in 1871 all German-speaking states except the Austrian states were consolidated into the German Empire. This construct is still seen in Germany today.

Place-names and county, province, and state jurisdictions also changed, often more than once. Because of these changes, you may discover that it is difficult to find the name of your German ancestor's town on a modern map. You may also have trouble determining the jurisdiction where their records were kept. Various resources are available to help you find that information and will be included here.

Getting Started
'''Due to its complex history, the boundaries of Germany have changed extensively. If your ancestor lived in Germany before 1945, use this map to do your research.'''



German Empire (pre-1945)
'''To locate records for your ancestor, you need to know the town they came from. If you do not know the town, see these instructions to identify it.'''



Modern Germany (1945-Present)
'''To locate records for your ancestor, you need to know the town they came from. If you do not know the town, see these instructions to identify it.''' {| 

Conversion Chart
This table will help you coordinate information from the two geographic systems, enabling you to find your desired records within each system.

Finding Your Ancestors' Town

 * To begin using the records of Germany, knowing that your family came from Brunswick will not be enough to use the records of Germany. Records are kept on the local level, so you will have to know the town they lived in.
 * Details about the town will also help:
 * the county or "Kreis" of that town,
 * where the closest Evangelical Lutheran or Catholic parish church was (depending on their religion),
 * where the civil registration office ("Standesamt") was, and
 * if you have only a village name, you will need the name of the larger town it was part of.

How To Find the Town
If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it.
 * Use Gathering Information to Locate Place of Origin as a guide in exhausting every possible record to find what you need.
 * Or watch this webinar: Online Class: Finding German Places of Origin
 * Emigration lists of the former Duchy of Braunschweig,1846-1871, index
 * Emigration lists from Berel, Braunschweig
 * Niedersachsen Archives Search Page, enter "Auswanderung" and surname.

If You Know the Town, Use Meyers Gazetteer
Once you know the town name you need, the other facts you need are contained in Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, the gazetteer on which the FamilySearch catalog for Germany is based.
 * Use MeyersGaz, the digital gazetteer, to find the details you need, particularly the Kreis (county) it belonged to, found after "Kr".
 * MeyersGaz Help Guide
 * Abbreviation Table

Here is part of an entry from MeyersGaz.org. (The whole entry can be studied at Heusenstamm, MeyersGaz.)

More Germany Research Strategies and Tools

 * Germany Historic and Current States--maps
 * Finding Aids for German Records
 * German Research Troubleshooting Strategies
 * The German Genealogy Wiki (GenWiki)
 * Germany Genealogy Resources from Federation of East European Family History Societies (FEEFHS)
 * German Research Websites
 * German Genealogy MetaSearch
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * German Resources
 * Many Roads
 * Calendar Changes in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Low Countries