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

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Foreign Language Title
Kirchenbuchabschriften und familiennamenkartei von Pfälzisch-Rheinische, Ludwigschafen, Deutschland.

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

Record History
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.

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

Record Reliability
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.

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).

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 Record
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.

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Related Web Sites
Germany Genealogy

Germany Church Records

Related Wiki Articles
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Sources of This Collection
“Germany, Ludwigshafen Church Record Extractions and Family Registers”, database, FamilySearch Historical Records (http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch), 2010; from Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde E. V. Ludwigschafen, Germany. “Germany, Ludwigshafen Church Record Extractions and Family Registers”. Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde E. V., Ludwigschafen, Germany. FHL digital images. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Originals are housed in Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde e.V., Rottstrasse 17, 67061 Ludwigshafen, Germany.

How to Cite Your Sources
Why Should You Cite Your Sources?

It is recommended that you cite the sources of information as you search genealogical records. Citing sources will allow you to avoid duplicate searches later and share your sources with other researchers. A citation with specific details about the source document should allow yourself or others to easily find the source document at a later time. You should cite all sources searched, whether new information is found, to avoid duplicating searches without findings. More information about citing or documenting your sources can be found at: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections