Bavaria (Bayern), German Empire Genealogy

Guide to Bavaria (Bayern), German Empire ancestry, family history, and genealogy before 1945: birth records, marriage records, death records, both church and civil registration, compiled family history, and finding aids.

Historical Background

 * The Kingdom of Bavaria (German: Königreich Bayern) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918.
 * Most of Bavaria's present-day borders were established after 1814 with the Treaty of Paris, in which Bavaria ceded Tyrol and Vorarlberg to the Austrian Empire while receiving Aschaffenburg and Würzburg.


 * With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingdom became a federal state of the new Empire and was second in size, power, and wealth only to the leading state, the Kingdom of Prussia.


 * In 1918, Bavaria became a republic, and the kingdom was thus succeeded by the current Free State of Bavaria, after the abolition of monarchy in the aftermath of World War I.


 * Bavarians foster different cultural identities:
 * Franconia in the north, speaking East Franconian German;
 * Bavarian Swabia in the south west, speaking Swabian German; and
 * Altbayern (so-called "Old Bavaria”), the regions forming the “historic" Bavaria, at present the districts of the Upper Palatinate, Lower and Upper Bavaria, speaking Austro-Bavarian.
 * Moreover, by the expulsion of German speakers from Eastern Europe, Bavaria has received a large population that was not traditionally Bavarian. In particular, the Sudeten Germans, expelled from neighboring Czechoslovakia, have been deemed to have become the "fourth tribe" of Bavarians.


 * Following the end of World War II, Bavaria was occupied for a while by US forces, who reestablished the state on 19 September 1945, and during the Cold War it was part of West Germany.


 * The Rhenish Palatinate was detached from Bavaria in 1946 and made part of the new state Rhineland-Palatinate. Wikipedia

Finding Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for Bavaria (Bayern)
'''Most of the information you need to identify you ancestors and their families will be found in two major record groups: civil registration and church records. To locate these records, follow the instructions in these Wiki articles.'''

1. Find the name of your ancestor's town in family history records.
Records were kept on the local level. You must know the town where your ancestor lived. 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:
 * Bavaria &amp; Pfalz Emigrants
 * Auswanderkartei, 1840-1930: Cards of emigrants from Bavaria most of whom are born during the time frame 1870 to 1900; however, there are some emigrant dates from the late 1600's and from the 1840's. The cards contain surnames, maiden names, given names, places of birth, and addresses in the country to which the people are moving.
 * List of Pfalz Immigrants to America, 1724-1749.
 * The Birkenhördt Project
 * Bavaria and Pfalz Emigration Database
 * Germany, Bavaria, Fürth City Directories and Emigration Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * German Emigrant Data Base,covers 1820-1939, main source: New York passenger lists beginning in 1820, supplemented by material found in Germany.
 * 19th Century Emigrants from Central Franconia to North America

2. Use gazetteers and/or parish register inventories to learn more important details.
Your ancestor's town might have been too small to have its own parish church or civil registration office. 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 Finding Aids For German Records for step-by-step instructions.

You can also consult Bavaria (Bayern) Parish Register Inventories to learn the Lutheran or Catholic parish that would have kept records for your town.

Germany was first unified as a nation in 1871. 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. In the Research Wiki, FamilySearch Catalog, and FamilySearch Historical Records, the records of Germany are organized using those place names.

3. For birth, marriage, and death records after 1 January 1876, use civil registration.
Follow the instructions in Bavaria (Bayern), German Empire Civil Registration.

4. For baptism, marriage, and death records, use church records or parish registers.
Follow the instructions in Bavaria (Bayern), German Empire Church Records.

More Research Strategies and Tools

 * Germany Online Classes and Tutorials
 * German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting

These printable handouts can be used for ready reference when reading German Handwriting. Letters:
 * Old German Script Transcriber (alte deutsche Handschriften): See your family names in the script of the era. Type your name or other word into the font generator tool. Click on the 8 different fonts. Save the image to your computer and use it as you work with old Germanic records.
 * Finding Aids for German Records
 * Research Tips and Strategies


 * [[Media:Kurrent Letters.pdf|Kurrent Letters handout]]
 * [[Media:Kurrent Font Help Wiki.pdf|Additional Kurrent Letters handout]]

Vocabulary found on Specific Records:


 * [[Media:Birth Record Vocabulary-Kurrent-german.pdf|Birth Records Vocabulary handout]]
 * [[Media:Marriage Record Vocabulary-Kurrent-german.pdf|Marriage Records Vocabulary handout]]
 * [[Media:German marriage handout templated jan 2017.pdf|Overview of Marriage Laws and Customs (handout)]]
 * [[Media:Death Record Vocabulary-Kurrent german.pdf|Death Records Vocabulary handout]]

Dates, Numbers, Abbreviations:


 * [[Media:Days and Months Vocabulary-Kurrent-German.pdf|Days and Months handout]]
 * [[Media:Numbers Vocabulary.pdf|Numbers Vocabulary handout]]
 * [[Media:Kurrent Script Dates, Numbers, etc.pdf|Script Dates and Numbers handout]]
 * [[Media:Common Abbreviations-Kurrent-german.pdf|Common Abbreviations handout]]
 * [[Media:Common Symbols - Kurrent-german.pdf|Common Symbols handout]]

Miscellaneous Vocabulary:


 * [[Media:German Occupations Vocabulary.pdf|German Occupations Vocabulary handout]]
 * [[Media:Illnesses Vocabulary-Kurrent-german.pdf|Illnesses Vocabulary handout]]

Fraktur:


 * [[Media:Fraktur Font help - Wiki.pdf|Fraktur Font]]--Many forms and books are printed in this font.

German Names:
 * List of Names in Old German Script A comprehensive list of German given names,  written in old script, with possible variations.