Schönsee, Bavaria, Germany Genealogy

Schonsee is a very small village in North Eastern Bavaria, Germany. The Rauthaus (Civil Records Office) has records back to around 1887. Some of the Catholic Parrish Records are in Schonsee at the office of the Catholic Priest, however much more is available at the Archive in Regensburg. It is called the Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv and located at St. Petersweg 11-13 93047 in Regensburg. Regensburg is about 1 1/2 hours southwest of Schonsee. The records in the Regensburg Catholic Archive are on microfische which takes time and patience to read. It is necessary to make an appointment to use a film reader. There is a 5 Euro fee per day per person to do research and a charge per document you ask to 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 learning out 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. There is a beautifully kept cemetery in Schonsee 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 they recycle or resale the grave plots as often as every 25 years. (sometimes 50 -100 years) 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 go check out Schonsee. Dietersdorf and Schwand are among those places that use the Schonsee Parrish and cemetery. The civil records office there, as said earlier, only has information back to the late 1800's. However they are very helpful. The tricky part is going at a time when the person that is in charge of that department happens to be in and available to help you. 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)