Oldenburg, German Empire Genealogy

Guide to Oldenburg, 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 Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (German: Großherzogtum Oldenburg) (also known as Holstein-Oldenburg) was a grand duchy within the German Confederation, North German Confederation and German Empire which consisted of three widely separated territories: Oldenburg, Eutin and Birkenfeld.

As a result of the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, Eutin passed from the Free State of Oldenburg to the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein.

After the Second World War, Birkenfeld belonged to the French zone of occupation, and since 1946, it has been a district seat in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Today, the Oldenburg region is in the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen); the Eutin region is in the state Schleswig-Holstein; and Birkenfeld is in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz). Wikipedia

Finding Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for Oldenburg
'''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:


 * Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg
 * Niedersachsen Archives Search Page, enter "Auswanderer" and surname.
 * Emigrant families from the old district Wildeshausen
 * Emigrants from the former Amt Damme, Oldenburg (now Niedersachsen), Germany, mainly to the United States, 1830-1849.FamilySearch Digital Book

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.

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.

You can also consult Oldenburg Parish Record Inventories to learn the Lutheran or Catholic parish that would have kept records for your town.

At the end of both World Wars, the boundaries of the states were changed dramatically, as areas of Germany were distributed among the Allied nations. Eventually, after re-unification in 1990, the states of Germany settled into what they are today. It is also necessary to understand Germany by this system, as it affects the locations of civil registration offices, archives, and mailing addresses used in correspondence searches.

3. For birth, marriage, and death records from 1799-1814, and then beginning again 1 January 1874, use civil registration.
Follow the instructions in Oldenburg, German Empire Civil Registration.

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

More Research Strategies and Tools
These printable handouts can be used for ready reference when reading German Handwriting. Letters:
 * Germany Online Classes and Tutorials
 * German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting
 * 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.
 * Fraktur Script - [[Media:1-Fraktur-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Fraktur-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Fraktur-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]