Kleinschmalkalden Parish, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, German Empire Genealogy

Guide to Kleinschmalkalden Parish, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, Germany ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

History
Kleinschmalkalden has historically been divided by the river Schmalkalde. The part west of the river (belonging to Hesse-Nassau) was first mentioned in 1465 as "Inn der klein Schmalkalden." The east part (belonging to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) was established after 1500. Due to the divided nature of the town it has two Protestant churches. The two parts were united on 1 October 1945. From 1945-1990 the town was known as Ludwig Pappenheims.

Jurisdictional Changes
Kleinschmalkalden (west) has belonged to the following independent countries or post-1871 German states:

West
 * 1465: Brotterode district, Schmalkalden dominion, Hessen-Kassel
 * 1866: Hesse-Nassau, Prussia
 * 1945: united with the east side of town, Thuringia

Place Names
A very good gazetteer to begin with is Meyers Gazetteer. For more information, see the entry for Kleinschmalkalden.

Another essential online gazetteer to check is the Historic Gazetteer from Compgen. For more information, see the entry for Kleinschmalkalden.

Church Records
Church records for this part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau are held at the Evangelical Church Archive of Kurhessen-Waldeck in Kassel, Germany. The following records have been digitized by the website Archion. Archion requires a subscription. You can learn how to use Archion by clicking here. There are no indexes to these records. More recent records may be restricted.

Kleinschmalkalden (Hesse-Nassau)
Church records begin in 1626.


 * 1626-1719 Church records 1626-1719 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1720-1772 Church records 1720-1772 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1773-1854 Church records 1773-1854 at Archion - images ($); includes mostly Reformed
 * 1811-1830 Copy of church records 1811-1830 at Archion - images ($); record kept by school teacher
 * 1830-1872 Baptisms 1830-1872 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1857-1872 Copy of baptisms 1857-1872 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1873-1898 Baptisms 1873-1898 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1831-1907 Confirmations 1831-1907 at Archion - images ($), reformed?
 * 1860-1875 Confirmations 1860-1875 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1830-1898 Marriages 1830-1898 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1830-1852 Copy of burials 1830-1852 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1830-1885 Burials 1830-1885 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1853-1874 Burials 1853-1874 at Archion - images ($)

Kleinschmalkalden (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha)
Church records begin in 1690.


 * 1690-1740 Church records 1690-1740 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1741-1773 Church records 1741-1773 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1774-1792 Church records 1774-1792 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1793-1810 Church records 1793-1810 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1809-1820 Church records 1809-1820 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1821-1850 Baptisms 1821-1850 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1850-1875 Baptisms 1850-1875 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1876-1905 Baptisms 1876-1905 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1906-1992 Baptisms 1906-1992 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1876-1934 Confirmations 1876-1934 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1821-1866 Marriages 1821-1866 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1867-1876 Marriages 1867-1876 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1876-1927 Marriages 1876-1927 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1928-1989 Marriages 1928-1989 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1821-1850 Burials 1821-1850 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1850-1875 Burials 1850-1875 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1876-1931 Burials 1876-1931 at Archion - images ($)
 * 1932-1992 Burials 1932-1992 at Archion - images ($)

Civil Registration
Civil registration for Kleinschmalkalden began in October 1874 (Hesse-Nassau) or January 1876 (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha).

Town Genealogy (OFB or Ortsfamilienbuch)
For more information about compiled genealogies, see the article Germany Town Genealogies.

Societies and Libraries
Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck Family History Society for Nassau and Frankfurt Hessian Family History Association Hessian State Archives Society for Family Studies in Kurhessen and Waldeck