User:Amberannelarsen/sandbox/285

Guide to Hesse (Hessen), 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

 * 1806: The "Grand Duchy of Hesse" was originally formed on the basis of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt.
 * 1816: Changed its name in 1816 (after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815) to distinguish itself from the Electorate of Hesse, which had formed from neighboring Hesse-Kassel. Colloquially, the grand duchy continued to be known by its former name of Hesse-Darmstadt.
 * 1867: Northern half of the Grand Duchy (Upper Hesse) became a part of the North German Confederation, while the half of the Grand Duchy south of the Main (Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse) remained Independent.
 * 1871: Joined the German Empire.
 * 1918: Became a republic after German defeat in World War I.
 * 1945: After World War II, the majority of the state combined to form the new state of Hessen, composed of:
 * most of Hessen-Darmstadt
 * Frankfurt am Main
 * the Waldeck area (from Rheinland)
 * the former Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau.
 * Excluded were:
 * the Montabaur district from Hessen-Nassau, and
 * that part of Hessen-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine (Rheinhessen), which became part of the Rhineland-Palatinate state, and
 * (Bad) Wimpfen, an exclave of Hessen-Darmstadt, became part of Baden-Württemberg.
 * The term "Rhenish Hesse" (German: Rheinhessen) refers to the part of the former Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt located west of the Rhine. It has not been part of the State of Hesse (Hessen) since 1946. This province is now part of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.