Baden Civil Registration

In the beginning registration of births, marriages and deaths were done by the individual parishes. With time parish registers became accessable to the worldy authorities as well. Consequently, the state took influence in how to organize the church books and civil registration. Offices which overlooked the process were lower administrations and later the Standesämter. Civil Registration begins in Baden under decree by Napoleon Bonaparte between 1792 and 1808. With the new instructions came new ways to organize the records. They can be written in French and they have a new chronology: The French Republican Calendar. To understand the new system and how to decode the dates, click