West Prussia (Westpreußen) Land and Property

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Prästationstabellen

were property tax registers for the royal villages in Prussia since the 1723. These records contain besides information about the ecomonic situation of a village lists of farmers. These lists were renewed every 6 years. With the year 1787 Prästationstabellen are especially valuabe since they contain information from the property and mortgage records, which contained information about the acquisition of a property. There do not exist lists for properties of nobility (Rittergüter, Dominia) as well as city properties. Within Prästationstabellen are also lists of millings.

Since the land reforms of the 19th century Erbpacht (inheritable leases) were abolished and the buying of property was possible. The land now became properties rather than leases. With this change the Prästationstabellen disappeared (1850). The records for such Ablösungen or Austuungen (discharge) are in the Generalkommissionen at Breslau for Silesia as well as in Bromberg for Poznan and West Prussia. The Prästationstabellen were replaced to some degree through Kataster done by Katasterämter starting in the year 1861.

Source: http://wiki.de.genealogy.net/Praestations-Tabellen

Some records of Prästationstabellen for East Prussia are available through www.familysearch.org catalog, keyword search Prastationstabellen. Film can be ordered through the Family History Center network