Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany Genealogy

Germany  Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)

Guide to Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

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Lower Saxony

The capital, Hanover,

Research Tools

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 * Handwriting Guide
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 * Kurrentschrift Converter (enter German genealogical word, click on "convert", view your word in Kurrentschrift (Gothic handwriting)*German Chronological Jurisdictions

Getting started in Lower Saxony research
Before starting your research in Lower Saxony, you need to know the name of your ancestor in its original or Germanic form, an approximate date when he or she was born, and the village or parish where he or she may have lived in Lower Saxony.

Civil registration began in Lower Saxony in xxxx. If your research in Lower Saxony begins after xxxx, then you should begin with the records kept by the local authorities of your ancestor's residence. If your research begins before xxxx, you should begin with the parish registers for baptisms, marriages and burials kept in the church archives.

Once you have this information, you can search in the local archives for more information about your ancestor.

Administrative Districts
Lower Saxony is divided into 38 rural districts (Kreise), and 10 urban districts (Kreisfreie Städte).

Rural Districts (Kreise):

Ammerland, Aurich, County of Bentheim, Celle, Cloppenburg, Cuxhaven, Diepholz, Emsland, Friesland, Gifhorn, Goslar, Göttingen, Hamelin-Pyrmont, Hanover, Harburg, Heidekreis, Helmstedt, Hildesheim, Holzminden, Leer, Lüchow-Dannenberg, Lüneburg, Nienburg, Northeim, Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Osterholz, Osterode, Peine, Rotenburg, Schaumburg, Stade, Uelzen, Vechta, Verden, Wesermarsch, Wittmund, Wolfenbüttel

Urban Districts (Kreisfreie Städte):

Braunschweig, Delmenhorst, Emden, Göttingen, Hanover, Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Salzgitter, Wilhelmshaven, Wolfsburg

Notes and References

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