Hanover (Hannover), Prussia, German Empire Genealogy

Guide to Hanover (Hannover), 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.

Hanover (Hannover) Wiki Topics

Getting Started
Locating Place of Origin Finding Aids For German Records Research Strategies Record Finder
Major Record Types
Church Records	Civil Registration
Reading the Records
Feast Days Handwriting Languages	Script Tutorial Word List
Additional Hanover (Hannover) Record Types

Census Court Records Emigration & Immigration Genealogy Land and Property Military Records	Naturalization and Citizenship Occupations Online Genealogy Records Population Taxation
Hanover (Hannover) Background
History Jurisdictions Maps	Naming Customs Place Names
Hanover (Hannover) Local Research Resources
Archives and Libraries Societies FamilySearch Center
Germany Record Types
Cemeteries Census Court Records Jewish Records Population Records Manumission Newspapers	Online Records Town Genealogies Periodicals Probate Records Religious Records School Records
Germany Background
Biography Church Directories Church History Cities & Towns Funerary Customs Cultural Areas	Historical Geography History Jurisdictions Letter Writing Guide Naming Customs Nobility Websites

Historical Background

The Kingdom of Hanover (Hannover)was founded in 1814 at the Congress of Vienna as the successor state of the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
From 1814-1837, it was united with Great Britain, and ruled by its kings.
As a result of the German war between Prussia and Austria, the Kingdom of Hanover (Hannover) lost its independence in 1866. Prussia annexed it as the province of Hannover.
In 1946, the state of Hannover was re-established. It merged soon afterwards with the smaller neighboring countries Braunschweig, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe to form the new state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen).

Königreich Hannover (Wikipedia)

Getting Started

Getting Started with Germany Research

Links to articles on getting started with German research:

See More Research Strategies

Germany Research Tools

Links to tools and websites that assist in German research:

See More Research Tools

Hanover (Hannover) Online Genealogy Records

Germany Online Genealogy Records

Online
Research Help

Historical Geography

Hanover (Hannover) within the German Empire

Province of Hanover (Hannover), Prussia (Preussen) 1866-1946

Hanover (Hannover) Within
Modern Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)

1871 Region	Geo-Political Differences Today	FamilySearch Catalog (organized by 1871 Meyer's Gazetteer)	Wiki Page
Hanover (Hannover)	1946: Merged into Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)	Preussen, Hannover	Hanover (Hannover), German Empire Genealogy (before 1945)]] Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany Genealogy (after 1945)

Finding Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for Hanover (Hannover)

Most of the information you need to identify you ancestors and their families will be found in two major record groups: civil registration and church records. To locate these records, follow the instructions in these Wiki articles.

1. Find the name of your ancestor's town in family history records.

Records were kept on the local level. You must know the town where your ancestor lived. If your ancestor was a United States Immigrant, use the information in the Wiki article Germany Finding Town of Origin to find evidence of the name of the town where your ancestors lived in Germany. Also, see:

Roots in Germany: Click on "German Resources" in the left sidebar. Click on "Niedersachsen / Lower Saxony" in the Federal States list on the right. Scroll down to "Regional Emigrant Lists + Online Databases".
Niedersachsen Archives Search Page, enter "Auswanderung" and surname.
Emigrants from Beesten
Emigrants from Brinkum 1828-1876
Landkreis Cuxhaven Emigrants 1830-1930
List of 3600 Emigrants from the village of Buer and surrounding villages (community Melle, district Osnabrueck, state Niedersachsen/Lower-Saxony)
Emigrants from Emsland, Niedersachsen to the American Mid-West (19th Century) mostly to Illinios & Missouri
Names of emigrants as detected in the records of the city archive of Rahden (see list at the bottom of the page).
Regional Emigration Databases includes Emigration from the Former County of Delmenhorst 1830-1930, County of Cuxhaven 1830-1930, Counties of Cloppenburg and Vechta 1830-about 1875, and Bad Laer 19th Century
Emigrants from Diepholz and other places
Bremen passenger list 1920 and onward
Melle Names can be retrieved by clicking on the word Auswanderung. Names (and their variations) of immigrants from Melle, Buer, Gesmold, Neuenkirchen, Oldendorf, Riemsloh/Hoyel, and Wellingholzhausen are listed.

Hannover City or Kindgom of Hannover

If information about your own ancestor shows that they were from Hannover, they might have been from Hannover City or somewhere else outside the city but within the Kingdom of Hannover (surrounding the city). Use the indexes of births, marriages, and deaths at Kirchenbuchindex, 1774-1875 to determine whether they were from the city.

2. Use gazetteers and/or parish register inventories to learn more important details.

Your ancestor's town might have been too small to have its own parish church or civil registration office. Find the location of the Catholic or Lutheran (Evangelical) parish that served your ancestor's locality. Find the name of the civil registration office (Standesamt) that serves your ancestor's locality. Use the Wiki article Finding Aids For German Records for step-by-step instructions.

Germany was first unified as a nation in 1871. An important gazetteer, Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, "Meyer's Gazetter" for short, details the place names of villages, towns, counties (kreise), and higher jurisdictions used at that time. In the Research Wiki, FamilySearch Catalog, and FamilySearch Historical Records, the records of Germany are organized using those place names.

You can also consult Hanover (Hannover) Parish Record Inventories to learn the Lutheran or Catholic parish that would have kept records for your town.

At the end of both World Wars, the boundaries of the states were changed dramatically, as areas of Germany were distributed among the Allied nations. Eventually, after re-unification in 1990, the states of Germany settled into what they are today. It is also necessary to understand Germany by this system, as it affects the locations of civil registration offices, archives, and mailing addresses used in correspondence searches.

3. For birth, marriage, and death records from 1809-1815, then beginning again on 1 October 1874, use civil registration.

Follow the instructions in Hanover (Hannover) German Empire Civil Registration.

4. For baptism, marriage, and death records, use church records or parish registers.

Follow the instructions in Hanover (Hannover), German Empire Church Records.

More Research Strategies and Tools

Germany Online Classes and Tutorials
German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting
Old German Script Transcriber (alte deutsche Handschriften): See your family names in the script of the era. Type your name or other word into the font generator tool. Click on the 8 different fonts. Save the image to your computer and use it as you work with old Germanic records.
Finding Aids for German Records
Research Tips and Strategies
These printable handouts can be used for ready reference when reading German Handwriting.

Letters:

Vocabulary found on Specific Records:

Dates, Numbers, Abbreviations:

Miscellaneous Vocabulary:

Fraktur:

Fraktur Font -- Many forms and books are printed in this font.