Germany Research Tips and Strategies: Difference between revisions

Germany Research Tips and Strategies (view source)

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 [https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/results.html?fq=place%3A%22Germany%22 German Research Online Tutorials] This link leads to classes on German research offered in the FamilySearch Learning Center.
-The effects of history, local customs, and record-keeping practices can make German family history research difficult. Here are some suggested strategies and notes about things that are helpful to know.
+The effects of history, local customs, and record-keeping practices can make German family history research difficult. Here are some suggested strategies and notes about things that are helpful to know.<br>
 ==== Basic principles  ====
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 *Whenever both church- and civil records are available, check both sets. The records served different purposes and may complement each other in the details provided<br>
-==== Geography and history<br> ====
+==== Geography and history<br>  ====
 Complement your genealogical research with a study of the geography and general history of your ancestor’s birth place and the surrounding area. Much information can be found on the Internet. Find someone to help in translating material found on German web sites. Invest in some good books for your area of interest. Town or regional histories are often available.<br>
 ==== Using maps<br>  ====
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 *Understand changes in jurisdictions that may have taken place over time.<br>
-==== Using genealogy databases online<br> ====
+==== Using genealogy databases online<br>  ====
 *Databases are secondary sources. <br>
 *Researchers submit what they know. This information may or may not have been documented.<br>
 *The submitter may be more closely or distantly related to your ancestor and research from a different perspective.<br>
 *Submissions are posted “as is”; they are not checked for their integrity.<br>
 *Depending on region, record availability, and time period there may be a lot of duplication.<br>
 *Variants can include different forms and spellings for the given name and surname and significant variations in both places and dates.
@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 *Understand the family’s socio-economic background and its implications in their daily lives.<br>
 *Also keep in mind popular late 19th and early 20th Century myths such as “He was an illegitimate son of a nobleman, whose mother worked at the castle.” Or “The surname was changed at Ellis Island.” “They met on the boat coming over” etc]. There may be some truth in them, but fairly often these were just romantic notions.<br>
+==== Regional peculiarities<br> ====
+Regional differences may affect genealogical research. Here are some examples:<br>
+*In Mecklenburg, micro-mobility [moving around from town to town within a relatively small radius to get work] and the use of multiple given names are common challenges. Mecklenburg-Schwerin is also one of the few areas where a statewide census was taken at irregular intervals [1819, 1867, 1890].
+*In Ostfriesland patronymics were used regularly until at least 1811. After that the practice was gradually replaced by a modified system that included the father’s given name as the child’s middle name, used with the now mandatory fixed surname.
+*Schleswig- Holstein went back and forth between Denmark and Germany for several centuries. Regular censuses were taken by the Danes in the 19th Century. Records may be written in German or Danish. Patronymics may be used.&nbsp;
+*In Westfalen and neighboring areas the preference of farm names over personal family names was strong into the mid-19th Century. Husbands frequently took on the wife’s surname, if that was associated with the property on which they lived. Sometimes the surname changed as tenant farmer families moved from farm to farm.
 ==== "Technical difficulties"<br>  ====
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 Possible "technical difficulties include pages missing from the original record or accidentally skipped during filming. This may not be obvious. Many record books do not have page numbers, and numbering added after the original pages had been written can be misleading. <br>
-Older books may have fallen apart and been re-bound prior to filming. Pages may have been bound in the wrong sequence. This is difficult to detect on a two-dimensional film or digital image. So- always make sure that all elements of the record fit together and make sense.<br>Pages may have been numbered after a book was re-bound, resulting in consecutively numbered pages that may be out of their original sequence.<br>"Left side-right side" films<br>
+Older books may have fallen apart and been re-bound prior to filming. Pages may have been bound in the wrong sequence. This is difficult to detect on a two-dimensional film or digital image. So- always make sure that all elements of the record fit together and make sense.<br>Pages may have been numbered after a book was re-bound, resulting in consecutively numbered pages that may be out of their original sequence.<br>
-Some catalog entries note: “l.s.-r.s.” in the description. This is shorthand for “left side – right side”, meaning that the left-hand pages were filmed separately from the right-hand pages. This can be tricky if the entries go across both pages. Often the year will be written only on one side, while the parents’ names are written on the other side of the page.<br>In this case, you will need to begin you research on the side that has the names. Good note keeping is imperative! Each frame has a frame number stamped above the image. Note this number, left side or right side of the page, and which entry on the page is of interest. Then find the matching frame on the opposite side and match up your information. The frame numbers may be off by one, depending on which side of the page received the first number.<br><br><br>
+==== "Left side-right side" films<br>  ====
-<br>
+Some catalog entries note: “l.s.-r.s.” in the description. This is shorthand for “left side – right side”, meaning that the left-hand pages were filmed separately from the right-hand pages. This can be tricky if the entries go across both pages. Often the year will be written only on one side, while the parents’ names are written on the other side of the page.<br>In this case, you will need to begin you research on the side that has the names. Good note keeping is imperative! Each frame has a frame number stamped above the image. Note this number, left side or right side of the page, and which entry on the page is of interest. Then find the matching frame on the opposite side and match up your information. The frame numbers may be off by one, depending on which side of the page received the first number.<br>
 ==== Using a library catalog<br>  ====
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 *Entries that have been edited recently may not show up in the Catalog. If you can no longer find a record that you know was previously there, ask a reference consultant to check the master catalog.<br>
-==== Common <u>false </u>assumptions<br> ====
+==== Common <u>false </u>assumptions<br>  ====
 Some common false assumptions [the opposite tends to be true]:<br>
-*Most couples were married when their first child was born [illegitimacy rates varied by time period and locality, but tended to be around 10 %]
+*Most couples were married when their first child was born [illegitimacy rates varied by time period and locality, but tended to be around 10&nbsp;%]
 *People usually married young [Many states passed laws requiring minimum ages at marriage in order to curtail population growth among the lower classes.]
 *People didn’t move around much. [That depends on the local economy.]
 *A person will always be recorded with the same first and last names. [This also depends on local customs.]
 *A cross in the baptismal record means that the child died young.
 *Ages given in death records are usually correct. [Ages are flexible. Variations of up to five years either way, more for very old individuals, are normal.]
 *Notations in original records are always correct.
 *Family books are usually complete and correct. [For instance, they may be missing several children that died young.]<br>
-Search and ''Re''search!<br>
+==== Search and ''Re''search!<br>  ====
 *When you have a larger-than normal gap between children, re-check the baptismal records. Double-check records often.
 *Re-do work you did when you first began doing research.
 *Re-check records after new information has shed a different light on things.<br><br>
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