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Finding Aids For German Records: Difference between revisions
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==Studying Your German Locality for Important Details== | ==Studying Your German Locality for Important Details== | ||
*To begin using the records of Germany, knowing that your family came from Germany will not be enough to use the records of Germany. Records are kept on the local level, so you will have to know the town they lived in. | *To begin using the records of Germany, knowing that your family came from Germany will not be enough to use the records of Germany. Records are kept on the local level, so you will have to know the town they lived in. Even when you know the town, the records for that town might be stored in the collection of a nearby town. | ||
*Here are important details you must identify about your ancestors' town: | |||
* | |||
**if you have only a village name, you will need the name of the larger municipality it was part of. | **if you have only a village name, you will need the name of the larger municipality it was part of. | ||
**the county (Kreise) and other jurisdictions governing that town, | |||
**where the civil registration office ("Standesamt") was and now is, | |||
**where the Evangelical Lutheran or Catholic parish church overseeing that town was (depending on their religion), | |||
**in he case of larger cities with several parishes and/or civil registration office: the street address, or the specific parish, or a list of all the parishes. | **in he case of larger cities with several parishes and/or civil registration office: the street address, or the specific parish, or a list of all the parishes. | ||
===Finding Evidence of Your Ancestors' Town in United States Records=== | |||
If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it. | If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it. | ||
*Use [[Germany Finding Town of Origin|'''Germany Finding Town of Origin''']] as a guide in exhausting every possible record to find what you need.<br> | *Use [[Germany Finding Town of Origin|'''Germany Finding Town of Origin''']] as a guide in exhausting every possible record to find what you need.<br> | ||