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Finding Aids For German Records: Difference between revisions
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→Finding Aids For German Records for Important Details
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==Finding Aids For German Records for Important Details== | ==Finding Aids For German Records 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''' | *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, that town might be part of a large parish headquartered in a nearby town. So the parish where their baptism, marriage, and burial records were kept is found in catalogs and archives under a different name than the town of their actual residence'''. | ||
*Here are important details you must identify about your ancestors' town: | *Here are important details you must identify about your ancestors' town: | ||
**if you have only a village name, | **if you have only a village name, the name of the larger '''municipality''' it was part of, | ||
**the county | **the county (Kreis) and the '''province or state''' governing that town, | ||
**where the '''civil registration office ("Standesamt")''' was and now | **where the '''civil registration office ("Standesamt")''' was during the German Empire, and where it is now, | ||
**where the ''' Evangelical Lutheran or Catholic parish church''' overseeing that town was (depending on their religion), | **where the ''' Evangelical Lutheran or Catholic parish church''' overseeing that town was (depending on their religion), | ||
**Eventually, you might need to know the names of '''neighboring towns''' and the '''churches who served them. ''' When you come to a dead-end in your research, you will need to look at the records of near-by towns. People tended to not move very far away, and sometimes you will be able to pick up the research again in these towns. | **Eventually, you might need to know the names of '''neighboring towns''' and the '''churches who served them. ''' When you come to a dead-end in your research, you will need to look at the records of near-by towns. People tended to not move very far away, and sometimes you will be able to pick up the research again in these towns. | ||
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====Cultural Regions==== | ====Cultural Regions==== | ||
Germany has many "cultural regions" and "geographical landscapes", smaller, informal areas that were not political entities | Germany has many "cultural regions" and "geographical landscapes", smaller, informal areas that were not political entities, for example, "The Black Forest" or "Frisia". Your ancestors might have left records or family traditions that they were from one of these areas. This list of [http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Landschaft '''"landscapes" by GenWiki'''] can help you identify these regions. Once you know that the information is a cultural region not a town, you will know that you need to search further to narrow down your ancestors' town. | ||
== Determining the Location of a Civil Registration Office == | == Determining the Location of a Civil Registration Office == | ||