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*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> | ||
==The German Empire 1871, | ==The German Empire 1871, Gazetteers, and FamilySearch Records== | ||
Germany was first unified as a nation in 1871. The German Empire consisted of 26 states, most of them ruled by royal families. They included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. An important gazetteer, [http://www.meyersgaz.org '''''Meyers Orts- und Verkehrslexikon des deutschen Reichs''], "Meyer's Gazetteer" for short''', details the place names of villages, towns. counties (kreise), and higher jurisdictions used at that time. As FamilySearch began microfilming the records of Germany, those records were organized in the Card Catalog using those place names. That system is still in use today in the FamilySearch Catalog and FamilySearch Historical Records. <br> | *Germany was first unified as a nation in 1871. The German Empire consisted of 26 states, most of them ruled by royal families. They included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. | ||
*An important gazetteer, [http://www.meyersgaz.org '''''Meyers Orts- und Verkehrslexikon des deutschen Reichs''], "Meyer's Gazetteer" for short''', details the place names of villages, towns. counties (kreise), and higher jurisdictions used at that time. As FamilySearch began microfilming the records of Germany, those records were organized in the Card Catalog using those place names. That system is still in use today in the FamilySearch Catalog and FamilySearch Historical Records. <br> | |||
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. | *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. | ||
For the provinces of East Prussia (Ostpreussen), Posen, Pomerania (Pommern), Silesia (Schlesien), parts of Brandenburg, and West Prussia (Westpreussen), areas which no longer belong to Germany, the online gazetteer [http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asp '''Kartenmeister'''] most efficiently tells you parish information: | |||
**Class: Kartenmeister.com Finding Places in the Former German Area of Poland | |||
*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 archives and mailing addresses used in correspondence searches.<br> | |||
==Finding Your Town's Province, Kingdom, or Duchy in 1871== | ==Finding Your Town's Province, Kingdom, or Duchy in 1871== | ||