Germany Research Tips and Strategies

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Germany

Research Tips and Strategies

Purpose of Research Tips and Strategies Wiki Page The Germany Research Tips and Strategies page consists of links to specific research strategies for Germany. It also contains general tips and other resources for finding your ancestors in this locality.

Germany Research Strategies

Below are links to different research strategy Wiki pages to help you locate your ancestors in Germany:

• Getting Started
• "How to" Guides
• Germany Finding Town of Origin
• Germany Online Genealogy Records
• German Empire - How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
• Gathering Information to Locate Place of Origin in Germany
• German Research Troubleshooting Strategies
• Finding Aids For German Records
• Finding Parish Registers for Germany Areas Now in Other Countries
• French Influence on German Research

Germany Research Tips

• Online Learning - video classes
• Record Finder - gives suggestions for records to search
• Almost all of your research can be accomplished in two record sources: civil registration and church records.
• All records are kept on a local basis. You must find the town of origin in Germany. See Germany Gathering Information to Locate Place of Origin.
• All German records are organized in the FamilySearch catalog according to their place name in 1871 when the German Empire was formed from many small principalities.
• After WW II, many areas of east Germany were given to other countries such as Poland and Czechia. Finding parish registers for formerly eastern Germany areas now in other countries announces searchable digitized parish registers in archives of those countries.
• Research the entire family as a unit. Document at least the births of all children. Many people have identical or similar names, sometimes even in the same family. You may need to follow each child through from birth to death in order to confirm which one is your ancestor.
  

Germany Record Finder

This Record Finder is designed to help you determine the best record to search for the type of information you are looking for.

What you are looking for:	Try these records first:	Other useful records:
Birth date	Church Records, Civil Registration, Jewish Records	Obituaries, Occupations, Census
Birthplace	Church Records, Civil Registration, Jewish Records	Occupations, Naturalization and Citizenship, Schools, Military Records
Marriage	Church Records, Civil Registration, Jewish Records	Genealogy, Periodicals, Nobility, Newspapers
Maiden name	Church Records,Civil Registration	Jewish Records, Obituaries
Death	Church Records, Civil Registration, Jewish Records,Obituaries, Newspapers	Probate Records, Court Records, Occupations, Cemeteries
Parents, children, and other family members	Church Records,Civil Registration, Obituaries, Jewish Records	Probate Records, Land and Property, Naturalization and Citizenship
Living relatives	Directories, Genealogy	Societies, Periodicals
Places of residence	Population, Church Records, Emigration and Immigration, Directories, Jewish Records, Military Records	Biography, Genealogy, Census, Dwellings, Land and Property, Periodicals Names (Personal)
Emigration information	Emigration and Immigration, Societies, Military Records, Periodicals,Newspapers	See the FamilySearch Wiki aricle for the country to which the ancestor immigrated.
Religion	Church Records	History
Physical description	Military Records, Biography	Genealogy, Emigration and Immigration

To look for more Germany records, go here.

Other Research Tips

When children were born illegitimately and the father’s name is not known what research strategy is suggested?
1. Check who the witnesses were at birth of child. Likelihood is that there might be a relationship
There might exist a separate section in the church book for illegitimate births.
2. Check whether the mother marries the father later and the child became legitimized by the father’s acknowledgment .
3. Check confirmation records.
4. Find school records to see if school fees were paid for the child and by whom (Search in School records . One possibility “Kirchenvisitationen”, “Schülerverzeichnis”)
5. Was the child adopted? (Search in court records, key word: “ Adoptionen”, “Vormundschaft”)
6. See if a will exists in which the child was bequeathed money or property. (Search in court records for “Testamente”)

When parents came from a city unknown what would be the research strategy?
1. Check the witnesses at the children’s baptisms. Witnesses might be relatives and there may be a place name which could give a clue.
2. Check citizenship records of present residence (Search for” Bürgerrolle”, “Bürgerbuch”, “Bürgerliste”,” Bürgerverzeichnis”, “Einwohnermeldeverzeichnis”)
3. Check for journeymen or servants records (Search for “Geburtsbriefe”, “Gesindebuch”, “Heimatscheine”, “Wanderbücher”, “Gutsarchiv” records)
4. Check census records. Search for “Volkszählungen”.
5. Check guild records. Search for “Innungen”
6. Check neighboring church records to see if parents appeared as witnesses.

When given and surnames are present more than once in a parish and additional persons cannot easily be assigned to each other, what would be the research strategy?

1. Establish whole families. See who has married whom and had what children.
2. Compare findings in church books with court records. 90% of the population in Germany were dependent farmers. They did not own their farms but had usufruct , for which they were taxed and recorded in administrative records. Parents would bequeath, sell , lease or retire, and children inherit personal property. All such actions were recorded in court records. ( Search in archival records, such as ”Schuld- und Pfandprotokolle”)
3. Check tax lists. Twice a year people were required to pay taxes. See if the same heads of family pay each time. If the head of household dies, the widow continues to pay taxes until her child becomes of age and takes over or she remarries. (Search for “Steuerlisten”, “Steuerrollen”, “Amtsrechnungen”).

When different spellings exist for a family name what would be the research strategy?
1. Be aware that spelling rules are not set until the early 1900s. Dialects can apply when writing official records. Some consonants and vowels are interchangeable. The name Triebenbach can be spelled Driebenbach, Treubenbach, Drübenbach.
2. Names can be Latinized: The name Keller becomes Cellarius, names can sound as if they are Latin, such as Debelius.
3. The priest simply made a mistake
4. Consider looking at neighboring parish registers
5. Always compare the spelling of a name with other documents available for the time period. (The most common ones are taxlists, in German “Steuerlisten”, “Steuerrollen”).

When church records from a parish cannot be located what should be the research strategy?
1. Check if the correct parish was chosen. A good source to check is a gazetteer.
2. Have parish jurisdictions changed?
3. Check with the diocese (Bistum) or deanery (Dekanat) if a duplicate record does exist and where it was deposited.

For Evangelical records check here (Evangelische Kirche in Thüringen)

Catholic church (Adressen, Gemeinden, Dekanate

When church books no longer exist because they were destroyed what should the research strategy be?
Gather information from other records:
1. Tax records (Steuerlisten, Schatzungslisten) – located in state archives
2. Debt registers, citizenship records, fire insurance registers (Schuldenregister, Löscheimerlisten, Brandregister, Bürgerlisten) – located in city archives, mayor‘s office
3. Guild records, notary records, land records (Innungslisten, Zunftbücher, notarielle Akten, Grundbuchsachen – state archives
4. Kataster, Bannbücher (cadastral , absolvent books) – state archives, cadastral offices, finance departments
5. Tax records of parishes (Lagerbücher) – church archives
6. House lists, address books, house ownership lists, military records, vaccination records (Häuserlisten, Adressbücher, Hauswirtslisten, Stammrollen, Impflisten) – city archives
7. News papers (Zeitungen, Amtsblätter) - city archive, state archive
8. Emigration records, census records, Wählerlisten (Auswanderungsakten, Volkszählungen,
voting records) – state archive
9. Cemetery records (Gräber, Gottesacker) – city archive

Check out the archive list available for Thüringen

Other Research Helps

• Finding Aids for German Records