Germany Maps: Difference between revisions

=== Finding a Specific Town on the Map === To do successful German research, you must identify the town where your ancestor lived. Because many towns have the same name, you may need some additional information before you can find the correct town on a map. Gazetteers can help you identify the government district your ancestor's town was in. With this information, you may be able to distinguish between places with the same name. See the “Gazetteers” and “Historical Geography” sections for more information. Along with gazetteers, check histories, family records, and other sources to learn all you can about your ancestor's area. The following information can be very helpful: *The government administrative districts in which your ancestor's town was located see [FHL|325694 =''Meyers Gazetteer''] *Your ancestor's state or province *The ancestor's religion (in most places one religious denomination is predominant) *The name of the parish where your ancestor was baptized or married  *Places where related ancestors lived *The size of your ancestor's town *The occupation of your ancestor or his or her relatives (This information may indicate the town size or industries of the town.) *Nearby localities, such as large cities *Nearby features, such as rivers and mountains *Industries of the area *Other names the town was known by The more information you can gather about the town where your ancestor lived, the better chance you have of finding it on a map. For identifying and locating a town or village from Prussia that is currently part of Poland, the [http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asp Kartenmeister website is very helpful.] Featured on this website is an extensive database of 75391 locations. All locations are east of the Oder and Neisse rivers and are based on the borders of the eastern provinces in Spring 1918. Included in this database are the following provinces: Eastprussia, including Memel, Westprussia, Brandenburg, Posen, Pomerania, and Silesia. When searching the database for a location name, the data returned will include the German and Polish names of the location as well as the longitude and latitude of the location.