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Germany Research Outline |
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Table of Contents
Introduction
German Search Strategies
Records At The Family History Library
Familysearch™
The Family History Library Catalog
Archives And Libraries
Biography
Cemeteries
Census
Church Directories
Church History
Church Records
General Historical Background
Information Recorded In Church Records
Locating Church Records
Search Strategies
Civil Registration
General Historical Background
Regional Differences
Information Recorded In Civil Registers
Locating Civil Registration Records
Court Records
Directories
Dwellings
Emigration And Immigration
Finding The Emigrant's Town Of Origin
Emigration From Germany
Records Of German Emigrants In Their Destination Countries
Gazetteers
Genealogy
Handwriting
Heraldry
Historical Geography
History
Jewish Records
Land And Property
Language And Languages
Maps
Military Records
Types Of Military Records
Foreign Military Service
Locating Military Records
Military History
Names, Personal
Naturalization And Citizenship
Newspapers
Nobility
Obituaries
Occupations
Periodicals
Population
Probate Records
Schools
Societies
Other Records
For Further Reading
Comments And Suggestions
POPULATION Police began keeping records of each German's residence in the 1840s. Citizens were required to tell the police at the local registration office [Meldeamt or Einwohnermeldeamt] when they moved. The records created are called registrations To use the records, you must know the approximate years a person lived in a town. The records usually give a person's name, birth date, birthplace, occupation, each residence in the city, and where he or she moved. These records supplement church records and civil registration. The Family History Library has a selection of these records, most notably in Hamburg, Sachsen, and Thüringen. For example, the library has over 4,000 films for Leipzig (1890-1949). Population registers
Probate records and wills Probate records are not usually used for German genealogical research. Only individuals who owned property, along with their relatives, were mentioned in probate records. Most farmers, merchants, and artisans did not own their own farms or shops and did not leave wills. Other sources, such as church records and civil registration records, give much of the same information as probate records and cover a larger percentage of the population. In addition, probate records are hard to access. Very few probate records have been microfilmed. However, some German probate records are very old, as early as the 1300s, and occasionally they provide information found nowhere else.
Original probate records can still be found in state and town archives or local courts The Family History Library has only a few probate records for Germany. The are listed in the Locality Search of the catalog under:
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[Melderegister] or residents lists [Einwohnerregister]. They are usually found at the city archives.
are found in the Locality Search of the catalog under:
GERMANY, [STATE], [TOWN] - POPULATIONGERMANY, [STATE], [TOWN] - OCCUPATIONS
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PROBATE RECORDS
[Testamente] are court records that deal with the distribution of a person's estate after death. Information in probate records can include the deceased person's death date and occupation; relationships, residences and names of heirs and guardians; an inventory of the estate; and names of witnesses.
[Amtsgericht]. You can write to a city or state archive and request a search of their probate records for your ancestor if you believe that he left an estate.
GERMANY, [STATE], [TOWN] - PROBATE RECORDS
[FamilySearchTM: Research Guidance
Version of Data: 6/8/2001]