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A GENEALOGICAL HANDBOOK OF GERMAN RESEARCH |
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Acknowldegements
Chapter 1 Historical And Geographical
Chapter 2 Emigration Before 1800
Chapter 3 Emigration After 1800
Chapter 4 Determining The Place Of Origin L.d.s. Sources
Chapter 5 Determining The Place Of Origin U.S. Sources
Chapter 6 Determining The Place Of Origin European Sources
Chapter 7 Analyzing Surnames And Place Names
Chapter 8 Locating The Parish
Chapter 9 Determining The Present Name Of Localities
Chapter 10 Conducting An Area Search
Chapter 11 Record Repositories
Chapter 12 Naming Practices (patronymics And Occupational)
Chapter 13 Naming Practices (farm And Locality)
Chapter 14 Handwriting And Terminology Beginning
Chapter 15 Handwriting And Terminology Intermediate
Chapter 16 Handwriting And Terminology Advanced
Chapter 17 Feast Days And Calendars
Chapter 18 Finding A Birth Record
Chapter 19 Finding A Marriage Record
Chapter 20 Finding A Death Record
Chapter 21 Corresponding For Records
Chapter 22 German Genealogical And Family Organizations
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Appendix F
Index
At any given time in genealogical research, a researcher will be looking for one of three things: a birth, a marriage, or a death date of an ancestor. If available, civil and parish registers should be searched first, when they don't exist or when they are incomplete, it will be necessary to determine what other records exist, what they contain, the time periods they cover, where they are housed, and how to use them in doing research.
The important thing about using any type of record is being sure to obtain all of the information that is given in it. Often parish ministers and other recorders included additional information in the margin or within the body of the document. You may find the marriage and death dates given in a christening record or the birth date being given in the marriage or death record.
This, and the following two chapters, will show how civil, parish, and other record types can be used to obtain, if not an exact date, then at least a calculated or approximate date. Not every record type will be covered in these chapters, as that is not the purpose of them. The purpose of these three chapters is to show that records other than civil and parish can be used just as effectively in doing research as vital records can when the vital records are not available. They may also be used to verify or substantiate existing vital records when it is necessary.
Of all the records you may have to use, the civil registers will probably be one of the easiest to use. It began later than most records, it is often on printed forms, and it is sometimes indexed, thus making it easier to search. Fig. 18A is a copy of a civil birth record from Neuss, Rheinland, Prussia, in 1870. This, like most civil registers, gives the name of the parents and the child along with the date and place of the birth.
Click here to see Fig. 18A (Translation)
If the civil birth records are not available but the civil marriages are, it may be still possible to get a copy of the birth certificate. In many areas the civil registrar required the bride and bridegroom to furnish a copy of their birth certificates before they could get married. Many of these certificates were filed with the marriage records and contained the same information found on the regular birth certificate.
Civil death records also included information on the individual's date of birth. Sometimes it gave the complete date, other times just the individual's age at death; but even with the age it can make searching for the birth entry much easier.
The parish registers will give much the same information as the civil registry. The main difference is that the christening date will be given instead of the birth date; however, in many of the christening records, the birth date will also be given.
The parish marriage record may also contain information on the birth of the bride and the birth of the bridegroom. Fig. 18B is a copy and translation of a marriage entry from the parish of Varrenholz, Westphalia, Prussia.
Also, the parish burial record may give a birth date; and if not, it will usually give at least the age at death. In some parishes the death records will show how many years, months and days old a person was when he died. With this information it is possible to compute the actual birth date. The following are examples of how this is done:
It should not be assumed that these would be correct dates. You should always verify it with the birth or christening record.
If the parish has family registers, then you should search them even before the christening records are searched. The reason for this is that most family registers will list the complete family, and some of them will include grandparents, parents, and children. These records usually give the birth, marriage, and death dates for each family member. You should never accept the information given in the family register at face value because most of the information was recorded some time after the event had taken place. These records should be used in conjunction with the actual christening, marriage, and burial records making it quicker to search because you know who you are looking for and the time period to search.
Another record that may give either the birth date or the age of an individual is the church confirmation record. See Fig. 19B in the following chapter for an example. Most children were between the ages of 13 and 20 when they were confirmed. This was usually true of the catholic as well as most Protestant churches.
Another very important document that is found throughout Germany is the Geburtsbrief (letter of birth). This is also called the Geburtszeugnis (certificate of birth) or Herkunftszeugnis (certificate of origin). When an individual wanted to establish citizenship in a city or town, when he tried to join a guild, and even when he wanted to get married, he would usually have to furnish one of these documents to do so. These were not issued by the church, but the information was obtained from church records and issued by the civil authorities.
Guild records (Zunft, Innungs, and Gilderbucher) can also provide valuable information. Some of these were more detailed than modern day employment records. Fig. 19E in the next chapter is taken from the records of the brewers and bakers guild in Magdeburg, Saxony, Prussia. The record gives the name of the guild member, the name of his wife, and the names of all of their children. It gives their marriage date and the birth date of each child. These guilds were much stronger than their union counterparts today. Not only did they control where the guild member lived, but they played a major part in determining who the family members married as well as other things.
Census records (Volkzahlungen), resident lists (Einwohnerlisten), and citizen books (Burgerbucher) are just as diversified as any record type could be. They can be as complete as the Mecklenburg 1819 census which lists the complete family, giving date and place of birth and christening, occupation, length of stay, marital status, and religion; or they can be as brief as those giving only the names of the family heads.
German military records have not always proven to be a good genealogical source for doing research. The main reason is their inaccessibility as compared with other record types. There is one area in Germany where this is not the case. This is in the northern area in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein. In this area the military records are similar to those in Denmark. Fig. 18C is a copy from these records. In parts of Schleswig-Holstein, as in Denmark, a male child was entered into the military leving rolls when he was born. These records kept track of the father and his sons regardless of where they moved in that province it lists their names, residence, date of birth, and sometimes even the place of birth.
Police registration (Einwohnermelderegister) began about the 1840s. Before moving to another place, residents had to go to the police station and notify them where they were moving. Within three days after arriving at a new place, they had to go to the new police station and notify them where they had moved in from and where they were residing in that place. These records included the type of occupation that a person had, and sometimes it gave their age or date of birth.
Fig. 18C
The following are some research problems that have been found in birth and christening records. In some christening records the sex of the child may be given and no name, or a child may have been given a female name and the minister has stated that it was a boy or vice versa. In solving problems such as these, you would need to check the confirmation, marriage, and death records to determine the child's name or to determine the actual sex of the child.
Records of Ostfriesland were affected by the laws in Holland. One of the laws that existed in both areas pertained to children that lived less than three days after birth. The law stated that such children were to be considered stillborn and no death certicates or records were to be made for them. Because of this, you should be aware that any reference to a child being stillborn in this area could actually mean that the child may have lived up to three days.
Another problem relating to stillborns was found in the Schleswig-Holstein area and may pertain to other areas of Germany well. In the parish record it listed a child as being stillborn to an unwed mother. In the court records for this area it indicated that the child had not been stillborn but had been killed by the mother and that she had been sentenced to imprisonment for this act. In checking further in these court records a number of similar cases were found.
Concerning illegitimate children, it was not permissible for any such child to obtain citizenship in a town or gain entrance to a guild. Because of the importance of being of legitimate birth, families often paid court expenses to have the child legitimized. A good example of the importance of this is found a case mentioned in the German periodical, Zeitschrift Derzentralstelle fur Niedersachsische Familiengeschichte. The case involved a young man who had declared his intention to marry a young lady. After she had become pregnant he decided not to marry her. She took him to court not to force him to marry her but to have him legitimize the child after it was born, which he did. Afterwards the young man ended up marrying the young lady anyway.
There are many other things that could be mentioned concerning birth and birth records, again the important thing is to be aware of the existing records in the area of your research and also of the special types of problems that exist there.
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Copyright 1996, by Larry O. Jensen. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be translated or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the author. Printed in the U.S.A.
Chapter 18 Finding A Birth Record
Civil Registers
Church Records
1846
Day of Marriage
Bridegroom
Bride
Erder
1 Nov.
No. 23
Friedrich Philipp
Detmers, Carpenter
Legitimate Son of the Carpenter
Friedrich
Wilh. D. from Barntruz
Born Single Son from Barntruz
23 Sept. 1818 + 1870 No. 39
Sophie Justine Wilhelmina
Dammler born Wattenberg,
Widow of the (8+ Apr 1846)
papermaker journeyman
Christian
Wilh. D. Farmer No. 23
Born 13 Febr. 1812
+ 7. 6. 1848
Folio 20
Parish Arensböck
Name of the Place
Name of the
Head of the House
Name of
the Reserves
Birth
Year
Arensböck
Innkeeper
Claus Henrich
Hamann
His sons
Carl August Wilhelm
Daniel Henrich
36 years
1794
27 Jan
1797
17 Jun
[FamilySearchTM: Research Guidance
Version of Data: 6/7/2001]
