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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
An area search is the process of locating the specific place of your ancestors on a map and then systematically searching the surrounding towns for further information concerning them.
There are various reasons for using this research procedure. The following are a few of these:
The following procedure on locating a place on a detailed map is based on two assumptions:
Using the Meyers gazetteer, turn to Stegmannsdorf, see Fig. 10a:
The first thing that must be determined from this entry is the kingdom, province, or duchy to which the town belonged. For Stegmannsdorf this was the kingdom of Preussen and the province of Ostpreussen.
With this information you should turn next to part F in Appendix B, in which all of the kingdoms, etc., are listed followed by eight columns of abbreviations. These columns represent the order in which the designations for each Kingdom, etc., are found in the Meyers Gazetteer. These designations go from the largest territorial jurisdiction to the smallest. In part e of this appendix an alphabetical list of these designations is given along with a translation of each. The order in which the designations are given in the columns for the kingdom of Preussen are:
Returning to Fig. 10A, it shows that the largest territorial district for Stegmannsdorf is the “RB” located at Konigsberg, the next largest is the ‘KR.” located at Braunsberg, and the next is the “AG.” at Wormditt. The “BKDO.” can be disregarded in as much as it serves no purpose in helping to locate a place on a map. Since it indicates the place where the military command was, it may be helpful in locating military records. The next designation is the “STDA.” located at Wusen, if Stegmannsdorf had had a parish then the “PFK” would have also been given.
Next turn to a general map of Ostpruessen as found in Meyers encyclopedia, see Fig. l0B. On this map you must locate the largest district first. This will always be one of the largest cities on the map. The next district will also be a large city but usually smaller than the previous one. Each place continues to get smaller as it zeros in closer to the place you wish to find. See the example in Fig. l0B in which the following information is found:
Usually, the point is eventually reached when it is not possible to find the smaller towns on the general map and you must turn to the detailed maps. On the microfilm with the detailed maps you must turn to the first frame, which is an overview map of 1871 Germany, covered by a grid, see Fig. l0C.
This grid has both large and small squares as well as large and small numbers. It is the small number and square that should be turned to on the film. In this case you would locate the area of Ostpreussen on the first frame and locate the large town listed on the grid which would be closest to the area that you need. In this case it would be the place of Wormditt on map number 102.
In turning to map 102, you would first of all locate the town of Wormditt, see Fig. l0D.
In the general area of Wormditt you would next find the place of Wusen and then finally the town of Stegmannsdorf.
A
If you still have a problem finding the place, return again to the entry in Meyers and locate the Roman capital letter “E” which represents the Eisenbahn or train station. If this letter is followed by any type of punctuation, then the place itself had a train station. If not, then it will give the name and distance to the closest place that had one. The railroad tracks appear on these maps as black and white striped lines. By following the tracks, once you have determined the general area on the map, you will eventually locate the place that had the train station. By using the scale found at the bottom of most of these maps, you can easily determine the distance from the train station to the place you are looking for.
Once the place is found then the area search can begin.
B
When the town is located on the detailed maps, you must check the surrounding towns in Meyers to determine those places that had parishes.
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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 10 Conducting an Area Search
A parish may not exist in the town where an ancestor was from, so the surrounding towns must be searched to find the closest parish that he went to.
A dead-ended line may indicate that the family may have moved in from another area.
A missing christening or marriage record may indicate that it was performed in another parish, perhaps in that of a close relative. Also, the minister may have been away on a trip or even sick, requiring a family to travel to a neighboring parish.
The first step in conducting an area search is that of locating the place on a map where your ancestors are from. The area search itself is relatively easy, although sometimes time consuming. More difficult, usually, is the process of locating the place on a map.
That you do not have access at a public library to a detailed map of the area where your ancestors are from (by detailed, is meant maps that are at least 1:100,000 in scale, a map like this will usually show even the farming communities of an area.)
That you are close enough to either the main Genealogical Library or one of its branches, so you can use either the printed or filmed copies of the gazetteer and maps that will be referred to.
The following are the sources to be used in locating a place on a detailed map:
Myers Orts= und Verkehrs= Lexikon des Deutschen Rreichs (see Appendix B, p. 185, for an explanation on how to use it).
General maps of the German Kingdoms etc, Prior to 1918. A complete set of these are found in Meyers Konversations Lexikon. Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut, 1885-1892. (030.43 M575) see Appendix F, p. 205 for a list of the kingdoms found in this German Encyclopedia. This appendix gives the volumes, pages, and film numbers where these general maps are found. A separate collection of all of the maps from this encyclopedia are found on film no. 1,181,575 - Item 1.
Karte des deutschen Reiches. Scale 1:100,000 (Film 068,814) the following is an illustration of the steps that must be followed. This will be done using the town of Stegmannsdorf.
Step One
Step Two
RB.
KR.
AG.
BKDO.
STDA.
PFK.
Step Three
I.
RB.
KONIGSBERG
II.
KR.
BRAUNSBERG
III
AG.
WORMDITT
IV.
STDA.
WUSEN
Step Four
Step Five
Step Six
[FamilySearchTM: Research Guidance
Version of Data: 6/7/2001]
