Germany, Baden, Church Book Duplicates - FamilySearch Historical Records

Foreign Language Title
This section of the article is incomplete. You can help FamilySearch Wiki by supplying a translation of the title in German here.

Collection Time Period
This collection of church book duplicates covers the period of the Grand Dutchy, the years 1810 to 1869.

Collection History
Inspired by the institution of civil registration in France in 1792, German states began creating church book duplicates. The German states required the clergy to create a transcript of their church books and turn them in annually to the state. The clergy recorded the vital events of births, marriages and deaths of people living within their jurisdiction regardless of their religion. For example, Catholic or Jewish people living in an area that did not have a Catholic church or Jewish synagogue were often recorded in the Lutheran records. The reverse was also true in Catholic areas, where Lutherans and Jews were recorded in Catholic records. The duplicate books cover the majority of the population for those years in the Grand Duchy of Baden. Records may include entries from Kreis Neustadt, Amt Bonndorf, Gemeinde Bonndorf, and Ebnet.

Why This Collection Was Created
Church book duplicates were created for the use of civil authorities.

Collection Reliability
German church book duplicates, like the originals, are the most reliable and accurate family history source until 1876 when civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in all of Germany. Church book duplicates may differ slightly from the originals, because of transcription variations, however these records are often more legible than the originals.

Collection Description
These church records are handwritten both in columnar format and in narrative style. Most records are in good condition to extract genealogical information, however most of the earlier records are written in Gothic German script. These records were kept in bound volumes.

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found in most baptismal records are: • Names of the child, parents and witnesses or godparents • Date and place of birth and baptism • Residence and religion of the parents • Occupation of the father • Whether the child was legitimate or illegitimate

The key genealogical facts found in most marriage records are: • Names of the bride, groom, their parents (usually the fathers) and witnesses • Date and place of marriage and marriage proclamations or banns • Age of bride and groom (sometimes date and place of birth) • Residence of the bride, groom and their parents • Religion of the bride and groom • Occupation of groom and fathers

The key genealogical facts found in most deaths records are: • Names of the deceased, spouse and parents • Date and place of death and burial • Age and residence of deceased and sometimes date and place of birth • Cause of death

How to Use the Collection
German church book duplicates are a back up source for parish registers, which are the best German records to identify individuals, parents, and spouses before the civil registration of vital events was created in different regions of the country between 1792 and 1876. In order to find your ancestor you need to know at least the village where the person lived, and approximate date of any event in his/her life. If not found in that locality, we suggest you search in nearby villages and also try several years before and after.

Related Wiki Articles
Germany Church Records

Related Websites
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Sources of Information for This Collection
• Digital images of original records housed at the State Archive in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. • Stuttgart (Germany). Landesarchiv Baden-Wurttemberg. Parish Records, 1810-1869.

How To Cite Your Sources
Instructions for citing this source can be found at: Cite Your Sources (Source Footnotes)