German Research on the Internet - an Overview -complete handout

Digital Images on the Internet
In addition to providing digital record finding tools, several archives have started to post selected record groups on the Internet. Even though the availability of digitized parish registers online is still minimal, several websites now offer access to various sets of records, including the following:


 * www.familysearch.org/recordsearch - Indexed Baden parish registers, various records from the city archives of Darmstadt and Ludwigshafen, and Mecklenburg Census records.
 * http://www.matricula.findbuch.net/ - International site dedicated to making digitized church records available online. As of June 2009 available records include 1. Catholic parish registers of the Diocese of St. Pölten, Austria 2. One parish in Passau, Bavaria, Germany 3. Evangelical records of parishes in the Gelnhausen, Hessen-Nassau, Germany area 4. Evangelical records of sixteen parishes in the Rhineland region, Germany Most of these records have not been filmed by the Family History Department.
 * http://www.kirchenbuch-virtuell.de/ - Parish registers of the Bayreuth, Bavaria, Lutheran Archive. The “virtual reading room” allows access to scanned images of over 30 parish registers. The user joins an association and pays yearly dues (30 Euros in 2009) plus modest additional monthly fees for access to specific records.
 * https://www2.landesarchiv-bw.de/ofs21/olf/struktur.php?bestand=5632 – Digitized microfilms of Jewish birth, marriage, and death records from Baden, Wuerttemberg, and Hohenzollern available through the Landesarchiv Baden-Wuerttemberg. This collection complements similar records available through the Family History Library
 * https://www2.landesarchiv-bw.de/ofs21/olf/struktur.php?bestand=10028 - Digitized parish register duplicates 1810-1870. Organized by court district, then by parish.

Genealogical databases
• www.familysearch.org/#form=historical_records-Family Search web site, contains various linked and unlinked name databases, reference material (i.e. research guides, word lists, letter-writing guides), digital parish registers for Brandenburg and Posen • http://www.ancestry.com - Ancestry’s web site contains submitted name databases as well as indexes and images of many sources, including vital records, U.S. census records, several important emigration indexes, and passenger lists. • http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/ - available for free at family history centers worldwide • www.heritagequestonline.com - Heritage Quest’s census indexes and census images as well as other records (as accessible at the Family History Library). • https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ - contains indexed family trees Rootsweb mailing lists - surnames and places

General resource sites

 * Ahnen und WappenHeraldry, Links to various resources and German research forum]
 * GermanRoots - Resources for German genealogy on the Internet
 * Lutheran records -portal to all the web sites of the various Lutheran synods in Germany; click the area on the map to get to the web site you need.
 * Web portal to Catholic dioceses
 * Retrobibliothek includes Meyers Konversationslexikon, 4th ed. 1888 -1889, and other general reference works, fully searchable online
 * Association of German-speaking Professional Genealogists
 * Death record website with Death notices from newspapers in Germany.
 * Death noticesDatabase of many death notices from German newspapers including older notices.

Archives

 * Archivschule- Listing of German Archives in the Internet.
 * H-Net--Humanities and Social Services on the Internet--links to German archives, more detailed on the federal level.
 * Evangelical (Lutheran) Church Archives--portal to the archives of the various Lutheran dioceses.

Gazetteers for the entire German Empire
of the German Empire, published 1912, found on www.familysearch.org in two volumes

Gazetteer for the German Empire of 1900 • http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/gem1900/gem1900.htm?gem1900_2.htm - gazetteer of Gemeinden To use, click on the state, choose the region, then the county. A list of Gemeinden will come up. A Gemeinde is a civil entity comparable to a U.S. township and may include one or more parishes.

Regional gazetteers and parish register inventories
The German DigiBib [Digital Library] continually adds new gazetteers and maps to its collection, so it’s worth checking there first. Access it through www.genealogy.net/genealogy by clicking on the tab “DigiBib”, or directly through http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Portal:DigiBib. Choose “Pfarr- und Kirchenbuchverzeichnisse” for parish listings and parish register inventories, or „Ortslexika, Topografien, Statistiken etc.” for gazetteers and geographical descriptions.

Alsace • http://pagesperso-orange.fr/michel.barbier/AlsaLor-DHaHen.html list of German place names during the German occupation 1870-1918 in Alsace-Lorraine, with French name, department, Kreis, Kanton Hamburg • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/HAM/#gaz – listing of sections/suburbs with civil registration office addresses

Hessen-Darmstadt • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/hesse/hessendindex.htm • http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Wohnpl%C3%A4tze_im_Grossherzogthum_Hessen_1863 – 1863 gazetteer in DigiBib • http://www.landeshauptarchiv.de/aktuell/kalender/archiv/Kirchenbuchverzeichnis_Stand_Februar_2006.pdf - parish register inventory for the area covered by the Speyer Church Archive [Pfalz and parts of Rheinhessen]


 * http://www.archive.org/details/dasgrossherzogt00waltgoog - Geschichte des Grossherogthums Hessen History of the Grand Duchy of Hessen, digital copy

Hessen-Nassau • http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/wiki/Hessische_Kirchenb%C3%BCcher lists parish registers filmed at the Kassel Church Book Archive • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/hesse/hessnas.htm - abbreviated gazetteer for Hessen-Nassau Hohenzollern • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/baden-wurttemberg/hohenzollern/index.html Leipzig • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/saxony/leipzig/index.htm -street guide with parish and civil jurisdictions Lippe-Detmold • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/NRHE-WFA/lippe_orte-d.html, give parish jurisdictions for even the smallest villages Mecklenburg • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/mecklenburg/meckgaz.htm Oldenburg • http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/OGF/index.html - list of parishes, with beginning date for records and expert to contact for help, where available Ostpreussen • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/prussia/index.html Posen • http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/wgff/trier/index.html - under „ABC listen“ are indexes to parish registers from the Trier region, and an index of emigrants • http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pick/ - Eifel region birth and marriage data, contains over 535,000 names • http://www2.genealogy.net/vereine/ArGeWe/englisch/index-e.htm - Westerwald research site Sachsen-Anhalt • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/saxony-anhalt/index.htm contains lists of parishes for Halle an der Saale and Magdeburg, with some addresses Sachsen • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/SAC/Kirchen/ort-C.html • http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Die_Kirchenb%C3%BCcher_im_K%C3%B6nigreich_Sachsen_%281901%29 – Franz Blanckmeister, Die Kirchenbuecher im Koenigreich Sachsen, 1901 [digital copy] • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/SAC/Kirchen/index.html Alphabetical listing of localities and parish addresses in Saxony Schaumburg-Lippe • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/NSAC/SLP/gaz.html Schlesien • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/SCI/kirchenbuecher/base/index.html data base inventory of Lutheran parish registers of Schlesien [ click on "Ortschaftsverzeichnis"] Schleswig-Holstein'

https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Schleswig-Holstein:_Place_Names List of places in former Prussian province keyed to the parish. • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/schleswig/index.html • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/SCN/kirchenkreise-d.html list of church districts with archive addresses etc. Waldeck

http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/hesse/waldeck.htm Westpreussen • www.westpreussen.de – For a list of towns including their Catholic, Lutheran and civil registry jurisdictions, click on “Ortsverzeichnis” in the bottom left bar under the heading “Forschungshilfen”. This brings up a dialogue box in which to enter the place name. In German • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/prussia/index.html gazetteer in English] Wuerttemberg • http://www.archiv.elk-wue.de/dok_start.fau?prj=KB-DB&amp;dm=Gemeinde - database of Evangelical parishes

General geography
 • http://gov.genealogy.net/ -German genealogical gazetteer, a growing reference work • http://wiki.genealogy.net/wiki/Ortssuche_FAQ - This site includes links to many online gazetteers and maps and a bibliography of printed sources. It also gives hints on how to structure an effective search- in German only. • http://www.atsnotes.com/other/gerpol.html - An index of German-Polish and Polish-German localities • http://alexandria.sdc.ucsb.edu/gazetteer//dgie/DGIE_website/gaz-links.htm - links to online gazetteers for various countries • http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein/home.html - Ravenstein Atlas of the German Empire • www.multimap.com - maps for anywhere in the world • www.expedia.com - another very good map site • http://www.ieg-maps.uni-mainz.de/ Historical maps of Germany available online, hosted by the Institute for European History in Mainz

Handwriting, Vocabulary
• http://script.byu.edu/ - Interactive tutorial for learning the old German Gothic, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish scripts. • http://www.donicht.de/occupations.htm Old German professions, occupations, illnesses, and notions • http://dict.leo.org/ - English/German, German/English dictionary online • http://wiki-en.genealogy.net/Transserv - instructions for using a free volunteer translation service for genealogical material. • http://www.germanychurchrecords.com/dates.html - links to various genealogical reading helps [dates, months, illnesses, occupations] • http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/GermanOccs.htm - JewishGen Infofile: translations of about 1500 German occupations

Regional Resources
AlsaceAlsace GenWeb French Maps and Aerial Photos Baden • http://www.websters.net/blackforest/index.html - for those researching in the Black Forest area; can post queries. • http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/fachinfo/www/gesch/tipfam2.htm - link collection for family history in Baden Wuerttemberg, Pfalz Bavaria • http://www.gf-franken.de/ - web page of the Franken Genealogical Society • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/Articles/bavgen.htm - short descriptive article listing sources and archives for research in Bavaria • http://www.lkan-elkb.de/Download/Kirchenmatrikeln_nach_Orten.pdf – listing of Lutheran parish registers available in the Church Book Archive in Nuernberg • http://www.kirchenbuch-virtuell.de – Lutheran church archive Bayreuth: digital reading room- over 26 parishes [scanned images] searchable online [fee] Berlin • http://www.alt-berlin.info/ - street maps • http://adressbuch.zlb.de/ - Berlin address book from 1799-1943 available with images. • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/berlin/berlin.htm - street index with church- and civil jurisdictions • http://www.blocksignal.de/krt/b07/f.cgi - map of Berlin and suburbs 1907 Brandenburg • http://grueneberg-lenzen.de/deutsch/Kirchbuch/start.html - links to some „virtual parish registers“ and indexes for Brandenburg and Mecklenburg Bremen • http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/maus/datenbanken/index.php?lang=de – links to various data bases, including town genealogies for the Bremen area, funeral registration books, tax records, emigration sources Hamburg • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/HAM/ - resources for research, links to gazetteers etc. • http://www.genealogus.de/infoskontakt/ - research in and around Hamburg, explains various sources and their location, gives archive addresses etc. Hannover • http://aidaonline.niedersachsen.de/ - Online record inventory for the state archives in Niedersachsen, includes indexes of emigrants • http://www.osfa.de/ -family history sources in the Osnabrueck area, includes lists of parishes, farming estates [Hoefe], and a parish register inventory Hessen-Darmstadt and Hessen-Nassau • http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/wiki/Hessische_Kirchenb%C3%BCcher lists parish registers filmed at the Kassel Church Book Archive • http://www.archive.hessen.de/ - Archives in Hessen; a web portal • http://www.hadis.hessen.de/ - online indexes to Hessen archival resources. Enter surname or search term in the field “Schnellsuche” and click on the magnifying glass. For lists of emigrants look for the category “Auswanderernachweise” Hohenzollern • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/ Lippe-Detmold • http://www.nhv-ahnenforschung.de/ - genealogical and local history material for Lippe Mecklenburg • http://portal.hsb.hs-wismar.de/pub/lbmv/mjb/jb079/348686668.html - historical development of the principality of Ratzeburg [book online, in German] Niedersachsen • http://www.staatsarchive.niedersachsen.de/home - state archives in Niedersachsen, includes inventories of the various state archives. Oldenburg • http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/OGF/index.html - list of parishes, with beginning date for records and expert to contact for help, where available, also includes an emigrant database Ostfriesland [belongs to Hannover] • http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnogsm/records.htm - list of Ostfriesland parishes, when the parishes begin, and whether an OSB has been published • http://genealogie-forum.de/ostfrld/index.htm - listing of villages and churches in Ostfriesland, annotated with references to genealogical and historical sources Ostpreussen • http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/prussia/index.html gazetteer for East/West Prussia • http://pirmojiknyga.mch.mii.lt/Leidiniai/Prusviet.en.htm - place names of Lithuania Minor (Memelland) • http://www.plew.info/verteiler_regionen.htm - genealogy resources for Sambia, the area around Koenigsberg • http://www.historische-masurische-vereinigung.de/ - genealogy sources in Southeran East Prussia [Masurenland] • http://freenet-homepage.de/helmut.ramm/kirchsp_bartenstein.htm - Lutheran parishes in Kreis Bartenstein • http://www.salzburger.homepage.t-online.de/krch-bch.htm - list of extant parish registers in Kreis Gumbinnen Pfalz [Palatinate] • http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/fachinfo/www/gesch/tipfam2.htm - link collection for family history in Baden Wuerttemberg, Pfalz • http://www.krebs-onl.de/pfalz/1789.htm - historical maps and reference material for the Pfalz • http://www.landeshauptarchiv.de/aktuell/kalender/archiv/Kirchenbuchverzeichnis_Stand_Februar_2006.pdf - parish register inventory for the area covered by the Speyer Church Archive [Pfalz and parts of Rheinhessen] • http://www.genealogie-in-pirmasens.de/ - genealogy in the Pirmasens area Posen • http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/wgff/aachen/html/download.html - databases, various lists to download for various parts of the Rhineland • http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/wgff/trier/index.html - links to online town genealogies for the Trier region • http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pick/ - indexes to parish registers in the Eifel area, by towns/parishes [about 535,000 names- slow to come up] • http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~eifel/pick/pickindex.html - master index to Tom Pick’s collection listed above Saarland • http://www.saar-genealogie.de/literaturverzeichnis/index.php - inventory of genealogical literature for towns in the Saar region. Sachsen • http://www.saxonyroots.com/ - web site for family history in Saxony, German-based. More sections are available in German than in English Schaumburg-Lippe • http://www.blume-gen.de/ - family history in the former duchy of Schaumburg-Lippe [sources, parish register transcripts etc., in German] Schlesien • http://www.militsch.de/ - genealogical sources and data bases for Kreis Militsch, Silesia Schleswig-Holstein • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/SCN/kirchenkreise-d.html list of church districts with archive addresses etc. • http://www.fehmarn-genealogy.com/default.htm - The Fehmarn Genealogy Site Thueringen • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/THU/thu-arch.html - Archives in Thueringen; address listings include e-mail address, where available Waldeck • http://home.planet.nl/~Kees.Leseman/waldgene.html - list of family histiory resources [in Dutch] Wittgenstein • http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/NRHE-WFA/Wittgenstein/ -work group for genealogy, include lists of emigrants Westpreussen • www.westpreussen.de – Genealogical resources for West Prussia, in German; includes gazetteer, maps, record information, lists of civil registration offices, archives, and other research helps. Wuerttemberg • http://www.archiv.elk-wue.de/dok_start.fau?prj=KB-DB&amp;dm=Gemeinde Data base of Evangelical parishes • http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/fachinfo/www/gesch/tipfam2.htm - link collection for family history in Baden Wuerttemberg, Pfalz • http://www.websters.net/blackforest/index.html - for those researching in the Black Forest area; can post queries.

Formerly German areas:

• www.kartenmeister.com – maps and gazetteers for areas East of the Oder-Neisse line, include place name changes, whenever known • http://home.att.net/~Local_Catholic/Catholic-Poland.htm Local Catholic Church history and genealogy- Poland • http://www.sggee.org/church_parishes/LutheransInRusPoland - Lutheran parishes in Russian Poland • http://pirmojiknyga.mch.mii.lt/Leidiniai/Prusviet.en.htm - place names in Lithuania Minor • http://www.kartenmeister.com/preview/databaseuwe.asp -tools for genealogy east of the Oder-Neisse border

Search Vocabulary
address books - Adressbuecher archive - Archiv [Kirchen{buch}archiv, Landesarchiv, Staatsarchiv, Stadtarchiv, Komunalarchiv, Kreisarchiv] calendar of events - Veranstaltungskalender church(es) - Kirche[(n) civil registration office - Standesamt community [civil] - Gemeinde, Ortsgemeinde community consisting of several towns [civil] - Verbandsgemeinde [VG] Computer Genealogy (on-line journal) - Computergenealogie culture - Kultur data base - Datenbank] economy - Wirtschaft emigrants - Auswanderer emigration - Auswanderung emigration research - Auswandererforschung general - allgemein illnesses( old terms) - alte Krankheitsbezeichnungen index, listing - Verzeichnis Latin - lateinisch list - Liste map[s]- Karte[n] mayor's office - Buergermeisteramt measures - Masse occupations - Berufe old - alt parish office - Kirchenbuero, Pfarrbuero parish [church] - Kirchengemeinde passenger lists - Schiffslisten pastor - Pfarrer pictures [old] - alte Bilder place names - Ortsnamen postal code[s] - Postleitzahl[en] printed - gedruckt public - oeffentlich public institutions - oeffentliche Einrichtungen research - Forschung research associations, clubs - Vereine search screen - Suchmaske search term - Suchwort sources - Quellen town genealogy - Ortssippenbuch, Ortsfamilienbuch, OFB, OSB