Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire Church Records

The Nordelbische Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche - Nordelbisches Kirchenarchiv writes:

"Practical Information for Genealogists:

We are sorry to inform you that there are no church records or family genealogical registers at the Nordelbisches Kirchenarchiv. So we are not able to help you with genealogical data about families in general.

There is no central index of families or names for the territory of our church. All data of persons can only be traced directly from the church records of the local parishes. It is therefore indispensible for efficient genealogical research to know the exact German name of the place of origin of the person concerned.

Written requests should be addressed to the respecting local parish, in most cases the so called "Kirchenbuchämter" (church record offices).

We need your postal address before we can handle your request. It would make it easier to forward your request to other archives and Kirchenbuchämter which can more sucessfully deal with it."

The Kirchenbuchämter for Schleswig-Holstein are:

Kirchenkreis Alt-Hamburg Kirchenkreis Altona Kirchenkreis Angeln

Kirchenkreis Blankenese Kirchenkreis Eckernförde Kirchenkreis Eiderstedt Kirchenkreis Eutin Kirchenkreis Flensburg Kirchenkreis Harburg Kirchenkreis Herzogtum Lauenburg Kirchenkreis Husum-Bredstedt Kirchenkreis Kiel Kirchenkreis Lübeck Kirchenkreis Münsterdorf Kirchenkreis Neumünster Kirchenkreis Niendorf Kirchenkreis Norderdithmarschen Nordschleswigsche Gemeinde Kirchenkreis Oldenburg Kirchenkreis Pinneberg Kirchenkreis Plön Kirchenkreis Rantzau Kirchenkreis Rendsburg Kirchenkreis Schleswig Kirchenkreis Segeberg Kirchenkreis Stormarn Kirchenkreis Süderdithmarschen Kirchenkreis Südtondern

The addresses of Kirchenbuchämter, changes, their holdings and conditions of research as well as whom to contact can be accessed through

http://www.nordelbisches-kirchenarchiv.de/index.php?id=55,141,0,0,1,0

The individual Kirchenbuchämter and their jurisdictions can also be found via Google search, i.e, Kirchenbuchamt Alt-Hamburg, Kirchenbuchamt/Kirchenkreis Kiel etc. for latest developments. There will be either a list of parishes given or a map will illustrate jurisdictions. This will enable the researcher to determine whether the correct Kirchenkreis is being accessed.

To read about church history in Schleswig-Holstein see: http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Schleswig-Holsteinische_Kirchengeschichte

If you desire to conduct research in Schleswig-Holstein using church records, you should be aware of the following information issued by the Evangelische Landeskirche:

Before 1876 the entries in church registers had the status of legal documents. This changed when civil registration came into existence throughout Germany.