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Information
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Types of Records to Check for Information
 
Other Records and Where to Find Them
 
Other links to Sites or Resources Helpful to Research in Germany or Specific to Hamburg 
 
Glossary of Words

 
 
 
 
 
 


 

Types of Records
Types of Records to Check for Information on your ancestor during your research.....
Some of these records are often overlooked as sources or unknown about.
You will find the below different Records in various places such as Churches, Municipal Offices, Libraries, and Archives...



 

Church Records
Official Records
Other Records
Parish Baptisms, 
Marriages, and Burials
Civil Registration
Local Family Books 
Grave Registers 
Wills
Lineage Books
 Church Receipt Books
Censuses
Funeral Sermons 
Confirmation Records
Military Records
 
 
Certificate of Birth
 
 
Guild Records

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
***Church Records***
*Parish Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials Kept at the church
(now filmed and on Microfilm)
*Grave Registers (Grabregister)
*Church Receipt Books (Einnahmebücher)
*Confirmation Records  (Konfirmationbücher)
 

 
 
 
 
***Official Records***
*Civil Registration 
Generally the registeration started in 1875, a few areas started sooner
 (Reichspersonenstandsgesetz) 

Kept at the Register Office (Standesamt) for each area and the state capitol 
*Wills (Testamente)

Kept at the District Courthouse or in the State Archives (Staatsarchiv)   in each Province
*Censuses 
    The dates for the years in Hamburg were:
    1866, 1867, 1871, 1946, 1950, 1961, 1970

    The dates for the years in Schleswig-Holstein were:
    1803, 1835, 1840, 1855, 1860, 1946, 1950, 1961, 1970

Some census records were destroyed in the bombing during WWII, so it may be wise to write to the central census authority for a particular location and where they are located:
    The address is:
    Statistisches Bundesamt
    Gustav Stresemann Ring 11
    Postfach 5528
    65189Wiesbaden
 (Volkszählungen)

Kept at the Municipal Archives(Stadtarchiv) or the Civil Register Office(Standesamt) in each city or district> These started in 1871-countrywide in Germany.
*Police Registration (Polizeislisten)
*Military Records
    In Schleswig-Holstein however, they kept excellent records, this involved registeration of every male child at birth, these records were kept update as far as addresses were concerned, until his call up date.
 (Kriegslisten)

These are not always easily accessible, but they are worth looking into, the military lists in general date back to the 1700's and are in the State Archives
*Certificate of Birth (Geburtszeugnis or Geburtsbrief)
    Issued by the civil authorities after the indivdual produced a letter from the pastor in his or her birthplace.
*Guild Records

(Like a trade union of today)

 (Gilderbücher)

Kept in either Local Archives or State Archives and date back to the early 17th century and sometimes earlier
 
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Other Records ..

 
 
 


 

Other Links to Sites or  ... 
Other links to Sites or Resources Helpful to Research in Germany or Specific to Hamburg
 

Writing or Correspondence Links

Occupation or (Work) Definitions...Very good link to help understand terms that you may find in old records.

German Form Letters... Has formatted letters for writing to Archives, Churches, Civil Offices for information on Genealogy Research.

German-English Online Dictionary .... Look up words in this German-English Online Dictionary.

General Research Links

German Genealogy: FAQ...Many good links to research for Germany

German Genealogy Cross-Index...Good links to many sources for German Genealogy research

USGENWEB Links Index ...Very good links from index to International and Special Interest resources; including many German links.

Home Pages With an Emphasis on Research in Germany

Andreas Hanacek's Genealogy Page...Excellent links for Archives in Germany and general information and sources, plus links to databases of people who have ancestors from Germany.

Gary Kemper's Home Page ...Excellent German Genealogy resources and links.
 
 



 
 
 
 


 

Glossary of Words 
Glossary of Words that you may come across in your research



Please E-Mail me, (Hans-Peter) regarding any questions or comments that you may have regarding this page.
 
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