German Genealogical Research Before The Church Records Begin
Lisa Petersen
Many of us have used church records to extend our German ancestral
lines back to the late 1500's when the churches began to record
births, marriages and deaths. If you can't get church records back
that far and you're using microfilms at the LDS Family History Center,
try to verify if LDS has all the church records (contrary to popular
belief, they don't have everything). Look in books such as 'Verzeichnis
der wuerttembergischen Kirchenbuecher' (Index to Wuerttemberg Church Books),
write a letter to the archives in Germany where your town's church
records are likely to be kept, or write to a genealogist in your
ancestors' town if you know of one. When you're satisfied you've seen
all the church records and researched them thoroughly, it's time to try
other resources.
The sources I suggest below were found in libraries in Germany, but you
might be able to get at least some of the items thru interlibrary loan
or on microfilm at LDS whereever you are. These sources are in German, so
if you don't read German, you'll have to plan on spending a lot more time
extracting the information.
Published Genealogies
This has been my most successful
source of info on my ancestors before 1560, as well as a good
supplement to my post-1560 ancestors. Some genealogies focus
on one surname, others trace descendants or ancestors of
interest to the author, and still others provide information
on some well-known people in a region of Germany. On research
trips to southern Germany, I visit public libraries and Lutheran
Church archives and just browse the bookshelves, flip thru the
books to the index, and check for my surnames. (Caution - some
older genealogies were published without an index and were later
indexed by a different author. The index may be catalogued
separately from the original work and may be hard to find.)
While I really prefer to do my own research rather than depend
on someone else's, I do like to find published genealogies
because sometimes they give sources, which then I could check
on myself, unless the records have been destroyed since the
book was published! The Baden-Wuerttemberg Genealogy Society
(Verein fuer Familien- und Wappenkunde in Wuerttemberg und
Baden) in Stuttgart has, among other things, a good collection
of Ahnentafeln (ancestor lists) submitted by members, and I have
found some of my ancestors there. Some Ahnentafeln give
sources, which lead me back to the books. Genealogy societies
like the one I've mentioned publish quarterlies, and these
sometimes contain useful things such as a list of handwritten
documents in the holdings of the Wuerttemberg State Library and
Tuebingen University Library, e.g., that no one would otherwise
know about. For those of you who can't come to Germany to
browse the bookshelves, try the LDS Family History Library
Catalog for your ancestor's surname. If German genealogy
society journals are microfilmed, look for an annual surname
and subject index.
Lagerbuecher, Tuerkensteuerliste, Leibeigenenliste
These
are lists of people made at various times for various reasons,
the Lagerbuch being roughly translated into Landbook in English,
Tuerkensteuerlist, a list of people who paid taxes for defense
against the Turks, and Leibeigenenlist, a list of serfs living in
the area owned by a Kloster, e.g. For the area where my ancestors
lived, I know there are a 'Lagerbuch der Kellerei Boeblingen'
dated 1495, Lagerbuecher from Bebenhausen dated 1304 and 1526, a
Forstlagerbuch dated 1417, and a Tuerkensteuerlist dated 1545.
As these lists are just lists of names (no ages, relationships,
etc.), I have not used them in my research. I have seen these
lists reproduced in Heimatbuecher (see below), and I think the
originals are kept at the state archive level (perhaps they have
been microfilmed and are available thru LDS).
Service Books
If your ancestor was a city administrator,
forest superintendant, pastor, or held some government or church
service job, you may want to look at books which list people
who held these jobs, dates and location of service, and sometimes
mention useful genealogical information such as their spouse's and
children's names. My favorite service books are 'Fuerstlich
wuerttembergisch Dienerbuch, IX bis XIX Jahrhundert' by Eberhard
Emil v. Georgii-Georgenau, 'Neues wuerttembergisches Dienerbuch'
by Walter Pfeilsticker, and 'Das evangelische Wuerttemberg' by
Christian Sigel.
Heimatbuecher
A lot of German villages have published
a Heimatbuch, or town history. These books sometimes have
genealogies of a few of the most important people who lived
in the town, lists of people from Lagerbuecher or the
Tuerkensteuerliste, and sometimes have a short history of
the most common surnames in that town. The book will also
give you a history of the town, which can provide clues as
to where else to look for info (e.g., my town, Weil im
Schoenbuch, used to belong to Kloster Bebenhausen, so I
might look at Bebenhausen records for more info). Heimat-
buecher often (always?) list references in the back (oh, boy,
more stuff to check!) and sometimes give the archive where
the records are kept. While much of the info in Heimatbuecher
is contemporary with the church records, there is some pre-
1560 info, and no matter what time period you're working on,
it's worthwhile to take a look at these books. Check online
library catalogs (LC, Harvard, etc.) for possible histories of
your town and try to get the book by interlibrary loan, or
check the LDS Family History Library Catalog, or (last resort)
write to the Stadtverwaltung of your town in Germany to ask if
they've published a Heimatbuch and try to order it thru your
favorite bookstore. If you're in Germany, or planning a trip,
you can find these books at public libraries, or you can buy
them in the town (try the Buergermeisteramt) or order them
thru a bookshop.
Ortssippenbuecher
A few German towns have published Ortssippenbuecher, or genealogies
of all the people who lived in the town. You can get a
list of Ortssippenbuecher from the German Genealogy Home Page.
There are only about 150 of them for all of Germany, so don't
get your hopes up. All the Ortssippenbuecher I have looked at
seemed to be based exclusively on the church records, so you may
not find any additional information. As with the Heimatbuecher,
you can try to get these books thru interlibrary loan or on
microfilm at LDS.
