Genealogical Research in Mecklenburg

One of the aims of the MFP is the support of genealogical research in Mecklenburg. In the following you will find data and sources to support the research.

•  Mecklenburg Mailing List
• A short FAQ for Mecklenburg (provided by our member Dr. D. Garling)
•  Publications of the Association (and related material)
•  Archives in Mecklenburg (by our member A. Studt)
• LDS FHC film numbers of the 1819 census (provided by our member Dr. G. Tiedemann)
•  Literature on Genealogical Research
•  Collection of Mecklenburg Homepages
•  Official Genealogical Homepages in the Internet
•  Tips for Beginners (by R. Nowak)
•  Project: Experience Report about Genealogical Research
•  Recommended Professional Assistance
•  Last not least some fun...

Mecklenburg Mailing List

There is a mailing list for genealogical research in Mecklenburg. You can join this list: Notification Form

Publications of the Association (and related material)

These Publikationen zur mecklenburgischen Familien- und Personengeschichte (in German) were published in the recent years. Possibly these books are still available - ask Frau Ziegler.

Archives in Mecklenburg

Our member A. Studt prepares a list of Mecklenburg archives. For every archive important information are given like address, opening hours, visiting rules and the stock.

Literature on Genealogical Research

Here is a collection of literature (in German) on genealogical research in Mecklenburg. Well known are e. g. the books by Franz Schubert.

Collection of Mecklenburg Homepages

The MFP LinkDatabase contains a lot of useful links for the Mecklenburg genealogy.

Since October 25th, 2000 the links are stored in a database (previously: static HTML page). One feature is the easy maintenance which will ensure a higher actuality.
This collection comprises several areas: homepages of our members and other researcher, homepages of towns and villages in Mecklenburg, other interesting Mecklenburg homepages, libraries and museums.
You can propose further links for the collection: a mail template is enclosed.
The collection is a valuable addition for the genealogical research.

Official Genealogical Homepages in the Internet

• Mecklenburg-Vorpommern WorldGenWeb Site
  Carol Goshman Bowen maintains this excellent genealogical web site. This site contains genealogy information about Mecklenburg Schwerin, Mecklenburg Strelitz, and Vorpommern.
• German Genealogy: Mecklenburg
  Further genealogical information for Mecklenburg: General Information, History, Associations and Societies, Genealogical and Historical Records, Gazetteers and Maps, Bibliography and Literature, Archives and Libraries, Miscellaneous, other Internet Resources.

Tips for Beginners

The first steps in genealogical research (it was no "research", it were simply questions like "who were my grandparents") are most difficult. The hints given by this ot other websites sounds to difficult. Therefore R. Nowak from the team of the German Genealogical WebDirectory (www.ahnenforschung.net) provided several hints for beginners. These tips are directed to completely beginners, and therefore without any hints to Internet resources.

We want to thank R. Nowak for providing this article for the MFP homepage.

How to read Sütterlin

Suetterlin writing ("old german hand") as a handwriting This is a script, created by the Berlin graphic artist Ludwig Sütterlin (1865-1917), which was taught from 1915 to 1941 in German schools. It is also called the "the German handwriting". This writing is a standard form of the earlier and very different chancery writings which was mainly used by government officials.

On the website www.suetterlinschrift.de by Peter Dörling you will find a lot of help.

Project: Experience Report about Genealogical Research

From the Beginners to the Runaways. In this chapter we will publish experience reports from genealogical research. These reports should show, what we can get and especially how we can get our results.

• Project "SUSEMI(E)(H)L World Family Tree": All descendants after 1505
  by Dr. Peter Chr. Clemens, Schwerin
  The author first discovered his Susemihl ancestors back to the 16th century. After that the more complicated part: to find out all descendants of the oldest ancestor (to be proved: all living Susemihl are related to each other). Here the interesting report: The SUSEMI(E)(H)Ls and their milking stool.
• In a further article the same authos describes his jewish-german family research. Fascinating is the prove of his ancestry back to Adam and Eve. Read: Family HENRIQUES-JOSEPHY.
• ...
• Do you have similar experiences? Do you want to report about your research at this place? Send a mail to Garling@MFPeV.de.

Recommended Professional Assistance

Do you need professional help in Mecklenburg? Ask Mr. Steinbruch ( Mecklenburgica.Steinbruch@t-online.de, Homepage) for assistance.

Last not least some fun ...

Genealogy & Mecklenburg: an interesting article about different aspects of this area (by our member and leading organizer of the Deutsche Genealogentag 2003 in Schwerin Dr. P. C. Clemens)!

Found in the Usenet:

THE TOP TEN INDICATORS THAT YOU'VE BECOME A GENE-AHOLIC...

1. You introduce your daughter as your descendant.
2. You've never met any of the people you send e-mail to, even though your are related.
3. You can recite your lineage back 8 generations, but cannot remember your nephew's name.
4. You have more photographs of dead people that living ones.
5. You have taken a tape recorder and/or notebook to a family reunion.
6. You have not only read the latest Gedcom standards, you understand it.
7. The local genealogy society borrows books from you.
8. The only film you have seen in the last year was the 1880 census index.
9. More than half of your CD collection is made up of marriage records or pedigrees.
10. Your elusive ancestors have been spotted in more places than Elvis.