Tips for Beginners

How do I get started with my family research?

An introduction to the practice of family research by Rolf Nowak

Many years later, while cleaning the attic, we rummaged around in old bureaus and boxes and found those old treasures of childhood among dusty clothes. The interest in the own past and our ancestors awoke.

We find out that many stories are blurred and the connections are missing. Now we need to make out the detective in us! The most-important question remains: How shall I start, to bring light into the dark of my ancestors?

At this point the hobby, that will accompany us for the rest of our lives, starts.

Table of Contents

•   Questioning of Relatives
•   Bringing order into the documents
•   The first steps to the authorities
•   Church book research
•   Further tips on church book research
•   Making use of geneology-programs
•   Literature for the beginner
•   Summary

Questioning of relatives

• All documents about parents, grand-parents and great-grand-parents
• Is there an old ancestor pass, also called Arian document?
• Has another family member already done something in the field of geneology?
• Are there relatives and where do they live?

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Bringing order into the documents

It's best to get some binders and write names on them. Each family should get their own binder. The most important facts from each talk you write down and put them into the binder. You might be surprised how much information you can get that way. You can also read over all the facts again and again and question single persons if there are uncertainties. You should not only restrict your research on dates and facts but also on stories or memories.

The next step of bringing order into the documents follows:

In order to find all ancestors again at once, there is a simple but effective system, to bring order into the chaos of all ancestors. A clever human called Stephan Kekulé von Stradonitz came up with an ancestor numbering system in the past century, which is still used by almost all geneologists worldwide today. In the general usage of the language this system is called numbering of ancestors after Kekulé. The system is simple:

The starting point in the ancestor list is the probationer, the person from which the whole list starts. This person receives the number 1. The parents receive the numbers two and three. It is important to remember to give the even numbers to the male ancestors and the odd ones to the females. Thus my father has the number 2, my mother 3. The next generation are the grandparents, the numbers 4 through 7. The grandparents on the father's side get the numbers 4 and 5, the grandparents on the mother's side receive the 6 and 7. This will work for all other generations, a doubling of the numbers plus 1 equals the first number for the next generation.
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The first steps to the authorities

One should know that the registry-offices in Germany have been existing since approx. 1874. All personal facts from before 1874 can be found in the so- called church books of the relevant town.

The registry-offices have been administrating the entire documentation on persons in Germany since 1875. Birth-, marriage-, and deathbooks can be found there.

Now there's a problem with the data protection. The data protection law says, that no citizen may receive parts of the documents of the registry-offices, unless he has a legitimate interest. Since the own geneology research is a "legitimate interest", we have to prove to the registry-office that we are the descendants of the persons, whose data we're trying to get.

As soon as we know which place our ancestors were from, we write a letter to the registry-office. Example: Letter to a registry-office

Usually one gets a copy of the books with a certification stamp from the registry office. For the copy you'll have to pay between 10 and 12 DM.

The document entries are usually very accurate and give detailed clues to our ancestors:

• The birth records include facts on the date of birth and the parents.
• The marriage records include facts on the civil marriage, the age of the bride and groom and their parents.
• The death records include the exact date of death, the age of the deceased and facts on the place and date of birth.

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Church book research

The German church books begin at different times. Very old church books Very old church books can be found in the catholic areas. Most of them don't start before the end of the Thirty-Years-War, in 1648.

First of all one needs to find out, where the church books that you are interested in, are.

It's best to go straight to the vicarage. On the phone-cds you find the vicarages under "parish", their adresses and phone numbers. Some basic questions can be answered by the pastor:

• Are there church books in the parish?
• When do the church books start?
• Is it possible to take a look at the church books and if so, then when?
• Is there a person that frequently researches the church books and might be able to help?
• Are there maps or a family book on the basis of the church books?
• Is there a chronicle of the place?

Once you have the first date at the rectory, you should always remember a few things. All notes you have taken have to be in a good order, so as that you have an easy way starting with your research.

• Most of the church books are not birth-, marriage- or death books, but baptismal registers, wedding- or burial books. They mostly cover those episcopal events. In most cases, however, they also include birth and death dates. In older books, on the other hand, you will probably only find the baptismal and burial dates.
• Furthermore, there are confirmation books, in catholic regions there are also Communion books.
• Most of the newer church books, starting from approx. 1830, include people registers. Those make the search for ancestors much easier. If there are church books without registers you should ask the pastor if maybe there are registers at another place.
• Now, you should systematically go on with your search. If you're looking for a birth, you can easily find it by using the people registers. However, if you're researching a so-called "standard name" in this place, the first problems occur. Standard names are those, that are very common in a certain town. There are standard names in almost every place.
• During the search for ancestors one should not restrict oneself to the direct ancestors, but also take notes on their siblings. This is going to be an advantage in case there are any uncertainties later. Furthermore the registration of siblings sometimes helps you get in touch with other geneologists that are researching the same name.
• So once you've found out the birth date, you should start researching the marriage record of the parents. Usually the marriage is about one year before the birth.
• The next step is the search for the burial dates of the parents. As long as the books have indexes, this should not be too difficult. In the burial book you find death and burial dates, cause of death and the exact age of the deceased, for example with the fact: 72 years 5 months and 3 days. This way it's easy to find the date of birth. Don't forget though, that not every pastor was a good mathematician. In case the date of birth can't be found out at once, you should start searching the records two or three years before or after the calculated date. Often, you will only find the age of the deceased, for example 54 years, without any further facts on months or days. If you can't find the calculated date of birth in any birth records, the person might have come from a different place. The facts on the godparents of the baptized child, can be very helpful, here.

It's very important to describe the problem you're having very detailed. Almost all pastors are beginners in geneology. The more detailed you describe the connections, the easier it is for a non-geneologist to understand what you're trying to say.

Write in a nice, polite way; keep to the point. Don't set any time-limitations. A short sentence with the contents "... I would be very pleased to hear from you soon..." is enough.

You should include an adressed and stamped envelope. Furthermore, you should let the pastor know, who's going to pay for the expenses. Otherwise, the pastor is forced to get in touch with you again, in order to find this out. This costs more time and money. You could write something like: "expenses above 100,- DM (or any other amount) need to be cleared with me first".

Don't send any checks or cash in the envelope. This does not make any sense, would not increase your chances and does not make the parish work faster for you.
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Further useful advice on church book research

• Always write the whole texts with all facts down from the church books. The contents might be very important later. Furthermore, it's always useful to know which fact is from which source. If there is the possibility to copy the books, you should do so. This way, you can try to interpret the facts better with the help of your family at home. This also has the advantage that you learn to read the old writing. It's always hard at first. Not all regional churches allow copying the church books. In some regional churches copying of the original documents is not allowed at all. However, it is possible to make copies of the microfilms.
• The spelling of one name can vary a lot. It was only around the 1920s when one name was restricted to one spelling. If someone then spelled his name Meier, could later not switch to Maier. Until then it had been possible. So sometimes you'll find two or three spellings for one name in the same entry in the church books. If a new pastor took over the office, it was very likely that the spelling of a name changed. This can easily be explained: If the pastor came from a different region, where there was a different dialect, he wrote down the names the way he heard them from the people. Most people could not read or write so they could not spell their names. An extreme example can be found in an old church book from near Uslar. Starting in 1636 there is the name Ömann or Öhlmann. Until 1750 the name can be found a number of times. With the change of the pastor this name vanished from the books. The new pastor has probably been a supporter of standard German. So the name Öhlmann (Ö(h)l is the Low German pronounciation of Eule (owl)) turned to Eulemann. This way all Öhlmanns became Eulemanns from this day on.
• In old church books you will often find the month terms 7ber, 8ber, 9ber und 10ber, also written 7b or 7br etc. Those are not the abbreviatons for July till October, but the latin month terms for:

 
• 7ber stands for septem, seven, for the month September
• 8ber stands for octo, eight, for the month October
• 9ber stands for novem, nine, for the month November and
• 10ber, decem, ten, for the month December.

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Making use of Geneology Programs

An overview of all German- and English geneology-programs can be found under Ahnenforschung.Net

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Literatur for the beginner

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Summary

The reason for this document was to describe the first few steps for a beginner in geneology.
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