Finding German records in the 1600's?
I have traced my main line ancestors back to the 1600's and now I am stumped to find any more information. The name Klingler comes from Germany. I am at Michael Klingler Sr. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/96XV-G3N. Although I am quite sure this person is the right person and his family and their families, I lack getting sources for him and his family. Can anybody suggest some great sources to prove my theory's for him and his family?
Best Answer
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You are very lucky to be able to trace the family back this far. Church records remain an important source for the 17th century in Germany, even though many of them haven't survived- the Thirty Years War from 1618 to 1648 was very destructive.
Protestant church records for Nordheim, Hessen survive back to 1688 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/464446?availability=Family%20History%20Library)
If these ancestors were Catholic, then the Mayer's Gazette suggests the nearest Catholic churches were in Wattenheim and Hofheim. The records for Wattenheim are on the FS Catalog and go back to 1676, for Hofheim they go back to 1698.
I'm not expert enough to know about other records in this timeframe, but suspect that any records that were kept will be viewable only in person at a local or state archive, and will be most informative about the aristocratic classes. At this time, Germany was still divided into hundreds of small states who each had their own government and records, so I suggest contacting a historical or genealogical organisation near Nordheim and enquiring about the 17th century records available for that area.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to help answer my question! I sincerely appreciate it. I will follow up with some of your suggestions. Sounds like the 30 years war was devistating for Germany.
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