Is there any other alternatives to going over to the old country to gain access to the records?
Is there no other way to gain access to the records in the archives of Germany other than physically going over there or hiring a professional over there to search the records? Are there any projects in the future to film those records? Are the records such as perhaps land records indexed? Thanks, Ira
Answers
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This is a tough one to answer. Sometimes, archives have their records online, but usually only the most-used records.
As far as future projects, it depends. I am unaware of any projects by FS to film these lesser-used records. Maybe there are some projects, but probably by groups other than FS. It would be great to have all records online and indexed, but with limited resources, that is just not possible.
Usually, records such as land are not indexed.
The best thing for you to do is to find the webpage of the archive that would probably have records for your area. Then, go to their 'holdings' section to see what they have (probably not even online). Determine whether they have anything of interest. Then you need to decide how to proceed.
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Thanks Fritz, This is helpful to understand what is available and where. Ira
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I would say it depends. The German Lutheran church has an initiative (www.archion.de) to put all Lutheran archives on-line, albeit for a decent fee. Catholic parishes are a different story - some (e.g. the Archdiocese of Augsburg) are available at the Family History Library; others (e.g. the Archdioceses of Regensburg or Eichstätt - unfortunately, many of my mother's ancestors are from these two archdioceses) are only available if you physically go there, with no current plans to make them available on-line.
One exception is the Czech Republic - all Catholic (and Lutheran) church books are available on-line, and they are all free of charge.
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Marcus, do you happen to know the time frame for putting the records online? I have ancestry from Liederstadt, Saxen, Prussia for example. Those records have not been microfilmed. We discovered a dependency in the genealogy a few years ago that needs to be resolved. My cousin wrote to the Church but the issue wasn't resolved. I'm anxious to get access to the records to figure out the line. Thanks again, Ira
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Hi Ira, Saxony is especially difficult. The church records still reside in the individual parishes, and each parish has different procedures as to how you can access the records - some allow you to visit and view them, others have appointed a designated researcher that you have to pay to view them. I have ancestors from Schneeberg (about 130 km from Liederstädt), but have been unable to make any progress in finding them (despite spending a fair amount of money). Unfortunately, I have no information as to when these records will become available in Archion, if at all. Bärbel Johnson (at the Family History Library) has a contact that does research in Saxony that she may be able to share.
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Thanks Marcus I'll have to talk to Barbel about that when I see her next time. Ira
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Here is what I know about the plans to put Saxon church books on-line: https://forum.genealogy.net/index.php?page=Thread&postID=390065
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Thanks again Marcus, of course Liederstadt isn't filmed yet. Just my luck. Ira
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Believe me Ira, I know the feeling. The ancestors from Schneeberg are Horns, which of course interest me the most. But nothing has been filmed, and worse, they won't let me come there to view their church books!
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Well nuts! That's not good. I hope I don't run into that here. I guess your parish doesn't allow anybody to do the work then? I'm from Utah and thought that it might have a detrimental effect. That is why my cousin wrote while living in Texas. They did answer but nothing new turned up.
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Well, they allow their researcher to do the work, but it is essentially useless, since he only does the bare minimum and won't look beyond the immediate parish. So I am stuck until something comes on-line. Fortunately, I not too old so I can wait! 😃
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That's good news. at least you are young. It is maddening though these parishes that are so locked up as compared to the ones in Wurtemberg.
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Yes, Württemberg is so much easier!0