Researching Tautor family from Tilsit Prussia
Hi, i am trying to research my grandfathers history. He was born in Tilsit, Prussia on 05/11/1928. His mother was Marie Martha Tautor born 27/12/1906. Marie had an affair with a widowed doctor in the town and became pregnant with my grandfather. We have no idea who this man is. I am coming up against road block after road block.
I would love to hear from others who have maybe researched Tilsit and how they have gone about it.
Risposte
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Tilsit is now in Russia, which creates an additional complication. My German cousin took a trip into Kaliningrad about 3 years ago to get our family information and found very little help. I know this genealogy article on Tilsit is in German, but it contains reliable research information for you. Try using Chrome to translate the page.
http://genwiki.genealogy.net/Tilsit
Especially look for the genealogical sources listed on that page.
That brings us to the Y-chromosome that your grandfather got from his father. Unlike autosomal DNA, the Y-chromosome passes from fathers to sons fairly intact for many generations (except for a few random mutations).
At the end of the war, most Germans fled Kaliningrad and ended up all over the world. Your grandfather's father or other males from his family that were carrying the same Y-chromosome may have been part of that migration.
If you can find a male-male-male descendant from your grandfather and have that man's Y-chromosome tested, you might be able to get the surname of the doctor (since by custom male surnames tend to survive). Only one laboratory I'm aware of provides specific Y-chromosome testing and a database to go with it, but it is not inexpensive like the autosomal tests that everyone is offering.
With the surname information, you should begin perhaps with the Tilsit directories that FamilySearch has on line for the years 1902-1925. Doctors (medical and otherwise) will usually be identified in the directories. Use this link:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/247789?availability=Family%20History%20Library
With a name to work with, you will have to search for record sets covering your time frame. The whole world was militarized at the time your grandfather was born so, for example, from the above genwiki page, there is a link to Tilsit military church records 1885-1936 that are on line at:
http://data.matricula-online.eu/de/deutschland/akmb/militaerkirchenbuecher/0801/?pg=1
I wish I could be more helpful, but you didn't give a lot of details about your grandfather's birth. Do you already have the civil record for his birth or a certificate of his birth that he carried with him? You didn't even say whether his is alive or not. The more information you provide, the better we can help you.
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The biggest challenge is lack of available church-and civil registration records, since many were destroyed as result of WWII. Here are some ideas for things you can do.
- One thing you can do is submit the information you do have to the data gathering tool online Ortsfamilienbuch Memelland see http://ofb.genealogy.net/memelland/?lang=de . This allows easier access to your information, in case someone else has additional data. Sharing what you have makes a lot of sense here. You can email the "Memeldaten" E-mail address shown in the center of the page with any information, copies of documents, or whatever you have.
- Also check the metasearch on www.compgen.de for your surname. See http://meta.genealogy.net/
- I would also check these address books [city directories] for your surname and not who is there https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/247789?availability=Family%20History%20Library
- Here is a 1939 city directory: http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Tilsit/Adressbuch_1939 It seems to be indexed in he CompGen address book database [see the meta-search]
- Here is a mailing list for those interested in research in the Tilsit-Ragnit area you can subscribe to and where you can ask questions. http://genwiki.genealogy.net/Familienforschung_Tilsit-Ragnit It is based in Germany, but you can post queries there in English as well.
- This portal has links to helpful websites http://genwiki.genealogy.net/Portal:Tilsit-Ragnit , although some links seem to be broken.
- Civil registration records have apparently not survived.
- The Evangelical Central Archive Berlin does have some parish registers for Tilsit that go to 1944. Of course there were a number of parishes in this large city, and the surviving records vary in extent and time period. These records are available online at the subscription website www.archion.de. Right now until April 27th Archion is celebrating its anniversary with a sale on some of its subscriptions. You can look at the record listings without a subscription, but you will need to have a "Pass" to see the actual records.
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I cannot thank you both enough. This has given me quite a few avenues that i have not been on before.
My grandfather passed away in 2007 and unfortunately he did not have a birth certificate.
My grand mother tried to give us as much information as she knew, however was limited.
We had a researcher in Germany trace my grandfathers half sister approximately 8 years ago, but unfortunately she did not wish to have any communication with us. So another dead end.
I know that i will possibly not get anywhere, but with the current climate, I am using this as a time passing exercise.
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