Suggestions on next steps?
I'm looking for suggestions about how to break through my current roadblock on a family in Germany. Many (but not all) of the children emigrated to the US in the time period 1880-1920. The known members of the family were born in Roth bei Nurnberg in the period 1862-1874 to Gerson Hirsch and Babette Illch. I have good documentation from the immigrants (naturalization papers, passport applications, death certificates, etc.) to feel confident about the parent's names and the home town.
I'm trying to find: 1) any birth records for the various children (i.e. those born 1862-1874), 2) possibly any "missed" children who stayed in Germany, and especially 3) any records at all for the parents (Gerson and Babette), for whom I have no further information. The family was Jewish. I do not know when they came to live in Roth.
I've checked all the records I can find at JewishGen. I've looked at Meyer's Gazetteer and learned that Roth had 1 synagogue, 1 Catholic church, and 2 protestant churches (time frame for those unknown). I seem to have hit a dead end with specifically Jewish records, but heard that in some cases records for Jewish families may have been kept with either the Protestant or Catholic records for the area.
There seem to possibly be some relevant Protestant databases for Roth on Archion. I have not checked those yet, as I need to sign up for a membership to do that (1 month - plan to do that in November if I haven't found my info before that date). (Does anyone have relevant experience looking for Jewish family info on Archion?)
For Catholic records, I have as yet been unable to determine the best place to look. Matricula shows Roth as being geographically between several different possible dioceses. The ones that seem to be more or less equidistant from Roth are: Schwabach, Hilpoltstein, Rottenbach, Zell, Allersberg, Adenberg, or Meckenhausen. None of those specifically call out Roth as being part of their jurisdiction. I would like to narrow that down a bit if possible, so as to not have so many records to sort through. Any one have a clue as to where Roth records might be kept in the Catholic church system?
Since this is a Jewish family, it seems like baptism, confirmation, or communicant records would not be likely to have much. Where else might I find birth info? I'm thinking I might get something from marriage, death, or burial records. Do these assumptions seem right to those with experience looking at these kinds of records?
Does anyone have suggestions about what would be good next steps or things I may not have thought of? Any help would be appreciated.
Commenti
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I think your next steps thoughts are good. I don't have any experience with Jewish records to provide you, but I would highly recommend doing one of the familysearch free online 20 minute research consultations. I've done it 3 times for 3 different lines that I have been stuck on, and have received great information. Especially helpful for me this last time were some suggested resources that I didn't know existed. I was able to utilize all the information to make a break through and find the records I had been looking for!
It's also tough when you are the first or only one researching a particular line. I reach out to all the cousins who have posted on ancestry, familysearch, myheritage, etc to see what information they have that might provide clues. This was helpful on the particular line I am working on now as my ancestor died in the 1918 flu epidemic and none of that line's information was passed down through my branch.
Good luck with your searching!
-Lynette
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If you are researching Jewish families: have you checked http://www.hohenemsgenealogie.at/en/? Whilst concentrating on Austria & Liechtenstein, there are quite a few connections to families in Germany as well.
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