Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German Empire Genealogy
Guide to Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German Empire ancestry, family history, and genealogy before 1945: birth records, marriage records, death records, both church and civil registration, compiled family history, and finding aids.
| Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German Empire Wiki Topics | |
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| Getting Started | |
| Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Major Record Types | |
| Reading the Records | |
| Additional Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Record Types | |
| Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Background | |
| Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Research Resources | |
| Germany Record Types | |
| Germany Background | |
Historical Background[edit | edit source]
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany, with its capital at Rudolstadt. In 1597, the two counties of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen were established by the 1599 Treaty of Stadtilm. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine in 1807, the German Confederation in 1815, and the German Empire in 1871. On 23 November 1918, during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the fall of all the German monarchies, Prince Günther Victor was the last to abdicate. The former principality became a "Free State" in 1919, that was merged into the new state of Thuringia in the next year. Wikipedia
Getting Started[edit | edit source]
Getting Started with Germany ResearchLinks to articles on getting started with German research: |
Germany Research ToolsLinks to tools and websites that assist in German research: |
Historical Geography[edit | edit source]
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Former States of the German Empire Now in the State of Thuringia (Thüringen)
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To enlarge the map, click on this image. A second and third click will enlarge it further. Enlarge the view even further by zooming in with your browser. |
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1920: Became part of the current state of Thuringia (Thüringen), which was dissolved in 1952, and re-established in 1990. (Map) |
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Finding Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt[edit | edit source]
Most of the information you need to identify you ancestors and their families will be found in two major record groups: civil registration and church records. To locate these records, follow the instructions in these Wiki articles.
1. Find the name of your ancestor's town in family history records.[edit | edit source]
Records were kept on the local level. You must know the town where your ancestor lived. If your ancestor was a United States Immigrant, use the information in the Wiki article Germany Finding Town of Origin to find evidence of the name of the town where your ancestors lived in Germany.
Also, see:
- Index of all emigrants from Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, 1834-1914, index.
- Thüringen Auswanderer Datenbank
2. Use gazetteers and/or parish register inventories to learn more important details.[edit | edit source]
Your ancestor's town might have been too small to have its own parish church or civil registration office. Find the location of the Catholic or Lutheran (Evangelical) parish that served your ancestor's locality. Find the name of the civil registration office (Standesamt) that serves your ancestor's locality. Use the Wiki article Finding Aids For German Records for step-by-step instructions.
Germany was first unified as a nation in 1871. An important gazetteer, Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, "Meyer's Gazetter" for short, details the place names of villages, towns, counties (kreise), and higher jurisdictions used at that time. In the Research Wiki, FamilySearch Catalog, and FamilySearch Historical Records, the records of Germany are organized using those place names.
You can also consult Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Parish Record Inventories to learn the Lutheran or Catholic parish that would have kept records for your town.
At the end of both World Wars, the boundaries of the states were changed dramatically, as areas of Germany were distributed among the Allied nations. Eventually, after re-unification in 1990, the states of Germany settled into what they are today. It is also necessary to understand Germany by this system, as it affects the locations of civil registration offices, archives, and mailing addresses used in correspondence searches.
3. For birth, marriage, and death records after 1 January 1876, use civil registration.[edit | edit source]
Follow the instructions in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German Empire Civil Registration.
4. For baptism, marriage, and death records, use church records or parish registers.[edit | edit source]
Follow the instructions in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German Empire Church Records.
More Research Strategies and Tools[edit | edit source]
- Germany Online Classes and Tutorials
- German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting
- Old German Script Transcriber (alte deutsche Handschriften): See your family names in the script of the era. Type your name or other word into the font generator tool. Click on the 8 different fonts. Save the image to your computer and use it as you work with old Germanic records.
- Finding Aids for German Records
- Research Tips and Strategies
- These printable handouts can be used for ready reference when reading German Handwriting.
- Letters:
- Vocabulary found on Specific Records:
- Dates, Numbers, Abbreviations:
- Miscellaneous Vocabulary:
- Fraktur:
- Fraktur Font -- Many forms and books are printed in this font.
- German Given Names:
- List of Names in Old German Script -- A comprehensive list of German given names, written in old script, with possible variations.