A new Meyers Orts- website is now available to search at http://www.meyersgaz.org/index.aspx. We’ve been using a free site of the imaged German gazetteer at the Ancestry.com for the last several years, and will continue to do so. However, the new site allows things we were not able to do before.
The user can enter the name of any place found in Meyers Orts- and with one click get the Meyers Orts- entry, with an English translation of critical portions including:
- what type of place it is,
- the Kingdom or State,
- the Regierungsbezirk,
- where the Bezirksamt (district office) is found,
- where the Amtsgericht (lower district court) is found,
- where the Bezirkskommando (district military command) is found,
- where the Standesamt (civil registration office) is located,
- and church information.
The home page includes a map, which when clicked on changes to an historic map from the David Rumsey collection.
By clicking on the ecclesiastical tab, the user gets a list of churches and the distances (in miles) to them. When I searched for churches near Kriegsfeld (where my ancestor is from), I found that churches within a 20-mile radius are listed, including 13 Jewish congregations! Two hundred-nineteen places are listed (with links) that include churches. The columns are for Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and “Other.”
Another exciting feature is the social tab. You can enter your email address and surnames of interest for any given place. If someone else is searching the entry for that place and clicks on the social tab, they will see your entry. I added the surname MEITZLER for Kreigsfeld, and DAMM for Albisheim.
Although the items listed above are extracted in translated form, the site doesn’t attempt to translate the full entry for any given place, so you still need to spend the time to do that. You’ll still need to read gothic German to get all the info found in the entry.
Do you need help in reading the full Meyers Orts- entry? Consider purchasing Faye Dearden’s Understanding Meyers Orts – Translating Guide For The Directory Of The Towns And Places Of The German Empire.
