Written in English by Kevan Hansen, the volumes were principally written to help family historians resolve where their family may have gone to church – and left vital records behind that may be seen today. The series is still in production. In many cases, even the smallest places are listed in this series – some with as little population as one person! These places are as of about 1870. If the place existed prior to that date, it will most likely be listed. If the place was named after that date, the chances drop.
The online description of each book includes an index listing every town found in that book. To search across the entire database for any particular German town, Click here, enter the name of the town in the Search Box, click on “Description Only,” and then click Search. Note that many town names can be found in multiple books, as there are often multiple towns by any paricular name.
Each volume of the series does the following:
- Identifies the parish where an ancestor worshipped based on where they lived.
- Gives the FHL microfilm number for the family’s parish records.
- Identifies nearly every city, town, and place that included residents.
- Visually identifies church parishes for Lutherans & Catholics in each district.
- Identifies adjoining parishes in case an ancestor attended an alternate parish.
- Aids in area searches, particularly across district or regional borders.
- Provides visual identification of search areas in which to look for a family.
- Helps in determining proximity of one area to another.
- Aids in determining reasonable distances of travel from one area to another.
- Identifies population centers in each parish.
- Identifies archives, repositories, and other resources.
- Aids in identification of the location of minority religions.
If you know the name of your town, but do not know where it might be in Germany, you may use the search engine at the FRPC website to locate which book it might be found in. The Product Search box is found in the upper left-hand corner. Don’t use the “Advanced Search,” just use the Product Search box on the home page. Enter the name of the town, and click on GO. Some town names are found in more than one place in Germany – and will be listed in multiple books – so knowing the German State of origin is helpful.
Books covering the following old German states are now available:
- Alsace-Lorraine (6 Volumes)
- Baden (1 Volume)
- Bavaria (10 Volumes)
- Brandenburg (3 Volumes)
- Cities of Bremen, Lübeck and Kiel
- East Prussia (3 volumes)
- Free City of Hamburg
- Hannover (3 Volumes)
- Hessen (1 Volume)
- Hessen-Nassau (2 Volumes)
- Mecklenburg (1 Volume)
- Oldenburg (1 Volume) – with Schleswig-Holstein
- Palatinate [Pfalz] (1 Volume) – with Rhineland II Trier
- Rhineland (3 Volumes) – with Palatinate [Pfalz] in Volume III)
- Province of Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia (2 vols.)
- Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia (2 vols.)
- Sachsen, Province of (3 Volumes) – Vol 27 includes Anhalt and Brunswick
- Saxony, Kingdom of (2 Volumes)
- Schleswig-Holstein (1 Volume) – with Oldenburg
- Province of Silesia (3 Volumes)
- Thuringia (1 Volume)
- West Prussia (2 Volumes)
- Westphalia (2 Volumes)
- Württemberg (3 Volumes)
