My friend, Jim Beidler, writes of the lack of extant Saxony parish records – and the alternate sources that are helpful for genealogists in his January 2, 2011 Roots & Branches column published in the Lebanon Daily News. Following is a teaser:
This southeastern German area north of the Czech Republic’s Bohemia had a divided history – think names of states such as Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Electorate of Saxony and Saxony-Weimar (or if you are using the German names, substitute “Sachsen” for “Saxony”). Adding to the complications is that Saxony has a minority group of ethnic Slavs known as the “Sorbs” or “Wends.” But the real complication, genealogically speaking, comes from the fact that Allied bombing of Dresden in World War II eliminated the area’s archived church records, and local books are spotty.
To the rescue come Saxon court records.
