Prussian Poland Ortssippenbücher

Poland Wiki Topics
Beginning Research
Research Strategies Record Finder Finding Town of Origin
Record Types
Cemeteries Census Church Directories Church Records Civil Registration Austrian Prussian Russian Court Records Directories Emigration & Immigration	Genealogies Heraldry Jewish Records Land & Property Military Records Nobility Online Records Periodicals Population Probate Records Religious Records Town Genealogies
Poland Background
Biography Church History Cultural Groups Finding Aids For Further Reading Gazetteers Historical Geography History	Languages Letter Writing Guide Maps Personal Names Polish Word List Social Life and Customs
Local Research Resources
Archives and Libraries Societies Family History Centers
Moderator
The FamilySearch moderator for Poland is Pysnaks

Poland

Ortssippenbücher or Town Genealogies

What is an Ortssippenbuch or Ortsfamilienbuch?

In German genealogy records, an Ortssippenbuch (town lineage book) or Ortsfamilienbuch (town family book) includes birth, marriage, and death data for all persons found in the local records during a specified time period, compiled into families. Sources may include the local parish registers, civil registration records, court and land records, and sometimes published material. In the printed book, this information is then arranged in a standardized format, usually alphabetically by surname and chronologically by marriage date. Family entries are identified by sequential numbers. Town genealogies are known by various names, including “town lineage book,” “local heritage book,” “one-place-studies,” “Ortssippenbuch (OSB),” and “Ortsfamilienbuch (OFB).”

In some cases, these books were written before the records were lost or damaged during the war.

A fairly large number of online OFB's are available on Genealogy.net (CompGen). Scroll down the page. The OFB's for modern Germany appear first, but after that OFB's for towns formerly in Germany, but now in Poland, are listed.