View source for Germany Town Genealogies and Parish Register Inventories on the Internet

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== What is an ''Ortssippenbuch'' or ''Ortsfamilienbuch''?  ==

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).” This article will use the term “town genealogy” and the abbreviation OFB when referring to compilations that include all or a large part of a town’s population. "Häuserbűcher," or house books, are a variation on town genealogies. These books, which are usually arranged by house number or address, list successive home owners and their families. Renters and others who did not own their homes may not be included in such a compilation. A few house books have also been published on the Internet.

== Online Resources  ==

There are two categories of online resources: 

::(1.) Bibliographies of printed and digital town genealogies and parish register indexes. Several major collections, grouped geographically, are listed below. 
::(2.) Town genealogies and parish register indexes fully searchable online. Some are digital versions of previously printed books, but most were created for the Internet. 

An online town genealogy may be a work in progress rather than a complete reconstitution of all local families. The preface usually explains the status of each compilation. Some books (i.e., the OFB Schlesisch Drehnow) have been created to provide a gathering place for information about families from a particular locality where few original sources, such as parish registers, survive. In this case, they function more like a database than a traditional town genealogy book. Users can add information to a book or make corrections by contacting the book administrator or webmaster. 

The Internet has made it possible to publish online databases that function as OFBs. They are usually fully searchable by name and locality. Some cover several villages or a specified geographical area rather than just a village, with the intent of collecting all worldwide extant genealogical information in one place. One example is the [http://www.online-ofb.de/memelland/ Memelland OFB]&nbsp;.

=== Using Town Genealogies Hosted at [http://www.online-ofb.de/ '''Online Ortsfamilienbücher''']  ===

Over 620 online town genealogies are currently accessible at [http://www.online-ofb.de/ '''Online Ortsfamilienbücher''']. They follow a standard format. Books published on other websites often have very different formats, so the reader needs to study each individual publication. Usually, minimal knowledge of German is required. All town genealogies on this website are searchable for individuals by surname or place.

==== Step-by Step User's Guide  ====

*Access the home page on [http://www.online-ofb.de/ Online Ortsfamilienbücher] 
*Choose the locality, either from the alphabetical list found under “Funktionen” on the left, or from the main page. Localities are listed from north to south, with separate sections for German communities in other countries, such as Hungary. 
*The main page includes geographical and historical information, a list of sources used, and a tool bar with three search options:

#Gesamtliste der Familiennamen – List of all surnames 
#Geburtsorte auswaertiger Personen- Birthplaces of persons from other localities 
#Sterbeorte weggezogener Personen – Death places of those who moved away

*Click on a surname. A list of persons with birthdates (if known) comes up. 
*Click on a person of interest. This brings up the individual or family page. 
*Some entries may show cross-references to other online OFBs with a red notation “Es gibt (eine) aehnliche Person (en) im OFB (town name).” This means that a similar person is listed in another online town genealogy on that server. This could be the same individual who had lived in another locality, or someone else with a similar name and age. 
*“Keine Angaben!” means “no information given.” 
*A family page may include spouses, parents, children, other spouses, and additional information.

== Bibliographies of Town Genealogies  ==

=== General  ===
*A bibliography of OFBs held by the [http://www.ahnenforschung-hessen.de/zentralstelle/zentralstelle.html  '''Central Office for Person and Family History'''], and available in their archive in Frankfurt am Main-Höchst, is listed [http://www.ahnenforschung-hessen.de/zentralstelle/ortssippenbuecher.htm '''as "Local Clan  Books'''.] You can arrange for copied pages to be sent to you for a fee or donation. Use the "Find" function on your keyboard to search the bibliographies, as they are not alphabetical. The [http://www.ahnenforschung-hessen.de/zentralstelle/zentralstelle.html  '''"Home"'''] page gives contact information.<br>

*A Large [http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Ortsfamilienbuch '''alphabetical listing of town genealogies''']&nbsp;within the former German Empire and for German settlements in other countries can be found at GenWiki.

=== Bibliographies of Town Genealogies--Some Searchable Online  ===

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Baden 
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[http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/BAD-WUE/OSB-WUE.html#OSB List of Baden-Wuerttemberg Ortsippenbuecher]
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Bayern(Bavaria) 
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[http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Ortschronik_zu_Bayern Ortschronik zu Bayern]<br>[http://www.genealogie-kiening.de/ Genealogy and house chronicles in the area north-west of Munich] - parishes around Dachau, NW of Munich. Also listing of surnames found in most parishes of the area. Searchable. <br>[http://www.genealogie-leitl.de/index.htm Tax Lists] - Indexes to tax lists for the courts of Friedberg, Landsberg an der Lech, Mehring, Rauhenlechsberg, Starnberg, and Weilheim for 1612, 1671, and 1720-1721. Searchable. <br>
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Bremen 
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[http://online-ofb.de/famlist.php?ofb=vegesack&b=A&lang=de Ortsfamilienbuch Bremen und Vegesack Familiennamenliste] Searchable.<br>[http://www.die-maus-bremen.de/nofb/index.php Die Maus]. Searchable.
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Brandenburg 
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[http://grueneberg-lenzen.de/deutsch/Kirchbuch/start.html Virtual parish registers]- for Koeltschen, Kriescht, Louisa, Woxfelde, and Vietz. Searchable.<br> 
[http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Portal:Neumark Neumark portal] (Many parish registers in this area have been lost. This portal is a good starting point for research and contains information from many other sources, such as pedigrees, town directories, histories etc.). Searchable. 
<br> 
[http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Stammb%C3%A4ume_der_Mitglieder_der_Franz%C3%B6sischen_Colonie_in_Berlin Huguenot pedigrees] Searchable. For more information on the Huguenots, see also the page of the [https://www.hugenotten.de/ German Huguenots Society] (German only).

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Elsass-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine) 
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[http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Ortsfamilienbuch_zu_Lothringen Local history Books for Alsace-Lorraine]
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Hannover 
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[http://www.ogsa.us/church.php Bibliography of Ostfriesland OFBs with purchasing information in the U.S.]<br> 
[http://www.genealogy.net/vereine/UG/bibliothek.htm List of Ostfriesland OFBs] 

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Hessen 
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[http://lagis.online.uni-marburg.de/en/subjects/xsearch/sn/links?sache=Ortssippenbuch Ortsippenbuecher at University/Marburg]<br> 
[http://www.ahnenforschung-hessen.de/zentralstelle/osb_reihe_a.htm Central Office for Personal and Family History-Institute of Genealogy] 

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Mecklenburg 
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[http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Ortsfamilienbuch_zu_Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Local heritage books of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]
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Oldenburg 
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[http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/OGF/index.html Oldenburg list of parishes, emigrant database]
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Ostfriesland 
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[http://www.genealogy.net/vereine/UG/ostfr-osb.htm Ostfrieslands local kinship books] 
[http://www.ortssippenbuch.net/ Local clan books in Ostfriesland] 

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Posen 
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Rheinland (Rhineland) 
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[http://www.rlb.de/rpbgooi/sn200000/sn207000/sn207000_$.htm Rhineland-Palatinate Bibliography]<br>[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~eifel/pick/pickindex.html Eifel region]. Searchable.<br> 
[http://www.wgff.de/trier/index.htm Indexes to parish registers in the Trier region] Searchable. <br> [http://www.online-ofb.de/hochwald/ Ortsfamilienbuch Südlicher Hochwald]. Searchable. 

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Sachsen (Saxony) 
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[http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Ortsfamilienbuch_zu_Sachsen Family Books of Saxony]
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Schlesien (Silesia) 
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[http://www.vogel-soya.de/ortsfamilienbuecher_schlesien.htm Local heritage books Silesia]
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Schleswig-Holstein 
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[http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/SHFam//publikationen/KBSuedb1.pdf - Familienbuch Suederbarup].Searchable.
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Waldeck 
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[http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Waldeckische_Ortssippenb%C3%BCcher Waldeckische local kinship books] - List of town genealogies published up to the year 2008
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Westphalia 
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[http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Ortsfamilienbuch_zu_Nordrhein-Westfalen Local heritage book to North Rhine-Westphalia]
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