Baden and Hesse Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1502-1985

About this collection

This collection contains parish registers from numerous Protestant communities in Baden, today part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It does not include records from historic Württemberg. However, records from some communities to the north, such as Wiesbaden in adjacent Hessen, are included.

The oldest church records in this collection date from the 16th century. Many begin in 1556 when Charles II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach enacted a new ecclesiastical order and introduced Lutheranism in Baden. Many registers as well, date to the beginning of, and just before, the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). Most records sets end in the late 19th century, but some extend up to the 1960s and 1980s. In addition to these records traditionally kept by the Church in Baden, the State mandated on February 1, 1870 that personal and vital statistics be recorded by local registry offices.

Among others, this collection contains records from the cities of Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Lörrach, Mannheim, Pforzheim and Freiburg. The area covered largely coincides with Protestant holdings and with the historical boundaries of the Grand Duchy of Baden, which was a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871.

These parish registers also contain some confirmations, and marriage banns. Additionally you may find some family books, parish lists, chronicles and, in some cases, military religious records from garrison towns like Ludwigshafen and Schwetzingen.

What you can find in the records

This collection is an index to the names found in the ecclesiastical records. Images of the records themselves are not included. The following details may be found:

• Last Name, Given Names
• Event Type (Birth, Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Death Burial)
• Event Date
• Place, Community
• Relatives (usually Parents or Children)

More about using this collection

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