Dear Listers,
Am I the only person waiting for the early census of the Old Kingdom of
Hannover to become available?
Is my assumption - that this census will once and for all settle the
question of the birthplace and ancestry of my George HAMILTON - correct?
Looking for help and reassurance,
Jan
I too have relatives who are listed as being born in Hannover that I am
having a hard time tracking. But I am having the same luck with those
listed as coming from Baden as well.
Laura
Dear Listers,
Dear Jan,
Am I the only person waiting for the early census of the Old Kingdom of
Hannover to become available?
Is my assumption - that this census will once and for all settle the
question of the birthplace and ancestry of my George HAMILTON - correct?
Well, it is not just a dream. There is a census transcription project
under way. We have sent information about this project to
Hannover-L in mid May this year. You and a lot of Hannover-L
readers surely remember.
This transcription project deals with the first detailed Hannover
census, taken in 1852. The name, profession, maritial status,
religion, address and age is listed for ALL inhabitants (including
children, farmhans, etc.). This means that the final result should be
and will be an address an name database which in fact would be a
breakthrough for Hannover research. There are thousands of
researchers who only know their ancestor came from "Hannover"
and who should have a great chance to find their places of
residence with this database.
But I have to say that there are no places of birth included, so that
the census data "only" can lead the way to the relevant parish
registers and other valueable German sources.
And - I want to say that this project is still a dream to a certain
degree. There were 1.8 million inhabitants in Hannover in 1852 and
the census lists are widespread over a number of different archives
in Lower Saxony. If you imagine that the lists have to be copied,
deciphered, typed in, have to be corrected more than once, ...
you surely can imagine that this project will take a lot of time and a
lot of money. After we are a three-person genealogical buisiness
and mainly work on research projects for a lot of private clients we
can only spend a certain amount of time on this project.
It will take a lot of years until we will have reached the final goal.
Possibly twenty years. But why we should not dream and begin to
work on this very important source?!
After this is a project without any financial support, we need to
have support from the people, who are intersted in the progress of
this ambitious project. I am not talking about donations, but about
our plans to offer and edit parts of the census step by step. From
September on (starting with the "Deutscher Genealogentag" in
Bremen) we will offer booklets of census data for certain regions.
There will be 1600 to 2000 people in one booklet, each one will
have a name index, and some brief information about
administration districts and parishes involved. Each of these
booklets will have about 40 pages, some of them up to 50 pages.
We would be happy if you ask for copies and take a look at our
website from time to time. The first ones for the Achim and Hoya
areas will be available from September on.
Apart of the booklets there will be a possibility for lookups at the
growing database (which only contains about 1.5% of the Hannover
inhabitants yet, but you can be assured that this already means a
number of weeks of work) or at the original lists (or areas which are
not yet in the database).
We are thinking about a kind of sponsorship system, which might
mean that people who are interested in a certain village, town or
district (Amt) would set up a contract with us. Based on such a
contract the relevant Amt would be deciphered and typed in with
top priority and sponsor would get the relevant booklet(s) and the
relevant parts of the database.
Well, last but not least I want to say: Yes, we are earning our living
with genealogy. But nevertheless this project will surely not be a
one which will make us rich. This is for sure not our intention.
Our intention is to concentrate on professional research services in
Hannover and other North German areas. Research for private
clients will still be our top priority. But we are sure that a 1852
Hannover census database would and will be a "quantum leap" (a
big step forward) for Hannover research one day.
Please take a look at the website www.hist.de for details.
Best greetings from a rainy Bremen, Germany,
Jens
P.S: Dear Jan!
The person you are looking for is George Hamilton and
this name is surely of English, not German orgin. There
where a number of Englishmen living in Hannover (because
of the historical connection - personal union - between Great
Britain and Hannover 1714-1837), but compared with the total
number of inhabitants their number was of course very, very
low.
If you have evidence that George was from Hannover and that
he lived in the Kingdom in 1852 he should be in the census.
If he is indeed, this might at least be the key hint to find other
records which allows you to learn about his orgin or the orgin
of his family.
There is a need of a lot of patience and a "langer Atem"
(staying power).
Jens Mueller-Koppe
Historical Research Services (HRS)