Hello Neil,
Neil wrote:
<I posted the message with my limited information on the chance that there may be a database for Hanover similar to the New South Wales Birth Deaths and Marriages Registry <Historical Index Search 1788 - 1975 with which the information I supplied would have found him.
Unfortunately there are no on-line consolidated indexes to BDMs for Hannover (the state or city), like those available in NSW . In Australia some states have indexes that include the records created by the clergy along with civil registrations (dates vary in each state) . Australia and (England civil registration began in late 1837) are indeed very fortunate to have consolidated indexes, covering the years since civil registration.
The following information explains the background to records created by the clergy and generally how BDMs in Germany can be accessed for the dates you are researching.
Obtaining BDMs from Germany:
There are no consolidated indexes held for BDMs in Germany. Prior to unification in 1871, Germany was made up of hundreds of smaller states, principalities, grand duchies and kingdoms, all ruled independently. Therefore it is essential to know the name of the town/village your ancestor came from, if only the name of a city or larger town is known it is necessary to establish the name of the parish or district where the event you are looking for took place.
This LDS article aims to help researchers understand how these records were created and where they may be located. Many parish registers have been filmed, locate these quickly by using the LDS Family Library Catalog.
CHURCH RECORDS
Church records [Kirchenbücher] are excellent sources for accurate information on names, dates and places of birth/baptism, marriage, and death/burial.
They are the most significant source of genealogical information for Germany before 1876. Most people who lived in Germany were recorded in a church record.
Records of births, marriages, and deaths are commonly called "vital records" because critical events in a person's life are recorded in them.
Church records that contain vital records were made by pastors and priests. They are often called parish registers or church books. They include records of births, baptisms,
marriages, deaths, and burials. In addition, church records may include account books (which record fees for tolling bells, fees for masses for the dead, and so forth), lists of
confirmations, lists of members, and family registers.
Church records are crucial for pre-1876 German research. Since civil authorities in several areas of Germany did not begin registering vital statistics until 1876,church records are often the only sources of family information before this date. Church introduction of civil registration, but the Family History Library has not microfilmed many post-1876 church records. See "Civil Registration" in this outline for more information about post-1876 sources.
General Historical Background:
The practice of keeping parish registers evolved slowly. The first surviving Protestant records are from 1524 at St. Sebald in Nürnberg. Lutheran churches in general began
requiring baptism, marriage, and burial records in 1540; Catholics began in 1563. By 1650 most Reformed parishes began keeping records.
Many church records were destroyed in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). In addition, records for some parishes in the Pfalz and Rheinland were interrupted for several years
when the French controlled those areas of Germany from 1792 to 1815 and introduced civil registration.
Generally, the earliest church records are in western Germany. The farther east you go, the later the church records begin. German church records are usually written in Latin or
German. Records in German were usually written in Gothic script until as late as the 1930s.
Note the following points about German church records:
Large cities have many churches, each serving part of the city. Rural churches often serve several villages and hamlets. Parish boundaries often changed, which affected where church records were kept.
Military churches in garrison towns and cities often kept their own records separate from other parishes.
In some parts of Germany, the death registers began later than the baptism and marriage registers, especially in Catholic records.
The registers of baptisms, marriages, and deaths from different geographic areas vary considerably in the amount of information they provide. Each jurisdiction had its own record-keeping rules, and each recorder had his own style.
In some areas, the records of people of other faiths were kept by the predominant church. The principal churches in Germany were the Catholic and Evangelical-Lutheran churches. For example, Jewish births were occasionally recorded at Catholic parishes, especially in areas where the church was used as the civil registration office.
Parishes occasionally indexed their records. Indexes are usually filmed at the beginning or end of the record. Moreover, archives sometimes compile indexes of church records .
LDS Family History Catalog:
How to use the LDS website once you know the "place of origin" in Germany, go to www.familysearch.org
Scroll down on the right hand side of the home page on your screen and click on the words. "Search Genealogy Records and Library Search on the Family History Catalog" a menu will open up click on place search, another page will open and in the top box provided, type in the place name nothing else, in the next box type in Germany. Another page will open giving you options to look at all the types of records that have been filmed for that place. You can check hundreds of records that are available on micro-film ranging from church records, census, court, immigration, military to administration records for various agencies. It will take you some days to study these headings, just click on any blue or underlined text by placing the curser over the words. Don't forget to click on view film details for explanations. Print out the results of your search and order the films from your nearest Mormon library.
For more information, see an overview of the variety of records that have been filmed by the LDS in their The German Research Outline. No. 34061 cost $4-70 post free
Available from the LDS distribution centre, phone 1300 404 045 (within Australia)
Neil wrote:
<Thanks very much Elizabeth. I had tried the NZ Nat Archives site before but when searching on Demel I just got a company from the 1970s. I thought it just went to series level <not item level. How did you get that reference?
There is an index to Naturalizations in New Zealand available in most state libraries and many family history societies, I suggested that you check this index, however I looked it up for you. Wilhelm Carl Louis Demel occupation Merchant, was naturalized in Dunedin New Zealand 1 September 1885, no other references are given on the micro-fiche index. If you can't use the online request form at the addy I gave you, just e-mail the New Zealand Archives reference@archives.govt.nz giving the above details and a copy of his naturalization to be sent to you, fees apply.
Good luck with your research,
Elizabeth
NSW Australia