German town names

hannover-l
1

Make sure the places are spelled correctly. Use _www.viamichelin_
(http://www.viamichelin) for example.
Niedersachsen is the present state, Formerly the Kingdom of Hannover. The
City of Hannover is the capital of Niedersachsen.
Kreis (roughly the equivalent of county) is also useful.
Most of the "hamlets" you list, are not hamlets, but towns or cities (stadt).
Hope this helps.
Eckhard Hensel

In einer eMail vom 2009-02-03 15:57:14 Westeuropäische Normalzeit schreibt
eltribs@optonline.net:

Could someone clarify the proper town name order . Some are counties or
regions or states.
In US it would be something like this for my home.
Counrty, Region, State , County, Town, Vilage
    Shenandoah
US, Northeast, New York, Dutchess, East Fishkill, Hopewell Junction,
Hamlet
This is what I have for the Kielhorn family in Germany. Is this correct?
Country Region? State
Germany, Niedersachsen, Hannover.
Hamlets Hildesheim, Marienrode, Oberg, Dedenhauser, Koldingen, Verden,
Seesen.
I have written bistumsarchiv@bistum-hildesheim.de for vital records of the
Kielhorn's in Hamlets above but they have not answered yet.
Thanks for your Help
Howard Banney

2

Dear Howard,
You left out a category that confused me for a long while: township. In German it correlates with: Gemeinde, Siedlung, or Ortschaft. In English it is about the same as a small municipality or townland. It has the status and powers of a unit of local government. In the USA a township is first thought of as an area [usually 36 sq miles] and has the legal powers of a village if no village exists in the area. Where a village, town or city (municipality) exists in a township, the township powers are largely taken over by the municipal government. The rural areas remain under the control of a township government, which isn't much more than taking care of roads and zoning control. In North Germany where I have visited the township equivalent is treated more like a community, which is generally thought of as village in the USA. To treat a rural area as a community is what confused me.

Leon Follmer in snow white cold Illinois