Hello e.rohde,
visiting the diocese archive is absolutely necessary. AFAIK, all
catholic church books from the diocese area are collected there, several
on microfiches or even in a digital format. There is a list of the books
in the archive found here:
http://www.bistum-hildesheim.de/bho/dcms/sites/bistum/bistum/generalvikariat/bistumsarchiv/dok/kirchenbuecher.pdf
Himmelsthür is listed as being there from 1649 to 1944, so this should
easily cover the time you need.
Contacting the archive beforehand is a very good idea, as you need to
check if there is somebody speaking english and able to help you. What
is even more important is the question if you are able to read the old
books yourself (mind you, this ancient handwriting using latin is quite
difficult, and do not expect any of this to be translated into modern
German, much less English.) If you need help reading this, it will get
expensive.
The archive has firmly set times in which you can do your research, and
there is a definite limit on places available for researchers.
Have a look at the contact possibilities here:
http://www.bistum-hildesheim.de/bho/dcms/sites/bistum/bistum/generalvikariat/bistumsarchiv/index.html
and use them beforehand.
Searching for your ancestors makes a good story any day, so perhaps it
might be useful to contact the local newspaper about it to find folks
bearing the name Rohde today, but Rohde is a rather common name in
Germany, so don´t be disappointed if you find someone who is not related
at all. this is the local newspaper
Good Luck
Stefan Beate
hannover-l-request@genealogy.net schrieb: