The most important events of the parish are recorded in church books. The books cover different periods depending on the respective regional rectory. The rectory of Meyenburg - for example - keeps church books going back to 1830, while Lenzen's books go partly back to the end of the 16th century. Every church book covers a certain period and is divided in three parts. One book normally consists of one part, but there are books containing all three parts, as well. The first part - Birth - names date and place of birth, child's parents, its christening and the witnesses of christening as well as the pastor. And with the help of these information it is possible to link one child to its family. Otherwise it would be very hard, because the ancient families had mostly more than six children (some families had ten and more children). In the second part - Death - there are information about obituaries in the parish. It contains further details about the dead, for instance about their bereaved and the cause of death. The last part - Marriage - contains everything about marriages.

If regional rectories don't keep the church books you are interested in, you have the possibilty to visit the "Domarchiv" in Brandenburg/Havel where you might find further information. I suppose that there are similar archives in other German states.

Domstiftsarchiv und -bibliothek Brandenburg

Burghof 11, 14776 Brandenburg/Havel

phone: 03381/20 03 10

eMail: Domstiftsarchiv-Brandenburg@web.de