German Church Books: Beyond the Basics [Paperback]

Kenneth L. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1993

Revised edition. By Kenneth L. Smith 223 pp. Dozens of illustrations, samples of original German 17th and 18th century church book entries; 8 pp of variant upper and lower case letters; appendices, indexes. 1993. soft cover

This valuable and complete how-to guide to doing research in German church books will interest, educate, and aid almost all genealogical researchers who have progressed beyond the simple basics covered by other how-to books. Starting with the assumption that the reader will already know how to read some "church book" German, the author takes you on a thorough examination of virtually all possible data which can be found in, or even more importantly, deduced from, German church books.

In an easily understood manner, the author walks the reader through the research problems and opportunities which occur. The book includes frequent specific examples and thorough discussion of the underlying principles involved. A complete set of hundreds of handwriting samples of each and every letter, both upper- and lower-case, adds an entirely separate and very valuable dimension.

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Picton Pr; Revised edition (January 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929539508
• ISBN-13: 978-0929539508
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,806,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have Addition to your Library, May 30, 2001

By 

Mitzi (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: German Church Books: Beyond the Basics (Paperback)

Everything in the book description is true!

It is a definitely *beyond the basics* book. Smith shows you how to analyze the records, explains name changes and farm names, Biblical citations in death records. Since reading Smith's book, I have reviewed my microfilm printouts and have found so much more information that I had not noticed before. I now know what to look for beyond the names and dates.

The book is the perfect size to carry, and the handwriting specimens in the back have proven extremely useful.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars German Church Books: Beyond the Basics review, January 9, 2007

By 

T. Freitag (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: German Church Books: Beyond the Basics (Paperback)

This book adds a lot of information on German church books that has helped me in my reading of church books. I am not fluent in German, nor in reading German script, but this book helps with the genealogical interpretation of data from birth, marriage, and death records. It bridges some basic deciphering of the records and further interpretation. Likely, I will refer to this book as I continue researching German church records.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference for Researching German Ancestry, July 15, 2010

By 

prussianette - See all my reviews

This review is from: German Church Books: Beyond the Basics (Paperback)

Before I go into the details of the book, I would like to note that, as of the date I am writing this, Amazon is not selling this, only third party sellers, who are charging at least three times what the publisher (Picton Press) currently is. You decide if you wish to use that piece of info to help you decide where to purchase this from.

Now for the book--just to give you an idea of what the book covers:
Chapter 1 -- Overall Problems (Organization, spellings, dialectic words, foreign words and phrases, abbreviations, symbols and script conventions)
Chapter 2 -- Names (spellings, translations, grammatical endings, farm names, patronymics)
Chapter 3 -- Marriage Records (mixed marriages, divorces, missing marriage records)
Chapter 4 -- Baptismal Records (illegitimate children, children baptized by other pastors, missing baptismal records)
Chapter 5 -- Death Records (ages at death, missing death records, uses of death records)
Chapter 6 -- Confirmation Records (age at confirmation, missing confirmation records, other uses of confirmation records)
Chapter 7 -- Miscellaneous Records (family registers, lists of communicants, church council records, adopted children)
Chapter 8 -- Handwriting Examples (examples of alphabet letters, arabic numerals, church entries, family register)

As you can see, the above info is very helpful to anyone who needs to research German church records for their ancestry.