#6 Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558–1898
By Alivia L. Whitaker of FamilySearch
Many people who have German ancestry use FamilySearch’s Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558–1898 collection to find records about their ancestors. Even though this collection is not complete for several regions, it still contains more than 45 million records and is used so often that it comes in at number 6 in the top 10 most searched collections on the FamilySearch.org website.
Birth and baptism records are especially helpful because they contain . . .
Many people who have German ancestry use FamilySearch’s Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558–1898 collection to find records about their ancestors. Even though this collection is not complete for several regions, it still contains more than 45 million records and is used so often that it comes in at number 6 in the top 10 most searched collections on the FamilySearch.org website.
Birth and baptism records are especially helpful because they contain . . .
Birth and baptism records are especially helpful because they contain information that helps pinpoint important dates, places, and family members. The FamilySearch Wiki explains how to use the Germany births and baptisms collection and what can be found in these records. This wiki article also provides links to take you to several other useful sites.
Josiah Schmidt of The German-American Genealogist Blog wrote about the German collections on FamilySearch.org: “If you’d like to see and use actual, physical images of genealogical records from Germany, many of them are available for completely free on FamilySearch.org. There are far more records on FamilySearch than the handful of transcribed [or] indexed records you get through the regular ‘search’ function.”
Birth and christening index entries usually (over 98 percent of the time) include:
Josiah Schmidt of The German-American Genealogist Blog wrote about the German collections on FamilySearch.org: “If you’d like to see and use actual, physical images of genealogical records from Germany, many of them are available for completely free on FamilySearch.org. There are far more records on FamilySearch than the handful of transcribed [or] indexed records you get through the regular ‘search’ function.”
Birth and christening index entries usually (over 98 percent of the time) include:
- Name of the child.
- Gender.
- Names of the parents.
- Birth date.
- Birthplace.
- Christening date (if the source is a church record).
- Family History Library microfilm and item numbers for the source materials.
- Father’s birthplace (79 percent of the time).
- Mother’s birthplace (78 percent of the time).
- Race or color (23 percent of the time).
Use the Germanyy Birth and Baptisms Coverage Table on the left to see ALL of this informative Table. FamilySearch also has a Germany Birth and Baptisms Coverage Table that shows the places and time periods of the original records in this collection. The table indicates how many records the collection has from each place. Most of the records in the collection are from the time periods listed in the table; however, the collection may have a few records from before or after the time period.
With all the information that can be found in this collection of 45 million records, it is not surprising that it is sixth in our list of the 10 most searched record collections on FamilySearch.org.
Want to know how to find this information again without the help of the link above?
To be able to locate the Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558 - 1898 in FamilySearch without the link above, follow the steps below:
1. Click on "Search" at the top of a FamilySearch Page
2. From the drop down list, click on "Records."
3. When the page comes up with a map on the right, look for the words "Browse All
Published Collections" and click on it.
4. On the new page titled "Historical Record Collections," find the text box on the top left.
Type in the title of the collection you want to see, in this case " Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558 - 1898. If you know the exact title, the topic link will pop up under
the word "Title" near the top. If not, you will need to use the "Filters."
5. For instance, if you remember Germany Birth records but nothing more, you would type
in "German Birth Records." Nothing will change at this point. Go down to the first filter "Place" and choose "Continental Europe." Then choose "Germany." Then choose a date range. Next from "Collections" filter choose "Birth, Marriage, and Deaths." Click enter. With that information nothing came up under "Title," but the list changed. Looking
down the list, the topic came up three times on the list.\once for births, once for Deaths, and once for Marriages because of the working of the "Collections" filter.
6. You now know how to find just about any topic in FamilySearch. This is an excellent
resource. As you play with it, you will become good at finding helpful information.
With all the information that can be found in this collection of 45 million records, it is not surprising that it is sixth in our list of the 10 most searched record collections on FamilySearch.org.
Want to know how to find this information again without the help of the link above?
To be able to locate the Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558 - 1898 in FamilySearch without the link above, follow the steps below:
1. Click on "Search" at the top of a FamilySearch Page
2. From the drop down list, click on "Records."
3. When the page comes up with a map on the right, look for the words "Browse All
Published Collections" and click on it.
4. On the new page titled "Historical Record Collections," find the text box on the top left.
Type in the title of the collection you want to see, in this case " Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558 - 1898. If you know the exact title, the topic link will pop up under
the word "Title" near the top. If not, you will need to use the "Filters."
5. For instance, if you remember Germany Birth records but nothing more, you would type
in "German Birth Records." Nothing will change at this point. Go down to the first filter "Place" and choose "Continental Europe." Then choose "Germany." Then choose a date range. Next from "Collections" filter choose "Birth, Marriage, and Deaths." Click enter. With that information nothing came up under "Title," but the list changed. Looking
down the list, the topic came up three times on the list.\once for births, once for Deaths, and once for Marriages because of the working of the "Collections" filter.
6. You now know how to find just about any topic in FamilySearch. This is an excellent
resource. As you play with it, you will become good at finding helpful information.