Replacement Records for Missing Saxony Parish Registers

My friend, Jim Beidler, writes of the lack of extant Saxony parish records – and the alternate sources that are helpful for genealogists in his January 2, 2011 Roots & Branches column published in the Lebanon Daily News. Following is a teaser:

Saxony (red}, within the Kingdom of Prussia (blue), within the German Empire

This southeastern German area north of the Czech Republic’s Bohemia had a divided history – think names of states such as Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Electorate of Saxony and Saxony-Weimar (or if you are using the German names, substitute “Sachsen” for “Saxony”). Adding to the complications is that Saxony has a minority group of ethnic Slavs known as the “Sorbs” or “Wends.” But the real complication, genealogically speaking, comes from the fact that Allied bombing of Dresden in World War II eliminated the area’s archived church records, and local books are spotty.

To the rescue come Saxon court records.

Read the full column.

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

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