Using Farm and Building Information in Germany

Photo by Joshua Kettle on Unsplash

As I have noted in the past, I am a major fan of Katherine Schober and her site Germanology Unlocked. She offers great classes and webinars related to German translation and handwriting. Check out her books related to translation of historic German records. She often includes articles from guest experts on her site and newsletter. Recently she included an article Hof- und Häusergeschichten: How Farm and Building Histories Can Help Your German Research by Scott Holl.
I wanted to share the link with you so you can see if this would help you with your research. Sadly, I have not found a book related to mine yet in Bavaria…but I haven’t given up hope. These books are similar to the church histories that I’ve mentioned in prior blogs. While those focus on church records these books talk about the history of a farm or building, including the history of the occupants (at the very least a listing of their names).

I have found something similar for my ancestors in Filsdorf, Luxembourg. It is really helpful to understand family dynamics and as a way to confirm the data that you’ve located through other means such as birth, marriage, death, and census records. In parts of Germany there are no census records readily available online so this another way to understand family structure. It is useful to understand the place where your ancestor originally lived to better understand them. This is a good start.
Best of luck finding a book related to your family’s village or farm. Happy researching!