[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: Deutsche Geschlechterbuch

[Dave Obee]

Bill Remus has provided an excellent description of the Deutsche
Geschlechterbuch. I'd like to add just a couple more points.

As Bill says, these books represent a terrific resource if your family is
included. The only note of caution is that, as always, you should try to
independently verify what you find. The series is still being produced, with
volumes 218 and 219 planned for 2005. They are normally 500 to 800 pages,
and cost 40 to 50 Euros per volume.

Volumes from 120 to 217 are still available in printed form. Earlier ones
are gradually being reproduced on CD, with about eight to 10 volumes per CD.
The last time I checked, they were up to seven CDs, with the seventh one
covering volumes 49 through 56. So with luck, the series will become more
readily available in the near future. And of course, there is in the index
that Bill mentioned; the third edition has just been released.

This series is produced by the same publisher that does the Genealogisches
Handbuch des Adels, which is up to about 133 volumes. I believe it was the
Adels series that prompted this string in the first place.

And beyond all of that, it's kind of ironic: The day before this discussion
started, I lined up an appointment with the Geschlechterbuch publisher as
part of a quick trip to Germany next week. I hope to spend the better part
of a day there. By the time I get back, I trust, I'll be able to say much
more about the two series.

Dave Obee



----- Original Message -----
From: "William Remus" <remus at hawaii.edu>
To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 3:00 PM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: Deutsche Geschlechterbuch


> The Deutsche Geschlechterbuch is actually a German Language Magazine
> that has been around since the 1800's and is a wonderful source of
> German family history. A typical volume consists of the genealogy of a
> particular German family from a particular region of Germany; each is
> pretty long spanning hundreds of years and many hundreds of people. A
> typical volume covers a dozen major family names and fills around 500
> small size pages. Some volumes are special issues dealing with
> families from one particular region like West Prussia.
>
> The articles are easily readable even if you know only English since
> most are just lists of who begat who with details about birth dates
> and locations, death dates and locations, marriage dates and
> locations, and occupations. On the down side, volumes prior to 1940
> are printed in old German fraktur script which takes some getting use
> to.
>
> Each volume is indexed with all names including wive's maiden names.
> Subset indexes appear like all names in vol 1 to 100. And the entire
> set of names to date are on a CD Rom that costs about $30 (of which I
> donated my copy to SGGEE).
>
> You dont have to be nobility to be in this. My Remus family were
> postmasters in Vandsburg, West Prussia and research and published
> their history during the 1920's in Vol 62 starting on page 450 and
> running about 30 pages. Other West Prussia names like Klawitter,
> Tesmer and Tetzlaf also appear.
>
> The paper versions are available at the Family History Library in Salt
> Lake City, Newberry Library in Chicago, and a few other places in the
> US. They are also available on microfilm from LDS although hard to
> find in the catalog.
>
> Regards Bill Remus
>
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