Earlier this year, I emailed an archivist in Germany to ask about the sources that might be available for my 18th century ancestor. The archive is 2.5 hours from where I live, so I didn’t want to drive there for nothing. Unfortunately, the archivist informed me that the town hall had been bombed in World War II, destroying all the old records. For the village and period I was searching, no records were left.
I was sorry to hear that as I am writing an article about these people and want to find out all there is to know about their lives. I was also puzzled, as I had read some articles about that village that referred to older sources. I decided that I should check for myself.
A few weeks ago, I gave a lecture not too far from the German archive and combined it with a visit to the reading room. And what do you know? When I checked the finding aids, there were some records after all. Most importantly, there was a 1780 list of men (including boys) for the defense of the village, that can be used as a census substitute. They also had various tax lists going back to the 1600s. The archivist had transcribed these records himself, so he was definitely aware of them.
Apparently, my definition of a genealogical source was quite a bit broader than the archivist’s. He thought I was only interested in the ‘easy’ birth, marriage and death records that explicitly stated family relationships and didn’t think I would be interested in these lists. However, these lists gave me my ancestors’ ages so I could verify the birth dates and family composition that I had. They allowed me to place them in their neighborhood and find out how well they were doing compared to their neighbors. They even provided ammunition for a proof argument about a parent-child relationship. Yes, I am interested!
Border near Dinxperlo. Postcard (public domain)
About Yvette Hoitink
