Help with 1700's/1800's pre-Germany place names

Question

I believe that we attempt to use the original name of the place when the person's event occurred (birth, death, marriage, etc), not the name it is called by today.  But do we also use the name in the then county's language?  For example:

A US death certificate for a European immigrant born in 1871 has the birth place as North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.   But I believe that it was referred to then as Westphalia in English, but as Westfalen in their native language (German?).  So I use Westfalen as his birth  location?  Right?

Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Dear Chuck,

that depends - North Rhine Westphalia was put together in 1946 from parts of Rhineland and Westphalia, so you really cannot decide which one to take, if you do not know the exact birthplace. Anyway in 1871 both would have been part of the "Rheinprovinz" - so what about "Rheinprovinz, Preussen, Deutsches Reich" until you find the exact location of birth?

Kind regards - Heike :-)

Comments

Dear Marion, thank you for the star! :-)