I need help locating Catholic church records in Matricula for a small area

Question

I have German ancestors that came from small villages and I cannot locate the church records.  There are churches/records for all the surrounding villages but not these (I looked at all the surrounding churches and did not find these villages).  FamilySearch has some of them available online (where did they find them?).  Here is a profile that has the birth for Endorf (FamilySearch source).  I am also interested in Stockum and Bönkhausen records.

Link to the Matricula map with villages: Map | Matricula Online (matricula-online.eu)

Comments

Sometimes images for records that are only indexed at FamilySearch may be available Ancestry. Probably the best place to look is at the German version which is available at the Family History Centers.

Films not at FamilySearch May be at Archion. Some FHC may have a subscription for Archion.

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I was surprised at how many are available to review on Ancestry and not FS.  I will look at Ancestry hoping they are viewable.  Thanks!

Answer 1

Hello,

about the places you are searching: 

Best start with the German Genwiki. Some pages are up to date and have many links, some are not - but for most you  will find information about the administrative structures over the time.

E.g. https://wiki.genealogy.net/Stockum_(Sundern)

You can check out mayers gazetteer: https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/10438026, https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/10208006  (Information is from 1912).  Ensdorf and Bönkhausen had no catholic church. You can see the names of the catholic churches on the tab Ecclesiastical.

For Bönkhausen it gives Hüsten as the catholic church, for Ensdorf Stockum. I usually go to  Wikipedia (or just google) for the church history to check out if the parish boundaries have changed over time.

For Hüsten your are lucky, it is on Matricula: https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/deutschland/paderborn/DE_EBAP_60313/ and the Landesarchiv: https://www.archive.nrw.de/archivsuche?link=KLASSIFIKATION-Klas_34ce8849-bd82-409f-a63e-665bde8e56c6

For Stockum, you only find a short period at the Landesarchiv Website: https://www.archive.nrw.de/archivsuche?link=KLASSIFIKATION-Klas_a0bf689d-6959-4c76-869e-70ac7a023a55
The original church books must be in the Diözesarchiv Paderborn (filmed there by familysearch in 1979), but are not digialized (yet). There are still updates for Paderborn, I hope you do not need to wait too long.

Best regards

Bettina

 

Answer 2

Hello,

First of all: Archion has protestant church records, Matricula has catholic church records.

And here a very short explanation about the Northrhinewestfalian church record situation, how I understand it. (Simplified)

Before the start of civil registration, every parish had to send a copy of their church books to the government. They are called "Zweitschrift" or "Kirchenbuchduplikat".

You recognize these record at familysearch as follows:
- they probably are called Kirchenbuchduplicat or
- in the catalog, there is a note "filmed in the Personenstandsarchiv ..."
- they end 1799 or 1875 at the start of the civil registration (the early date in the western parts that were under Napoleonic administration)

These you will not find at Matricula/Archion! They are kept at the Landesarchiv - a lot of them are already available online:
https://www.archive.nrw.de/landesarchiv-nrw/geschichte-erfahren/familienforschung/familienforschung-digital
(Of course there propably are records of the parish at Matricula, but thats a different version, covering a longer or shorter period, different naming of the books e.t.c.)

I only know the situation of the catholic original church books that were kept at the parishes:
The newer church books, that the parishes still need for reference, like bapticm certificates, are always kept at the parish.
The parishes can send their older church books to their diocesan archive. (But they also can decide to keep them).
Some diocesan archives publish the records on matricula, some have their own platforms.
And of course only church books earlier than the legally restricted period are published.
That is why you see places missing on the matricula map.

Some communal archives also keep (modern) copies of church books.

Best regards
Bettina

Comments

Thanks Bettina.  They were Catholic as far as I know and it seems strange that village records surrounding my villages are online.  Now I understand!  In 2013, an elderly German man helped me put my family tree together but he never said where he reviewed these records.  I think he has died since.  I will review all your information and appreciate all your help!