Prussia Team

Profile managers: Kylie Haese [send private message], Steve Thomas [send private message], and Germany Project WikiTree [send private message]

Welcome to the Prussia Team Page

This team is managed by the Germany Project.

Today part of Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland.

Prussia (German: Preußen) was a historically significant German state that originated in 1525.

Team Goals

This Team was created to offer a place to collaborate on Prussia genealogy research. You can ask questions in the comments below or offer suggestions on new resources to attach to our resources list.

How Can You Help the Prussia Team?

• There are extensive profile improvements that need to be done for this topic and we could really use your help. See Profile Improvements, below.
• Members with knowledge of this topic can answer questions and offer guidance on this page, our Google Group and on G2G.
• Ensure the information and links on this page are up-to-date (especially for archival and research site information)
• Create new Space pages for region-specific geographical, topical, or other, that include images, history, and anything helpful for collaborating and helping other researchers.
• Add the Prussia sticker template by province to each profile of a person born in Prussia. See more about the Prussia sticker and how to add it here: Stickers and Templates.

Team Members

Team Leader: Steve Thomas. I am most interested in emigrants to South Australia in the mid-19th Century from Königreich Preußen, Königreich Hannover and Großherzogtum Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Prussian families include Heinrich, Pfeiffer and Schäfer.

Team members:

• Anderson, Thom Connect with Thom:
• Barron, Charlette Connect with Charlette:
• Bartholome, Vernalee Connect with Vernalee:
• Cartier, Miranda Connect with Miranda:
• Cook, Margaret Connect with Margaret :
• Franks, Linda Connect with Linda:
• Frye, Daniel Connect with Daniel:
• Greenwood, Steven Connect with Steven: It appears that Pomerania is the origin of some of my paternal ancestors, particularly the Klitzke line, of which I also manage a One Name Study. Places that are of interest in association with that surname include Pauzerin (Panzels?), Ueckermünde, Bärwalde (Barwice) in Kreis Neustettin, and whatever "Boratia" was (Borntin? also in Neustettin?). Other surnames are Schiefelbein (likely from Schievelbein, Pommern), as well as Kroll, Gleash, Wiatrok, Mittelsteadt, Post, Rädel and most recently Schmeer.
• Gunther, Deb Connect with Deb:
• Gürth, Andy Connect with Andy: I am German (i.e. native speaker) and have ancestors from Preußen (Prussia), Pommern (Pomerania), Posen (Poznan), Schlesien (Silesia), Sachsen (Saxony), Galizien (Galicia), Wolhynien (Volhynia, Volyn) as well as from Pfalz (Palatinate). To list them all by name here, would clearly go beyond the scope. Many of these ancestors emigrated in the 18th and 19th century to Canada and USA, a few to South America. Among the families who did not emigrate overseas, there were always shifts in European regions.
• Haese, Kylie Connect with Kylie: I am interested in researching the surname Haese in Pomerania, Prussia. Also interested in Prussian emigration to South Australia.
• Lemen, Mark Connect with Mark:
• Lippincott, Carrie Connect with Carrie:
• Lomax, Terence Connect with Terence:
• Martin, Lilly Connect with Lilly:
• Miller, Wes Connect with Wes:
• Nickerson, Lou Connect with Lou:
• Penner, Kathryn Connect with Kathryn:
• Semes-Bogya, Eszter |Connect with Eszter:
• Shortland, Veronica |Connect with Veronica: A descendent of vine dressers from Prussia & the Rheingau region who immigrated to the Colony of New South Wales between 1849 and 1855. Surnames of interest: Schoeneck / Schöneck / Schipp / Mohr. Ships: Beulah (arr. 1849). Reiherstieg (arr. 1852). Cateaux Wattel (arr. 1855)
• Thomas, Steve TEAM LEADER
• Wagner, Melissa Connect with Melissa:
• Walker, Patricia Connect with Patricia:
• Wiemer, Amy Connect with Amy:

How to Join

You must be a member of the Germany Project to join.

Add your name to the list of team members.

Make sure you ask to be on the trusted list of this page.

Profile Improvements

We'd appreciate your help with sourcing, connecting, merging and fixing database errors on the profiles in this region. Click the LINKS below to get lists of profiles from Prussia that need some love (click "get profiles" in the left column to generate a list):

• SOURCERS: to get a list of unsourced profiles that need reliable sources added, click HERE. For more information/instruction on sourcing, see Germany Project Sourcerers Team
• CONNECTORS: to get a list of unconnected profiles that need to be connected to the main tree, click HERE. For more information/instruction on connecting profiles, see Germany Project Connectors Team
• ARBORISTS: To get a list of unmerged matches that need research and sourcing, with the goal to ultimately merge or reject the match, click HERE. For more information/instruction on merging and unmerged matches, see Germany Project Arborists Team
• SUGGESTIONS: To get a list of suggestions aka database errors that need data doctor attention, click HERE. For more information/instruction on clearing database errors, see Germany Project Data Doctors Team.

Stickers and Templates

You can add the Prussia sticker to relevant profiles.

... ... ... was born in Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker}}

Preferrably add the province sticker

See the Template:Prussia Sticker Page for more information on province stickers

... ... ... was born in the Province of Brandenburg, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Brandenburg}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of East Prussia, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|East Prussia}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Jülich-Cleves-Berg}}

... ... ... was born in the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Lower Rhine}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Pomerania, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Pomerania}}

... ... ... was born in the Grand Duchy of Posen, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Posen}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Saxony, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Saxony}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Silesia, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Silesia}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of West Prussia, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|West Prussia}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Westphalia, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Westphalia}}

... ... ... was born in the Rhine Province, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Rhine}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Prussia, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Prussia}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Hohenzollern, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Hohenzollern}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Hanover, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Hanover}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Hesse-Nassau, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Hesse-Nassau}}

... ... ... was born in the Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Prussia

{{Prussia Sticker|Schleswig-Holstein}}

Overview of Prussia

Flag of Prussia.

The Kingdom of Prussia included the following provinces:

• Brandenburg, 1415 (Today in Germany and Poland)
• Hannover, 1866 (Today in Germany)
• Hessen-Nassau, 1867 (Today in Germany)
• Hohenzollern, 1415 (Today in Germany)
• Ostpreußen / East Prussia, 1813 (Today in Poland and former USSR)
• Pommern / Pomerania, 1648, 1720 (Swedish Pommern 1815) (Today some in Germany, but most in Poland)
• Posen, 1793 (Today in Poland)
• Rheinland / Rheinprovinz, 1814/1824 (Today in Germany and some in Belgium)
• Provinz Sachsen / Province of Saxony, 1816 (Today in Germany)
• Schlesien / Silesia, 1742 (Today in Poland and Czech Republic)
• Schleswig-Holstein, 1864 (Today in Germany and Denmark)
• Westfalen / Westphalia, 1815 (Today in Germany)
• Westpreußen / West Prussia, 1772, 1793 (Today in Poland)

Ideally, we would like to see pages for these provinces eventually created by team members who are interested in specific areas.

Purpose

The Prussia team is intended for anyone who is interested in Prussian genealogy, history and WikiTree.

The word Prussia (German: Preussen or Preußen; Polish: Prusy) for wikitree purposes and the purposes of this team, is referring to the Prussia in European history, which came under German rule.

Prussia came under German and Polish rule in the middle ages. The Kingdom of Prussia ruled from 1701 by the German royal dynasty House of Hohenzollern. However Prussia was at different times throughout history a duchy, kingdom, region. These classifications and divisions can be confusing and distracting. Therefore this Prussia team is important to help create some clarity.

It is therefore the mission of this team, to create pages to help understand Prussian history. To create profiles for people who were born, married and or died in Prussia. Finally, work towards a unified set of guidelines for the Prussia team, Germany project, and whole wikitree community to follow and refer to when adding and editing Prussian profiles.

Maps

Historical Map of Prussia

Prussia Political map before 1905

History

Prussia from Duchy (Electorate) of Brandenburg to Kingdom of Prussia and Republic

Table: Die brandenburgisch-preußischen Herrscher - The Brandenburg-Prussian sovereigns

(the years of reign of the regents listed in the brackets)

Burggraf (Castle count) Friedrich VI. von Nürnberg, as Elector of Brandenburg Friedrich I. from 1415 until his death in 1440, broke the power of the nobility, Friedrich II. Eisenzahn (†1470) that of the cities, he won the Neumark and part of Lausitz (Lusatia). Johann Cicero (†1499) and Joachim I., Nestor (†1535) formed the sovereignty of the country.

Joachim II. (†1571) made Brandenburg Protestant in 1539 and was enfeoffed Prussia by Poland in 1569.

Johann Sigismund (†1620) acquired Kleve in 1614 and Ost-Preußen (East Prussia) in 1618.

Friedrich Wilhelm, der Große Kurfürst (the Great Elector) from 1640-1688, acquired Hinter-Pommern, Halberstadt and Minden in 1648, won Prussia's sovereignty in the Swedish-Polish War (1655-60), pioneered state unity, left behind an orderly state of 110.000 qkm with 1.5 million inhabitants.

In 1701, under Elector Friedrich III. (1688-1701) and later King Friedrich I. (1701-1713), the Duchy of Prussia became a kingdom outside the German Empire and he gave the name Preußen to the Hohenzollern total state.

King Friedrich Wilhelm I. (1713-40) filled the state treasury, created the Generaldirektorium (General Directorate) as a central financial authority in 1723, increased the army and acquired Geldern and Limburg in 1713, Stettin and Vor-Pommern up to the Peene River in 1720.

Friedrich II., der Große, called Friedrich der Große (the Great) (1740-86) won Schlesien (Silesia) through the 1st Silesian War (1740-42), claimed it in the 2nd Silesian War (1744-45) and in the Seven Years' War (1756-63), acquired Ost-Friesland (East Frisia) in 1744, West-Preußen (West Prussia) without Danzig and Thorn and the Netzedistrikt in 1772.

Under Friedrich Wilhelm II. (1786-97) campaign against Holland in 1787 and France (1792-95). In the special peace of Basel in 1795 Prussia lost the territories on the left bank of the Rhine, acquired in 1793 Greater Poland with Danzig and Thorn, in 1795 Süd-Preußen (South Prussia), Neuost-Preußen (New East Prussia) and Neu-Schlesien (New Silesia) and in 1791 the Frankish principalities of Ansbach and Bayreuth.

Friedrich Wilhelm III. (1797-1840) was defeated by Napoleon at the Battle of Jena and Auerstedt in 1806 and lost the lands west of the Elbe and the last Polish acquisitions in the Peace of Tilsit in 1807.

On February 28, 1813, Prussia formed an alliance with Russia against Napoleon at Kalisch. This was followed by the wars of liberation against Napoleon I. from 1813 to 1815 with the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig with its heavy losses and the final victory over Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo. Through the 1st Peace of Paris in 1814, the Congress of Vienna and the 2nd Peace of Paris in 1815, Prussia was able to expand significantly in terms of territory and had 278.000 qkm and 10,4 million inhabitants.

Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918 led to the German Revolution. The Hohenzollerns were overthrown and the Weimar Republic was established, thus bringing an end to the German monarchy and Prussian monarchy.

With the Nazis in 1933, the darkest chapter of Prussian and German history began in the land of poets and thinkers. It ends with the senseless deaths of millions of people, an enormous movement of refugees within and from Europe, a state reorganization in Europe and the end of Prussia.

February 25, 1947: The Allies Decide on the Final Dissolution of Prussia
The State of Prussia was finally dissolved by the four victorious powers of the Second World War by Act of the Allied Control Council No. 46 of February 25, 1947.
Prussia is now only a historical term.

(to be continued)

Culture

If high and state culture is taken as representative of a general Prussian cultural history, then this is characterized in Prussia by different phases of flourishing and stagnation. On the whole, however, Prussia, especially in the beginnings of its history in the 17th century, belongs comparatively rather to the cultural desert areas in Central Europe.

It is true that the Mark Brandenburg and East Prussia, the two core areas of the Brandenburg-Prussian state in the 17th century, already have an independent, regional cultural history, which in this context certainly produces sights worth seeing, such as the Cistercian monastery architecture in Brandenburg with Zinna, Lehnin and Chorin or the fascinating ensemble of the Marienburg on the Nogat in West Prussia as the residence of the Deutscher Orden (Teutonic Order). In terms of intellectual history, both territories also boast outstanding institutions as early as the 16th century, which certainly attained supra-regional significance with the founding of the university in Frankfurt an der Oder in 1506 as the Brandenburg state university and the University of Königsberg, founded in 1544 for the Duchy of Prussia.

But for a long time in the 17th century, when the fusion of the core region of the Mark Brandenburg with the two territorial outposts in the west with Kleve, Mark and Ravensberg and in the east with East Prussia has long been completed in terms of state law, the emerging German middle power culturally represents rather a territory with few outstanding achievements.

These include the garden city of Kleve, laid out in the 1650s by the Electorate of Brandenburg's governor in Kleve, Prince Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen (1604-79), the first German attempt at a landscape-forming park creation based on the Dutch model, with which the rising territorial power wanted to prove its claim to power in the west of the empire. After the Thirty Years' War, Friedrich Wilhelm, der Große Kurfürst (the Great Elector) initiates the development of the Berlin-Potsdam residential and cultural landscape, which, however, is only gradually to become one of the most outstanding ruling landscapes in the world.

Of lasting importance for the cultural development of the "scattered land bush of the Holy Roman Empire" is the admission of French Huguenots to Brandenburg-Prussia. Although they were brought to the Hohenzollern state primarily for reasons of economic revitalization of the war-torn country, the French ferment had an impact not only on language development in Berlin, but also through numerous important artists and intellectuals such as the academy secretary Jean Henri Samuel Formey, the Ancillon family of writers and civil servants, the Erman family of scholars, the master builders David and Friedrich Gilly, and the Huguenot descendant Theodor Fontane.

Although a systematic art and cultural collection policy already began under the Great Elector, Prussia only began to gain cultural importance during the reign of Friedrich I. (1657-1713), who otherwise came off less well in historiography. Friedrich I., who had just been crowned the first king of Prussia, tried to systematically expand Prussia's cultural influence, not least to emphasize his own claim to power. Under his reign, Prussia began its cultural ascent, and in the 18th century it began to replace Electoral Saxony, which had been the leader until then, in the cultural hegemony of northern Germany.

The list of intellectuals and scholars who moved to the Prussian court in Berlin is revealing. Strikingly, many of them were scholars who were ostracized elsewhere as innovators of thought and can only be presented here in a selection that includes the most important personalities: In 1686, during the reign of the Great Elector, Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694) came to Berlin from Stockholm as Brandenburg court historiographer, after all the founder of German natural law as well as the most important teacher of constitutional and international law in the age of the early Enlightenment in Germany. In 1690, the philosopher Christian Thomasius (1655-1728), who came from Leipzig, was one of the intellectual founding fathers of the University of Halle, established in 1690-94, which was not only to become the central university for the Prussian state and its need for capable, legally trained state officials, but was also to become one of the most progressive universities of the Age of Enlightenment in Germany in general.

In 1707, Christian Wolff (1679-1754), expelled from Leipzig, an even more important philosopher, succeeds Thomasius as a professor at the University of Halle. In 1691, the pietist preacher and theologian Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) moves from Dresden to Berlin, where his reform program ensures a pietistic overcoming of orthodox Lutheranism. In 1692, the scholar, court official and first chancellor of the newly founded University of Halle, Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff (1626-92), arrived from Altenburg. In the same year, Spener's student and Protestant-Pietist theologian and educator August Hermann Francke (1663-1727) came from Leipzig to establish in Halle, beginning in 1698, the Franckeschen Stiftungen (Francke Foundations), an exemplary institution for the education and training of boys and (revolutionary for the time) girls as well.

In 1694, Andreas Schlüter (ca.1660-1714), a native of Danzig and probably the most important German architect of the turn of the century, moved from Warsaw to Berlin around 1700, not least to work on the expansion of the Prussian residence and capital Berlin and Potsdam. With the construction of the Berliner Stadtschloss (City Palace), one of the most important buildings of its kind north of the Alps in the Baroque era, which was overdimensioned in view of the political and economic strength of Prussia at that time, he set a first cultural-historical sign beyond the borders of the young kingdom.

In the same year, the eminent chemist and physician and later personal physician to the soldier king, Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734), was drawn from Hanover to Prussia. In 1700, one of the greatest universal geniuses of his time, the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), is attracted from Hanover to the Prussian court and to the conception of a contemporary Prussian Academy of Sciences, which will be extremely important for the Prussian-German history of science and will become one of the great European academies.

Some of these cultural institutions of the early Kingdom of Prussia were initiated by the wife of the first Prussian king, Sophie Charlotte (1668-1705), a native of Hanover. In contrast to her husband, she was interested in art and culture beyond the state's need for representation and established an ambitious court theater and a stimulating musical culture with composers such as Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709) in her Charlottenburg Palace, the first Prussian seat of the arts.

The accession to power of the soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm I. (1688-1740) meant a severe slump for culture and the promotion of art in Prussia as a whole. Due to his father's complete over-indebtedness of the young monarchy, the Hohenzollern king, who was one-sidedly oriented toward economic "making a profit" and the military strengthening of his state, reduced all institutions in the areas of art and culture that he considered unnecessary. In contrast, the soldier king supported other scientific institutions that were important for the economic advancement of the state, such as the first German university chair for economics in 1727.

Research Help and Regional Resources

• German Roots Project Resources page is a new and updated list. Can you add any more resources to the list?

• ManyRoads (you'll need to sign up for a free account and log in)

• History of Prussia book https://archive.org/details/historyprussiat02wyatgoog/page/n18/mode/2up?q=pomerania

• Westdeutsche Gesellschaft für Familienkunde - West German Society for Family Studies) WGFF.de: this site has resources for research in the former Prussian Rhine Province; today North Rhine-Westphalia (admin districts Dusseldorf and Cologne) and Rhineland-Palatinate (admin districts Koblenz and Trier)

• Kartenmeister.com: Prussia map database with 108,000+ locations with over 45,000 name changes once, and 5,500 twice and more. All locations are EAST of the Oder and Neisse rivers and are based on the borders of the eastern provinces in Spring 1918. Included in this database are the following provinces: Eastprussia, including Memel, Westprussia, Brandenburg, Posen, Pomerania, and Silesia.

• The Historic Gazetteer Another system to find German place names. Gives a good summary of historic changes of government districts,

• Germany, Prussia, East Prussia, Catholic and Lutheran Church Records, 1551-1992
• Germany, Prussia, Pomerania, Catholic and Lutheran Church Records, 1544-1966
• Germany, Prussia, Saxony, Census Lists, 1770-1934
• Germany, Prussia, West Prussia, Catholic and Lutheran Church Records, 1537-1981

• Wilhelm Iwan, Die Altlutherische Auswanderung um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts: Eine Episode deutscher Auswanderung: 2 vols. (i.e. The Old Lutheran Emigration at the Middle of the 19th Century), Johann-Heß-Institut Breslau (ed.), Ludwigsburg: Eichhornverlag Lothar Kallenberg, 1943, vol. II Appendix (list and statistics of emigrants).

• Jews in East Prussia Genealogy Sources

• List of German exonyms for places in Poland on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (incredibly useful for comparing placenames)

• Digital Archives of the Regional Archives in Opava There are Catholic Church books from the Czech/Poland area in this database online: You type in the town and look for the tree icon signifying church.

• Facebook: Prussian Genealogy & Heritage / German, Polish & Lithuanian Roots Community group has great resources (private group, you'll need to be added)

• Prussia
• Family Research in West Prussia

WikiTree Free Space Pages and One-Place Studies

• Stettin, Pommerania, Prussia
• Gross Leistenau in West Prussia
• Weigelsdorf, Silesia, Prussia
• Seven Years War in Europe
• Predecessor Sovereign States of Poland
• House of Hannover
• Lubusz Voivodeship
• House of Nassau-Weilburg
• House of Hesse
• Empfingen

Team Pages

• Pommern / Pomerania, Prussia team page
• Posen, Prussia Team page
• Prussian Settlement in Australia (This is managed by the Australia Project)

Resource Pages

• Space:Rang-_und_Quartier-Liste_der_k%C3%B6niglich_preu%C3%9Fischen_Armee_(Rank_and_quarter_list_of_the_Royal_Prussian_Army)

WikiTree Categories

• Category: Prussia
• Category: Preußen
• Category: Prussia, Emigrants

Translation Aides

In Germany a number of different written languages and dialects were used. Below are some links to sites which may help you with old documents.

• Sütterlin
• Germany Handwriting
• Kurrent
• Blackletter
• Fraktur
• ß
• Brockhaus 1894 Deutsche Mundarten (map)
• Latin phrases because many old records are written in Latin this is a handy list of commonly used Latin phrases.
• Genealogy Glossary of multiple languages using common genealogy related words.