This is the first in a series of articles on the techniques and approaches needed for the study of Baltic-German genealogy.
At first glance, tracing a Baltic-German genealogy might seem daunting: unindexed records, unfamiliar languages, difficult handwriting, an immensely complex political history, even multiple names for each geographical location (one German, one Estonian or Latvian). In fact, these are all surmountable with sufficient skill and patience. In this post I’d like to examine how one might use nineteenth and twentieth-century birth and marriage records in the Baltic States to begin reconstructing a Baltic-German family.
1834 was a year of standardisation in the Russian Empire. Older systems of parish record keeping were replaced with printed forms in which local authorities recorded the births, marriages, and deaths of each locale. The Baltic provinces were no different and from 1834 onwards one can be confident that most parishes will possess a collection of relevant documents which would be the envy of many genealogists elsewhere, even in such heavily-researched countries as Scotland or America. The issue, then, is not having sufficient records, but being able to use what is available.
Let’s suppose that you want to discover the ancestry of Bertha Marie Madeleine Hirschhausen and that you don’t know much about her, but you do know that she was married to one Robert Croon sometime in 1910 in the parish of Roicks on the island of Dagö.[1] What would you do?
To begin with, you would navigate your way to Saaga, the digital collection of the Rahvusarhiiv. The Saaga collections are, by and large, organised first by document type and then by locale so it’s important to know not only the exact location of an event, but also the location’s name in both Estonian and German. The Eesti mõisaportaal is one handy way of identifying parish and manor names in both languages; an important printed equivalent is the two-volume Baltisches historisches Ortslexikon (Köln, 1985-1990).[2]
From one of these sources you will have found that Roicks is Reigi in Estonian (and Dagö is Hiiumaa). The Saaga fond for Reigi/Roicks (EAA.3170) is a rich archive of parochial material going back to the early eighteenth century, but for our purposes we want to focus on the Abiellunute nimistud, the marriage registers. Initially there appear to be two different types of marriage record covering the year 1910 in Roicks. One (EAA.3170.1.187) is titled “Abiellunute nimekirjad”, the other (EAA.3170.1.197) “Kihlatute, mahakuulutatute ja abiellunute nimekirjad”. This distinction is standard in post-1834 records. The first volume – which might initially appear to be what we’re looking for – is actually an index or table of contents of marriages performed in the parish which gives very little information about the couple:
At first glance, tracing a Baltic-German genealogy might seem daunting: unindexed records, unfamiliar languages, difficult handwriting, an immensely complex political history, even multiple names for each geographical location (one German, one Estonian or Latvian). In fact, these are all surmountable with sufficient skill and patience. In this post I’d like to examine how one might use nineteenth and twentieth-century birth and marriage records in the Baltic States to begin reconstructing a Baltic-German family.
1834 was a year of standardisation in the Russian Empire. Older systems of parish record keeping were replaced with printed forms in which local authorities recorded the births, marriages, and deaths of each locale. The Baltic provinces were no different and from 1834 onwards one can be confident that most parishes will possess a collection of relevant documents which would be the envy of many genealogists elsewhere, even in such heavily-researched countries as Scotland or America. The issue, then, is not having sufficient records, but being able to use what is available.
Let’s suppose that you want to discover the ancestry of Bertha Marie Madeleine Hirschhausen and that you don’t know much about her, but you do know that she was married to one Robert Croon sometime in 1910 in the parish of Roicks on the island of Dagö.[1] What would you do?
To begin with, you would navigate your way to Saaga, the digital collection of the Rahvusarhiiv. The Saaga collections are, by and large, organised first by document type and then by locale so it’s important to know not only the exact location of an event, but also the location’s name in both Estonian and German. The Eesti mõisaportaal is one handy way of identifying parish and manor names in both languages; an important printed equivalent is the two-volume Baltisches historisches Ortslexikon (Köln, 1985-1990).[2]
From one of these sources you will have found that Roicks is Reigi in Estonian (and Dagö is Hiiumaa). The Saaga fond for Reigi/Roicks (EAA.3170) is a rich archive of parochial material going back to the early eighteenth century, but for our purposes we want to focus on the Abiellunute nimistud, the marriage registers. Initially there appear to be two different types of marriage record covering the year 1910 in Roicks. One (EAA.3170.1.187) is titled “Abiellunute nimekirjad”, the other (EAA.3170.1.197) “Kihlatute, mahakuulutatute ja abiellunute nimekirjad”. This distinction is standard in post-1834 records. The first volume – which might initially appear to be what we’re looking for – is actually an index or table of contents of marriages performed in the parish which gives very little information about the couple:
The other volume, however, was designed to record marital intentions and the reading of banns. Incidental to this was the recording of a remarkable variety of other information about the couple, including place of origin, name of father, place of birth, age, marital status, and religious confession:
From this we learn that Bertha’s father was Pastor Richard Hirschhausen, that she was twenty-two at her marriage (thus born circa 1887-1888) and that her birthplace was Wesenberg:
There are several ways we could proceed from here: we could look for her birth record in Wesenberg, we could look for records of her clergyman father in a variety of printed sources, or we could look for a Personalbuch (a listing of members of a parish congregation) for either Roicks or Wesenberg in the appropriate time period. For the purposes of this article, let’s follow the first option: it shouldn’t take too long to scan through the relevant birth registers for 1887-1888.
Our geographical dictionaries tell us that Wesenberg (Estonian Rakvere) is actually quite some way away from Roicks in north-eastern Estonia – perhaps the family moved when Bertha’s father was called to a new living? An examination of fond EAA.3057 (parochial records of Rakvere) reveals a bewildering assortment of birth records, some marked maakogudus (rural church), some linnakogudus (town church). We don’t yet know which subdivision Bertha’s birth might be recorded in, but given her father’s occupation (clergyman), we will begin with the town church . . . and sure enough, she quickly makes her appearance:
Our geographical dictionaries tell us that Wesenberg (Estonian Rakvere) is actually quite some way away from Roicks in north-eastern Estonia – perhaps the family moved when Bertha’s father was called to a new living? An examination of fond EAA.3057 (parochial records of Rakvere) reveals a bewildering assortment of birth records, some marked maakogudus (rural church), some linnakogudus (town church). We don’t yet know which subdivision Bertha’s birth might be recorded in, but given her father’s occupation (clergyman), we will begin with the town church . . . and sure enough, she quickly makes her appearance:
From this, we can derive quite a lot of new information: Bertha’s dates of birth and baptism (5 and 30 September 1887), her parents’ full names (Richard Georg Hirschhausen and Emilie Wilhelmine von Lemm), and the names of her godparents (listed in the far right-hand column). Baltic-Germans loved godparents and the more the better. Common choices included aunts and uncles of the newborn, prominent relatives, superiors in the army or church, or local landowners. In practical terms this means that lists of godparents can be invaluable in locating a child’s extended family. A quick glance above already provides two encouraging leads: the medical doctor Leo Hirschhausen (an uncle?) and the pastor’s wife Marie von Lemm (an aunt?). Whether the Baron and Baroness von Vietinghoff and Fräulein Scholvin are related remains to be seen.
So, having located only two items – Bertha’s marriage and her birth – we already know quite a lot about her family and have several promising leads to follow up:[3]
So, having located only two items – Bertha’s marriage and her birth – we already know quite a lot about her family and have several promising leads to follow up:[3]
In my next article I’ll discuss how we might go about learning more about Bertha’s parents – not just their vital dates, but also a few more details to help us reconstruct the biographies of this forgotten couple and gain some sense of what their lived experience might have been. Was this helpful? Would you like to read more? Let me know!
[1] Bertha Hirschhausen was my grandmother’s cousin; apologies to any of her descendants for her use as an example in this article.
[2] I have also profitably used H. von Bienenstamm’s Geographischer Abriss der drei deutschen Ostsee-Provinzen Russlands, oder der Gouvernements Ehst-, Liv- und Kurland (Riga, 1826), which includes a very helpful breakdown of the provinces by parish and then by manor as well as the names of all locations in both languages (bear in mind, however, that the spellings have often changed somewhat since the early nineteenth century).
[3] The results are recorded here in a version of the discipline-standard Register format of genealogical report (so called from first being used in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register).
[4] Wesenberg, Births (town church), 1879-1891, EAA.3057.1.21, fols. 100v-101r.
[5] Wesenberg, Births (town church), 1879-1891, EAA.3057.1.21, fols. 100v-101r.
[6] Roicks, Banns and Marriages, 1892-1929, EAA.3170.1.197, not paginated [digitised image 74].
Copyright © 2013 Kelsey Jackson Williams
[1] Bertha Hirschhausen was my grandmother’s cousin; apologies to any of her descendants for her use as an example in this article.
[2] I have also profitably used H. von Bienenstamm’s Geographischer Abriss der drei deutschen Ostsee-Provinzen Russlands, oder der Gouvernements Ehst-, Liv- und Kurland (Riga, 1826), which includes a very helpful breakdown of the provinces by parish and then by manor as well as the names of all locations in both languages (bear in mind, however, that the spellings have often changed somewhat since the early nineteenth century).
[3] The results are recorded here in a version of the discipline-standard Register format of genealogical report (so called from first being used in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register).
[4] Wesenberg, Births (town church), 1879-1891, EAA.3057.1.21, fols. 100v-101r.
[5] Wesenberg, Births (town church), 1879-1891, EAA.3057.1.21, fols. 100v-101r.
[6] Roicks, Banns and Marriages, 1892-1929, EAA.3170.1.197, not paginated [digitised image 74].
Copyright © 2013 Kelsey Jackson Williams