Tracing your North Rhine-Westphalian Roots
For those researching family roots, North Rhine-Westphalia offers a wealth of genealogical tools:
Church Records: Catholic and Protestant church registers document baptisms, marriages, and burials dating back centuries.
Civil Registration Documents: Established in the 19th century, local registry offices (Standesämter) maintain vital records, including births, marriages, and deaths. You can find a list of the North Rhine-Westphalian registry offices here.
Online Databases: Modern technology makes ancestry research more accessible than ever. Platforms like: Genealogy.net, FamilySearch, and Ancestry.com offer digitized records from Lower Saxony.
Archives and Libraries: The North Rhine-Westphalian State Archives hold emigration records, land documents, and trade registries essential for ancestry research.
Town Family Books in North Rhine-Westphalia: “Town family books” (“Ortssippenbücher” or “Ortsfamilienbücher”) document family histories specific to towns in North Rhine-Westphalia, recording births, marriages, and deaths. These books are indispensable tools for genealogical research. Recommended resources include Genealogy.net, German Roots and FamilySearch.
OFB index 