This week’s #FridayFind is…. Ortssippenbücher!

Orts-what-er, you might ask?

Ortssippenbücher (Orts·sip·pen·büch·er) aka Ortsfamilienbücher, Familienbücher, Dorfsippenbücher, or Sippenbücher can all roughly be translated to “town lineage books” or “local clan books.” They are books of compiled church records and occasionally even civil records relating to a German parish. In other words, Ortssippenbücher have already done the hard work for you!

It’s important to note that for an Ortssippenbuch to be useful, you need to have already traced a line back to a specific town. Once you have that, you can flip through the pages until you find the right person. Typically, they’re organized by family name as seen above.

Want to explore your family’s German roots, but don’t know what region they hailed from? Email us at emma@backlog-archivists.com