Lippe, German Empire Genealogy

Lippe

Guide to Lippe, German Empire ancestry, family history, and genealogy before 1945: birth records, marriage records, death records, both church and civil registration, compiled family history, and finding aids.

Lippe, German Empire
Wiki Topics

Getting Started

Major Lippe Record Types

Church Records

Civil Registration

Reading the Records

Additional Lippe
Record Types

Emigration and Immigration

Lippe Background

Gazetteers

Local Research Resources

Germany Record Types

Germany Background

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Historical Background

The history of the Lippe dynasty really began with Bernard II, edler Herr von Lippe (Lord of Lippe). His territory was probably formed out of land he acquired on the destruction of the Duchy of Saxony in 1180.
Lippe is also referred to as Lippe-Detmold.
On 12 November 1918, it became the Free State of Lippe.
In January 1947, Lippe was incorporated into the new German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen). Wikipedia

Getting Started

Getting Started with Germany Research

Links to articles on getting started with German research:

See More Research Strategies

Germany Research Tools

Links to tools and websites that assist in German research:

See More Research Tools

Lippe Online Genealogy Records

Germany Online Genealogy Records

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Community

Historical Geography

Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe, and Lippe-Detmold

The "Schaumburg" is a cultural/geographical area: Schaumburg-Lippe was the part of the Schaumburg owned by a branch of the Lippe family.
Lippe (also called Lippe-Detmold) was a principality owned by a different branch of the Lippe family.

Lippe within the German Empire

Lippe 1871-1946

For a larger map, click here.

Lippe Region of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)

History of Lippe) in the German Empire	Geo-Political Differences Today	FamilySearch Catalog (organized by 1871 Meyer's Gazetteer)	Wiki Pages
Lippe	1947: Merged into current state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Map)	Lippe	Lippe, German Empire Genealogy (before 1945) North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Germany Genealogy (after 1945)

Finding Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for Lippe

Most of the information you need to identify you ancestors and their families will be found in two major record groups: civil registration and church records. To locate these records, follow the instructions in these Wiki articles.

1. Find the name of your ancestor's town in family history records.

Records were kept on the local level. You must know the town where your ancestor lived. If your ancestor was a United States Immigrant, use the information in the Wiki article Germany Finding Town of Origin to find evidence of the name of the town where your ancestors lived in Germany.
Also, see:

Emigrants from Lippe, Der Genealogische Abend, Naturwissenschaftlicher und Historische Verein fuer das Land Lippe.
Emigration lip-USA ,Stars and Stripes, Publications and articles to emigrate from Lippe, Science and History Association for the country Lippe
Auswanderer Lippe-USA
Emigration from Lippe to the USA

2. Use gazetteers and/or parish register inventories to learn more important details.

Your ancestor's town might have been too small to have its own parish church or civil registration office. Find the location of the Catholic or Lutheran (Evangelical) parish that served your ancestor's locality. Find the name of the civil registration office (Standesamt) that serves your ancestor's locality. Use the Wiki article Finding Aids For German Records for step-by-step instructions.

Germany was first unified as a nation in 1871. An important gazetteer, Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, "Meyer's Gazetter" for short, details the place names of villages, towns, counties (kreise), and higher jurisdictions used at that time. In the Research Wiki, FamilySearch Catalog, and FamilySearch Historical Records, the records of Germany are organized using those place names.

You can also consult Lippe Parish Register Inventories to learn the Lutheran or Catholic parish that would have kept records for your town.

At the end of both World Wars, the boundaries of the states were changed dramatically, as areas of Germany were distributed among the Allied nations. Eventually, after re-unification in 1990, the states of Germany settled into what they are today. It is also necessary to understand Germany by this system, as it affects the locations of civil registration offices, archives, and mailing addresses used in correspondence searches.

3. For birth, marriage, and death records after 1 January 1876, use civil registration.

Follow the instructions in Lippe, German Empire Civil Registration.

4. For baptism, marriage, and death records, use church records or parish registers.

Follow the instructions in Lippe, German Empire Church Records.

More Research Strategies and Tools

Germany Online Classes and Tutorials
German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting
Old German Script Transcriber (alte deutsche Handschriften): See your family names in the script of the era. Type your name or other word into the font generator tool. Click on the 8 different fonts. Save the image to your computer and use it as you work with old Germanic records.
Finding Aids for German Records
Research Tips and Strategies
German Research, BYU Independent Study, no cost.

These printable handouts can be used for ready reference when reading German Handwriting.

Letters:

Vocabulary found on Specific Records:

Dates, Numbers, Abbreviations:

Miscellaneous Vocabulary:

Fraktur:

Fraktur Font -- Many forms and books are printed in this font.

German Given Names:

List of Names in Old German Script -- A comprehensive list of German given names, written in old script, with possible variations.