Prior Research

Microfilm copies of the Rositz Church records ware explored for data in the prior family research.  The following microfilms were loaned from the LDS Family History library in Salt Lake City, Utah and reviewed at the local LDS Family History Center.

Format: Manuscript/Manuscript on Film

Language: German

Publication: Weimar, Germany : Staatsarchiv, 1983

These microfilms are no longer loaned out from the Salt Lake City library.

Current Research

The microfilms for the churches of interest to this research have been digitized, abstracted and indexed and are available from two online sources.

Duplicate Church Records (Kirchenbuchduplikate)

Concerns about war or fire destruction led authorities in some areas to require the pastor to create a copy of each year’s baptism-, marriage-, and burial entries. Most begin in the late 18th century. For the Saxe-Altenburg churches, these duplicate church records began in 1809, Before 1809 church records were independently maintained by local parishes.

LDS Family History Center. Kirchenbuchduplikat Collection. 

This database contains abstracts and images of various parish church  records for the years 1809-1875.

The Kirchenbuchduplikat Collection. is available with special permission at the local LDS Family History Center.

Ancestry.com. Saxony and Thuringia, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials

This database contains abstracts of Lutheran church records from Saxony and Thuringia, Germany for 1809-1875.

• Ancestry.com. Saxony and Thuringia, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1591-1875 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Mikrofilm Sammlung. Familysearch.org

The Ancestry.com database is available with an Ancestry World membership.

Civil Registration Records

Civil registration records are records of births, marriages, and deaths kept by the government. German terms for these records include Standesamtsregister, Zivilstandsregister, or Personenstandsregister. They are an excellent source for information on names and dates and places of births, marriages, and deaths. These records are kept by the civil registrar [German: Standesbeamte] at the civil registry office (Standesamt).  Civil registration became mandatory in all German states on 1 January 1876.

• Ancestry.com. Altenburg, Germany, Deaths, 1876-1950 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Sterberegister und Namensverzeichnisse. Stadtarchiv Altenburg, Altenburg, Deutschland.
• Ancestry.com. Altenburg, Germany, Marriages, 1876-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Eheregister und Namensverzeichnisse. Stadtarchiv Altenburg, Altenburg, Deutschland.

Limitations of the Current Databases

The Ancestry and FamilySearch databases used in this research both begin in 1809. They both end in 1875 when the civil registry began.

The Ancestry civil record databases include abstracts and images of civil records after 1875.

Determining  information before 1809 is limited to death records that give the age of the deceased and then calculating backward for the birth date. This is a severe limitation of how far back ancestors can be traced in the  current research.