Looking for birth certificates

[Cindy Anderson]

I would like a copy of my great grandfather's birth certificate if this is possible.  I have been told that church records are all that exist for this time period.  Is this the case?  I do have those church records, I believe.  My great grandfather was Gerhard Antons, born in Marx on February 5, 1874.  He emigrated with his family in 1881 to Jones County, Iowa. He died on May 9, 1952. If birth records for the time exist, where would I find my great grandfather's birth certificate?

I have been also told that at the time of my great grandmother's birth, birth certificates had been issued.  I need a copy of my great grandmother's birth certificate, but I do not know where these records are housed.  My great grandmother, Margaretha Wilhelmine Henrietta Lürkens, was born in Sud Dunum on March 18, 1884. She emigrated in 1900. She died on February 10, 1967. Can anyone tell me where I might find and send for a copy of her birth certificate, that is, where the records of Dunum are housed?

Thank you for your help.

Cindy Ortgies Anderson

[Lin Strong]

Cindy - 

After the Franco-Prussian war civil registration was mandated for vital records.   Before that time the only vital records were found in the churches, except during the Napoleonic era.    What I found on Meyersgaz.com is that Marx had its own Standesamt where civil records are kept, but that may not be where they are currently located.     I am sure someone on the list will have additional information. 

Lin

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Lin Strong

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[Teijo Doornkamp]

Moin Cindy,

 

The Standesamt in Marx started on 29.10.1874, so your Gerhard will not be in there. Indeed, the church baptism records is what you want.

 

Teijo

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[Cindy Anderson]

Thank you.  I won't pursue his birth certificate now.  I will rely on the church records.  I am not entirely sure if I need his, in any case, for my purpose.  I definitely need my great grandmother's birth certificate from Sud Dunum.  I am looking into the possibility of dual citizenship via Stag 14. My great grandfather lost his citizenship in 1891 after 10 years under the law at the time in Germany that said if you did not return to Germany within the 10 years after you left, you lost your German citizenship.  Thus, he lost his citizenship in 1891.  My great grandmother came here after her mother passed with a couple of brothers in 1900.  When she married my great grandfather in 1902, she instantly lost her German citizenship. The German law at the time deprived women of German citizenship when they married a "foreigner," but not so for males, if they married a "foreigner." While Stag 14 is primarily designed for restitution for German Jews who lost citizenship under the Nazi regime, it also includes a clause for those of us whose female ancestors were deprived of their citizenship under the unequal laws of the day.  I have to prove the line, and the necessary proof is birth and marriage certificates.  (There are additional proofs also, such as learning the language.)  I do need my great grandmother's German birth certificate from Sud Dunum.  I do not have their marriage certificate; it seems not to exist, but I have the county record and the church record of their marriage.

Again, my great grandmother was Margaretha Wilhelmine Henrietta Lürkens, born in Sud Dunum on March 18, 1884.  Can you help to determine where my great grandmother's birth certificate might be found? 

Cindy

PS:  I have a second cousin also interested in pursuing this also.  I knew my great grandma Antons (Lürkens) as a child.  We visited on the home farm where my great aunt still resides by herself at age 98 and hosts Ostfriesien teas for the cousins.  She is one tough lady and is thrilled that I am looking into this.  This great aunt has their immigration papers.

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[Lin Strong]

Cindy:  this is the website for the village of Dunum to which Süd-Dunum belongs.

https://dunum.de/kontakt

They should be able to assist you.

Lin

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[Cindy Anderson]

Thank you.  They should be able to help me find great grandma's birth certificate. 

Cindy

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[Lillian Marks]

This may be a long shot, but I know of a family, at the time of much immigration, came to America.  While trying to get checked in  New York with their family name of Andreessen, the clerk was totally lost with that name, didn't understand how to spell it , and she just filled out the papers with the name of Anderson.  They continued on to Grundy County, never did any more about it and lived a normal life.  They were somewhere in Ostfriesland.  Maybe she could check back under that name.    Just a thought.     Lillian

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