Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Main Sources for Each Country

What are the main sources for each country where Mennonites have lived?  If you're just getting into Mennonite genealogy, these might be the places to start looking.  So in reverse chronological order:

Canada and United States
1.  Family stories from older relatives
2.  State/provincial vital records
3.  Federal and state/provincial censuses
4.  Land deeds and probate files
5.  Mennonite church books
6.  Diaries and letters
7.  Passenger manifests for immigration

Russia/Soviet Union
1.  EWZ records - German World War II family trees and life histories of Germans in occupied countries
2.  Molotschna school records
3.  Censuses
4.  Newspapers - Mennonitische Rundschau and others were a main form of communication between Russia and North America
5.  Diaries and letters
6.  Archival materials from Odessa and other state archives
7.  Immigration records from Prussia

Poland and Prussia
1.  Mennonite church books
2.  Lutheran and Catholic church books - many Mennonite vital records were recorded in these for various reasons
3.  Censuses
4.  Land records
5.  Emigration records to Russia

Netherlands - I don't know much about researching these
1.  Dutch Mennonite church archives
2. ???

Latin America and Germany are postwar destinations for Mennonites that also deserve some mention, but I know little about those.

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