Guide to Luxemboug Genealogy Resources
Guide to Undertaking Luxembourg Genealogical Research
in the Department of Special Collections, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library
(rev. 04/2006)
The Department of Special Collections houses one the largest collection of Luxembourg-related material in North America -- over 3,000 books, periodical volumes, maps, and rolls of microfilm. Much of this material is of potential use to the genealogist. Resources housed in the Department emphasize "Luxembourgers in Luxembourg" somewhat more than "Luxembourgers in the United States." Other than the immigrant generation, you probably will need to seek resources on your American Luxembourg ancestors elsewhere.
The holdings of the Department of Special Collections are fully cataloged. Information on these works is available through CLICnet (http://clicnet.clic.edu/), the Libraries’ online catalog. Materials designated Special – Ref are shelved on the north wall of the department’s Reading Room. For access to other materials on the list, please ask for assistance
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I. LUXEMBOURG GENEALOGY: GETTING STARTED
The first thing to remember when undertaking Luxembourg genealogical research is that there are "two Luxembourgs" -- the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (an independent nation) and the Luxembourg province of Belgium, just to the west of the Grand Duchy. The "Luxembourg Culture Zone" in Europe (the area in which the Germanic dialect Luxembourgeois or Letzebuergesch is spoken) includes the Grand Duchy, part of Luxembourg Province, and small areas in the Netherlands, France, and Germany -- together about 3,000 square miles including nearly a 1,000,000 people. Luxembourg genealogical research sometimes will require searching Belgian, French, German, and Netherlands sources instead of, or in addition to, material from the Grand Duchy proper.
Reading a history of Luxembourg, particularly if you are unsure as to where your immigrant ancestor originated, often is a good introduction to genealogical research. Three standard histories are available in the department:
Special Ref DH 908 .N49 1995
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: the Evolution of Nationhood
Special Ref DH 908.5 .C34 1989
The Making of a Nation: from 1815 to the Present Day
Special Ref DH 908 .B37 1996
Historical Dictionary of Luxembourg
II. LUXEMBOURGERS IN EUROPE
A. Family Names
Beginning family historians often know nothing of their Luxembourg background other than the fact that theirs is a Luxembourger surname. The following work provides some information on Luxembourger surnames:
Special CS 808 .H47 1996
Dictionnaire des Noms de Famille in Belgique Romane, et dans les Regions Limitrophes (Flandre, France du Nord, Luxembourg)
B. Heraldry
Family historians often are interested in linking their name to a coat-of-arms. One must remember, however, that grants of arms generally were given only to people with a certain amount of property (usually land). At least through the beginning of this century, one had to come from what we would think of today as the prosperous middle-class in order to hold arms. Two substantive texts on Luxembourg-related heraldry are:
Special CR 2005 .J6 1992
Armorial de la Noblesse Belge du XVe au XXe Siecle
Special - Over CR 2021 .L6 1974
Armorial du Pays de Luxembourg
C. Databases (Surnames and Localities)
Department staff members have compiled two significant inter-related database guides to Luxembourg demographic records, the "Tables Decennales, 1853-1863" database and the "Luxembourg Parish/Civil Records" database). These databases are guides to records microfilmed in Luxembourg by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the "Mormons") through approximately 1994. The Department houses the microfilm rolls indexed in these databases in the microfilm cabinet on the west side of the Reading Room.
Tables Decennales, 1853-1863 Database
http://www.stthomas.edu/libraries/special/lux/LuxDec.htm
The "Tables Decennales 1853-1863" database records civil birth, death, and Marriage records, organized initially by surname (please remember to check alternate spellings of your name). This database is particularly useful to those who haven't been able to link their surname with a Luxembourg locality, since it consists of the decennial listing compiled closest to the period of greatest Luxembourger migration to the New World. Surname records are organized by communes (groups of villages) and cantons (groups of communes). These records were transcribed either in French or German.
Luxembourg Civil/Parish Database
http://www.stthomas.edu/libraries/special/lux/LuxParish/LuxParish.htm
Once you have located a locality linked with a given surname in the "Tables Decennales 1853-1863" database, you can check a wide variety of church and civil records for that locality over a period of three centuries (1590-1890) by employing the "Luxembourg Parish/Civil Records" database.
Parish Records (ca1650 to 1800) Parish records are one of the most significant primary sources for Luxembourg vital statistics and are crucial to family history search. The record-types reflect the typical stages of church participation for individuals in a given: locality baptisms, confirmations, conversions, excommunications, marriages, etc. Parish records, which were compiled at different times in Latin, French, or German, may be difficult to decipher because they generally are handwritten and various record-types are interspersed together by date. There was no such thing as a standard approach to parish records keeping in Luxembourg, so some patience is required in working with these documents.
Civil Records (ca 1796 – ca. 1890) During the years of Napoleonic rule in Luxembourg (1795- 1812), a new "Republican" calendar was utilized and a parallel set of state- gathered records was compiled in addition to (sometimes instead of) parish-based records (e.g. births rather than baptisms, deaths instead of burials). In the post-Napoleonic era, the state continued to gather birth, death and marriage records (sometimes in French, sometimes in German).
Civil birth records may include the following: father's name, age, occupation, and residence as well as some information about the mother and other children, with signatures of the parents. Civil marriage records may include the following: the names and ages of the individuals being married, their places of birth, names and residence of parents, names of witnesses, occupations of the principals, and signatures. Civil death records usually contain the name and age of the deceased, names of surviving family members, and the place of residence of the deceased.
D. Other Surname and Surname/Locality Resources.
Searching the UST Library's Catalog (http://clicnet.clic.edu/), you may be able to identify published works related to various Luxembourg communities, as well as family histories.
Examples of some of the books of this nature housed in the Special Collections Department include:
Special – Ref CS 2640 .L9 G46 1989
Geographie der Luxemburger Familiennamen (nach der Volkzahlung von 1930).
Special CS 838 .G837 K3 2002
Familienchronik der Stadt Grevenmacher von 1634 bis 1950
Special CS 838 .R386 K31999
Familienchronik der Gemeinden Remerschen und Burmeringen: Remerschen Schenge, Wintringen, 1660-1900; Burmeringen,Elvingen, Emeringe, 1760-1900.
Special CS 838 .R387 K3 1999
Familienchronik Stadt Remich, von 1668-1900.
Special CS 838 .S776 K3 2000
Familienchronik der Gemeinde Stadtbredimus: Greinweldingen Stadbredimus von 1668 bis 1900
Special CS 838 .W453 K3 1999
Familienchronik Gemeinde Wellenstein: Bech-Kleinmacher, Schwebsingen, Wellenstein, von 1668-1900.
Special CS 838 .W453 K3 2002
Familien Wellenstein und ihre Nachkommen in aller welt: Mit den Dazugehorigen Familien Gales, Kohll, Legill, Linden und Muller von 1590 bis heute
Special CS 838 .W928 K3 2001
Familienchronik der Gemeinde Wormeldingen: (Ahn, Dreiborn, Ehnen, Kapenacker, Machtum, Oberwormeldingen, Wormeldingen) von 1690 bis 1900
Special Ref CS 839 .A2 P4 1990
Fragments Genealogiques – Familles Luxembourgeois
Special – Over DH 901.I59
Les Luxembourgeois Soldats de la France, 1792-1815.
III. LUXEMBOURGERS IN THE UNITED STATES
A. Newspapers
The Dubuque Luxemburger Gazette, a German-language newspaper, was published from 1871 – 1918. Its contents documented Luxembourger activities throughout North America, concentrating on the upper Midwest. The second volume of Nicolas Gonner’s Luxembougers in the New World contains and index to the newspaper’s contents.
The department also owns a microfilm edition of the Remsen [IA] Bell-Enterprise, the Luxmbourger-American “journal of record” for northwest Iowa. This newspaper is not indexed.
Special Ref E 184 .L8 G5 1987
Luxembourgers in the New World (2 vols.)
Special Microfilm
Dubuque Luxemburger Gazette, 1871 – 1918
Special Microfilm
Remsen [Iowa] Bell-Enterprise, 1915 - 1994
B. Passenger and Immigration Lists
Special Ref E184 G3 G39 2002 (for years 1840 - 1849)
Germans to America. Series II : lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports in the 1840s
Special Ref E184 G3 G38 1988 (for years 1850 - 1879)
Germans to America : lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports
Special Ref CS 68 .F537 1981
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (3 vols.)
Special Ref CS 68 .P38 1985
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1982-85 Cumulative Supplements (4 vols.)
Special Ref CS 68 .P38 1990
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1986-90 Cumulative Supplements (3 vols.)
C. Other Surname and Surname/Locality Resources.
Searching the UST Library's Catalog (http://clicnet.clic.edu/), you may be able to identify published works related to various Luxembourg American communities, as well as family histories.
Examples of some of the books of this nature housed in the Special Collections Department include:
Special F614 R64 N54 1989
In a large circle of relatives : a genealogical guide to the early community of Rollingstone, Minnesota
Special BX1418 R18 R63 2004
We are called : a history of St. Mary's Parish, Remsen, Iowa
Special F590 L88 K7 1987
Tapestry of Luxembourgers : the making of Belgium
IV. PERIODICAL ARTICLES
Genealogical periodicals may include citations to articles relating to Luxembourg and Luxembourg-American families. You can determine whether or not a journal referenced in the GPAI is held in the St. Thomas libraries by consulting the “Journal Title” section of CLICnet: (http://clicnet.clic.edu/).
Special Ref CS42 .G467
Genealogical Periodical Annual Index
