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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.
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/search~22/),
you may be able to identify published works related to
various Luxembourg and 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 – 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 bis1950
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 Gazett, 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.)
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/search~S2/
).
Special Ref CS42 .G467
Genealogical Periodical Annual Index
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