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German Genealogy

Baden

(Großherzogtum / Grandduchy) [Presently in Baden-Württenberg]

From 1871-1918 Baden was a grand duchy in the German Empire and the historical capital was Karlsruhe. Today it is combined with the province of Württemburg and the capital is Stuttgart.

Some basic facts about Baden: (from Uncapher, Wendy K. and Linda M. Herrick. German Maps & Facts for Genealogy. Janesville, Wisconsin: Origins Books, 2002)

  • Size: 5,822 square miles (comparable to Hawaii with 6,427 square miles)

  • Population: 1816 - 1,005,899; 1828 - 1,176,075; 1836 - 1,244,171; 1846 - 1,367,486; 1855 - 1,319,638; 1864 - 1,432,456; 1871 - 1,461,562; 1875 - 1,507,179 (734,757 males and 772,422 females)

  • Dominant Religion: South - Catholic and North - Protestant (1871 - Evangelical - 491,008; Catholic - 942,560; Other - 2,265; Jewish - 25,703; Non-Christian - 26)

  • Since 1952 part of: Baden-Württemburg

  • Formerly: Grand Duchy

  • Prussian: No

  • Principal crops: rye, wheat, barley, potatoes, hemp, hops, beetroot, turnips, chicory, tobacco, grapes, fruit, honey

  • Livestock: cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, goats

  • Industry: building stone, wood products

  • Minerals: salt, mineral springs

  • Rivers: Rhine, Neckar, Danube, Kinzig, Tauber, Murg, Wiese, Elz

Baden was a former "state" (margravate and former grand duchy) of southwestern Germany, consisting of 3,842 square miles in area. The state of Baden has been combined with the formerly separate and neighboring state of Württemberg and known as Baden-Württemberg only since after World Ward II (post-1945).

The former state of Baden bordered on France and the Rhenish Palatinate (German region of Rheinland-Pfalz) in the west, Switzerland in the south, Hesse (German region of Hessen) in the north, and the German regions of Bavaria (Bayern) and Wuerttemberg in the east. Major cities in the state of Baden included Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Pforzheim, Heidelberg, Freiburg, and Rastatt and, in the south, most of the large area known as the "Black Forest" (Schwarzwald).

Until the French Revolution, the area was a confusing patchwork of petty margravates (sovereign border territories with individual rulers known as Margraves) and states governed by church hierarchies. In 1771, the originally separate margravates of Baden-Baden in the south and Baden-Durlach in the north were united and called simply, Baden, under the same branch of the Zähringen (Baden's ruling house).

In 1806, through the instrumental participation of Napoleon Bonaparte, Baden was created as a grand duchy--an enlarged and more prestigious sovereign territory known as a "Grossherzogtum." The existing ruler of the former margravate was subsequently known as a grand duke (Grossherzog), a sovereign just below the rank of a king.

The grand duchy of Baden was severely shaken by the Baden Revolution of 1848, which temporarily unseated the Grand Duke Leopold before being forcibly suppressed with the help of Prussian troops. Baden later sided with Austria (against the German kingdom of Prussia, Baden's ally) in the Austro-Prussian War (1866), but nevertheless joined the newly-unified German Empire in 1871. For the next 47 years as part of the Empire, Baden still maintained its status as a grand duchy, with the reigning hereditary grand duke of the house of Zähringen continuing as local ruler. Following World War I (in 1918), the Grand Duke abdicated along with most of Europe's monarchs, and Baden ended its status as a grand duchy and joined the so-called "Weimar Republic" in Germany.

After World War II (1945), Baden was temporarily divided into two parts, and for a time was occupied by U.S. forces. The separate states of Baden and Württemberg were then officially merged (along with the formerly separate state of Hoenzollern) to form the new state of Baden-Württemberg, the official name under which it continues today. The central Neckar River region with the state capital of Baden-Württemberg at Stuttgart, is the modern industrial and cultural center.
 

Resources

  • About 100 People Who Emigrated from Villingendorf (Baden-Württemberg) to America in the 19th Century
     
  • Ancestry.com. Baden, Germany Emigration Index. The index is not complete with only 28,000 names. This Baden Emigration Index covers 1866-1911 and provides name, residence, year of departure and occasionally other information like "7 Persons." Subscription product. $
     
  • Andrusko, Samuel M. Emigrants from Baden and Württemberg 1816/17, extracted from Aufbruch nach Amerika. Silver Spring, Md. (95 E. Wayne Ave., Apt. T-2, Silver Spring 20901) : S.M. Andrusko, 1984. 19 p. An introduction and English translation of selected information on certain emigrants from Aufbruch nach Amerika / unter Mitarb. von Ingrid Schöberl, hrsg. von Günter Moltmann, 1979. Alphabetical list of certain emigrants mentioned in Aufbruch nach Amerika.
     
  • Auswanderung aus Südwestdeutschland. Eine Dokumentation des Landesarchivs Baden-Württemberg. The database is in progress, and gives emigrant's name, residence or birth place and year leaving. Women were not in the index unless traveling alone or with children. Is a database of emigrants from Baden and Wuerttemberg, known as "Glatzle" collection.
     
  • Auswanderer, 17 bis. 20. Jahrhundert. An alphabetical index of emigrants from Baden on microfilm at the Family History Library.
     
  • Baden Emigration Index. The Baden Emigration Index is an A to Z listing of those who left Baden from the 17th to the 20th centuries and received official permission to emigrate. If your ancestor emigrated without receiving permission they will not be included in the index. Information given in this index includes: name, place of origin (village, town or city) and year of emigration. The modern state of Baden-Württemberg is comprised of the former regions of Baden, Württemberg and Hohenzollern. The Baden Emigration Index covers only the former region of Baden.
     
  • Baden Emigration Index 1866-1911. Contains the names of more than 28,000 persons who left Baden between 1866 and 1911. Each entry includes the emigrant's name, residence or place of birth, and the year of departure. (Ancestry.com - requires payment)
     
  • Baden-Württemberg. Genealogy.net.
     
  • Baden-Württemberg. GenWeb. The focus of these pages is to help all people with genealogical interests to find more information about Baden-Württemberg, the former regions in this area and the people living there.
     
  • Black Forest Genealogy. This site is dedicated to genealogy research in this beautiful part of Germany. It is also dedicated to the history and the ancestors that made this region the beautiful place that it is.
     
  • Burgert, Annette Kunselman. Eighteenth century emigrants from German-speaking lands to North America. Breinigsville, Pa. : Pennsylvania German Society, 1983-<1985 >  Volume 1 lists emigrants from the Northern Kraichgau; volume 2, emigrants from the Western Palatinate. Both volumes include considerable genealogical information as well as indexes of ships, European place names, and surnames.
     
  • Burgert, Annette Kunselman. Emigrants from Eppingen to America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Myerstown, PA (691 Weavertown Rd., Myerstown 17067) : AKB Publications, c1987. List of emigrants from Eppingen; contains considerable genealogical information.
     
  • Burkett, Brigitte. Emigrants from Baden and Württemberg in the Eighteenth Century: Vol. I Baden-Durlach and Vicinity. Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1996. Emigrant families from Baden-Durlach area from 1728-1754. Volume 1 contains an alphabetical list of emigrants from Baden-Durlach and vicinity.
     
  • Burkett, Brigitte. Nineteenth Century Emigrants from Baden-Württemberg. Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1997, 2001.
     
  • Church Records -- From 1810-January 31, 1870 churches were required to keep a duplicate set of church books with baptisms, marriages, and deaths. One copy of the church books was kept at the church where the events occurred. The duplicate books were and still are kept in the Karlsruhe and Freiburg Archives.
     
  • Ehmann, Karl. Die Auswanderung in die Neuengland-Staaten aus Orten des Enzkreises im 18. Jahrhundert / von Karl Ehmann. Stuttgart : Verein für Familien- und Wappenkunde, 1977. 61 p. "Südwestdeutsche Blätter für Familien- und Wappenkunde. Sonderheft 1977."  List emigrants to New England from towns in the Enz district of Baden-Württemberg during the 18th century.

  • Emigration Index 17th-20th Century. (FHL films, beginning with 1180096)
     
  • Emigrants from Külsheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany to America & Elsewhere
     
  • Emigrants from Kuppenheim, Rastatt, Baden
     
  • Franz, Hermann. Die Kirchenbücher in Baden. 3. Auflage. Karlsruhe: Braun, 1957. (Family History Library Ref943.46 B4ns; microfiche 6000833). Lists where the Protestant, Reformed or Catholic parishes were located for each town Baden along with the dates of surviving church registers.
     
  • Hacker, Werner. Auswanderungen aus Baden und dem Breisgau: Obere und Mittlere Rechtsseitige Oberrheinlande im 18. Jahrhundert Archivalisch Documentiert. Stuttgart, Germany: Konrad Theiss, 1980.
     
  • Hacker, Werner. Wrote ten regional books on emigrants from Baden in the 1700s. Includes name, wife, children, residence, money, destination, date and source. Parts of volumes I, II, VII, VIII and of IX and X are published in Eighteenth Century Register of Emigrants from Southwest Germany. Apollo, Pennsylvania: Closson Press, 1994.
     
  • Herrick, Linda and Wendy Uncapher. Baden: Atlantic Bridge to Germany. Janesville, Wisconsin, Origins, 2004. Includes a short history of Baden and detailed amps from the 1880s and a complete list of towns in Baden identified by Amtbezirk, whether it has Catholic or Protestant church records and for which years available through a Family History Center.
     
  • Kappel am Rhein Family Names from the Dorfsippenbuch for this village in Baden. The Dorfsippenbuch, written by Albert Koebele, contains an alphabetical listing by family name of village marriages since about 1700. For each marriage is listed the name of the bride and groom, their parents and the children of the marriage.
     
  • Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg. The archives keep written records of the government authorities from pre-1945 Baden and most areas west of the Rhine River that were at one time part of Baden. These records can include duplicate church books, oath of allegiance to new ruler, inheritance documents, serfs index, military draft lists, emigrants records, etc.
     
  • Landreis Rastatt. A listing of places in Landreis Rastatt with location, history and list of emigrant surnames. Sponsored by: Faith Haungs.
     
  • Links: Baden and Württemberg. RootsWeb.com.  Many informative Web links.
     
  • Minert, Roger P. Baden Place Name Indexes. Provo, Utah: GRT Publications, 2000. Each place name is listed alphabetically and then in another lists the place name is spelled backwards in alphabetical order.
     
  • Nattheimer Auswanderer nach Amerika - Emigrants from Nattheim to USA
     
  • Nixon, Janet Wind. "Forced Emigration from Bühlertal to New Orleans." The German Connection 21, 4. In the late 1840s and early 1850s bad weather caused many farmers to lose their farms. The poor were sent to the U.S. by way of Strasburg and LeHavre, France. Ships sailed to New Orleans and were met by representatives from Baden. Each family member received some money and then were on their own. Many took a steamboat on the Mississippi River to the St. Louis area.
     
  • Offenburger Auswanderer.  Searchable database of emigrants from Offenburg (in Baden) to North America.
     
  • Oggenhausener Auswanderer nach Amerika - Emigrants from Oggenhausen to USA
     
  • Pauli, H.J. Ortsverzeichnis Baden. Tamm: Vaira, 1994. Lists all places in Baden with current zip code and kreis since 1975 plus the former kreis.
     
  • Salaba, Marie and Hansmartin Schwarzmaier, editors. Die Bestände des Generallandesarchivs Karlsruhe. Stuttgart, W. Kohlhammer, 1988. The archives has duplicate church books 1810-1870 for the government district of Karlsruhe (northern half of Baden).
     
  • Schrader-Muggenthaler, Cornelia. Baden Emigration Book: including emigration from Alsace.  Gives 7,000 names from Baden to America from the 18th and 19th centuries. Only those going to America were selected. Also includes several hundred Alsacian emigrants.
     
  • Smith Clifford Neal. Emigrants from Fellbach (Baden Wuerttemberg, Germany), 1735-1930.  Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield Co., 1984, 2004 reprint.
     
  • Smith, Clifford Neal. Emigrants from the West-German Fuerstenberg territories (Baden and the Palatinate) to America and Central Europe, 1712, 1737, 1787 / translated by Clifford Neal Smith. McNeal, Ariz. : Westland Publications, 1981. ii, 46 p.  (German-American genealogical research monograph, ISSN 0094-7806 ; no. 9) An alphabetical list of the names of individuals which appear in: Untersuchung zur Geschichte der Auswanderung in den Jahren 1712, 1737, und 1787 / Hermann Baier. Freiburger Diözesan-Archiv, 1937, n.F. 37:314-357. Emigrants from the Fürstenberg territories in 1712, 1737, and 1787.
     
  • Stadtarchiv Freiburg i. Breisgau (City archive). Has duplicate church books 1810-1870 for the government district of Freiburg (southern half of Baden.)
     
  • Wanted Men from Baden: 1854. List of men missing in Baden when it came time for them to report for military duty.
     
  • Wanted Men from Baden: 1853. List of men missing in Baden when it came time for them to report for military duty.


  • Welcome to My Genealogy Home on the Web. Links for emigrant lists from the Baden towns of Kuppenheim, Steinmauern, Oetigheim, stein am Kocher, Herbolzheim, Kochertürn, Neckarsulm, Bingswangen, Dahenfeld, and Schefflenz.