My ancestor was born in Germany in 1865, and married in Germany in 1887. How can I obtain her birth and marriage certificates?
A. This is not a simple question. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began at different times in different areas. In the west, some states commenced civil registration as early as 1792, whereas most of Prussia did not commence until 1874. The last states to introduce civil registration did so in 1876. So it should be possible to find her marriage certificate, but locating her birth certificate depends on the state or province in which she was born. Since all civil records are normally kept in the local civil registry office or Standesamt , it is necessary to know the city, town or village where the event occurred. There are several reference works, such as Meyers Orts und Vekehrs Lexikon which specify the Standesamt for every locality in the old German Empire. For places that are in modern day Germany, certificates can be obtained by writing to the appropriate Standesamt but you may be required to provide proof of descent from the person concerned. For those areas now i
