Moers, Germany, Deaths, 1803-1986

About this collection

This collection contains death records from Moers covering the years 1798 up to and including 1986. Moers is a city in the district of Wesel and is part of the administrative district of Dusseldorf. It is located along the Lower Rhine on the western edge of the Ruhr area about 6 miles west of Duisburg and about 9 miles north of Krefeld in what is now North Rhine-Westphalia. The area was colonized early. Roman settlers arrived in what is now Asberg around AD 69. Moers was chartered in 1300. The city's notable attraction and oldest known building is the Moers Castle. During the time period of this collection, Moers first belonged to the French Département de la Roar and, from 1815 to 1918, to Prussia. The collection also includes records from the communities of Baerl, Kapellen and Repelen. The records for urban and rural Moers were managed separately between 1859 and 1906, when a mayor's office for rural Moers was created.

On September 20th, 1792, the French National Assembly passed a law governing the documentation of civil status in France. The French model for recording Births, Marriages and Deaths was officially introduced when French troops began the occupation of the left bank of the Rhine on May 1st, 1798 and established new departments of France. In the former Prussian provinces, on October 1st, 1874, the responsibility for this documentation was assumed by local registry offices and referred to as "civil registers."

The civil registration records are usually arranged chronologically and bound in yearbook form. Occasionally, alphabetical directories of names were also created. While churches continued to keep traditional records, the State also mandated that the personal or marital status of the entire population be recorded.

What you can find in the records

Civil registry records were initially handwritten. Later, they were recorded in German on preprinted forms. The French Republican Calendar was used as the dating system in the registers until 1805. Deaths between 1803 and 1814 are documented in French. Starting in 1815 they were recorded once again in German. Beginning in 1876, standardized preprinted civil registry forms were used. In each record the date of a death usually differs from the date it was registered. Depending on the individual form or on the formulations used by the registrar, you may find:

• Sequential or Certificate Number
• Registration Date
• Informant (sometimes including family relationship): Given Names, Last Name, Age, Occupation
• Deceased: Given Names, Last Name, Maiden Name, Occupation, Age, Residence, Birthplace, Spouse/Parents, Place/Date of Death
• Beginning in 1938, the records may also cross reference to corresponding birth and/or marriage registers
• From 1938 to 1957, the Cause of Death is often included
• Signatures

More about using this collection

Additional events from the life of the deceased were sometimes recorded later in the margins of the record. These notes, sometimes referred to as "narration," can contain very useful information but they have not been indexed. As a result, information from the notes will not found via the search form. The “Informant” was usually a relative of the deceased. These records also document casualties (Kriegssterbefälle) from the Second World War. These were recorded by the Wehrmacht (German Army) High Command.

Under "Browse this collection,” select the Civil Registry Office and Year Range of the register desired. If name directories (Namensverzeichnis) are included they may be located at the beginning or at the end of the respective register.