Mannheim, Germany, Marriages, 1870-1920

About this collection

This collection contains marriage records from Mannheim covering the years 1870 up to and including 1920. Mannheim is situated on the right (east) bank of the Rhine at the mouth of the Neckar River in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is home to a commercial and industrial center and an important inland port. Mannheim is known for its baroque palace with one of the largest castles in the world. Because of the city's pattern of roads are laid out on a grid, Mannheim bears the nickname "Quadratestadt" (City of the Squares). During the time period of this collection, it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Baden and later the Republic of Baden. The collection also includes records from eight additional communities. Records for Rheinau begin in 1902. The last year for records in each registry varies by community.

Beginning on February 1, 1870, birth, marriage and death records in the former Grand Duchy of Baden were created by local registry offices. The collected records are arranged chronologically and usually bound together in the form of yearbooks. These are collectively referred to as "civil registers." 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

Marriage records were created using preprinted forms that were filled in by hand by the registrar. Depending on the individual form or on the formulations used by the registrar, you may find:

• Sequential or Certificate Number
• Marriage Date
• Groom: Occupation, Given names, Last name, Denomination, Age/Birthdate, Birthplace, Residence as well as details about his parents and their place of residence
• Bride: Occupation, Given Names, Last Name, Maiden Name, Denomination, Age/Birthdate, Birthplace, Residence as well as details about her parents and their place of residence
• Witnesses
• Signatures

More about using this collection

Records before 1876 have one entry per page. After the introduction of a number of uniform formats, each record had a front and back page which are successively displayed. Additional events from the life of the couple were sometimes recorded later on in the margins. 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. Images for individual year-ranges may be displayed by selecting the place of registration in the box "Browse this collection” then by selecting the year-range desired.