Research in Luxembourg #2
Therese Becker © 1998
CIVIL REGISTRATION (Vital records)
Sometime around 1796, it became compulsory for the civil
authorities of each "commune" (town) of Luxembourg, to record each
birth, marriage and death, which occurred in their community. This
meant that everyone had to be recorded, regardless of their
religious affiliation. This registration continued and is still in
effect today. The last hundred years are confidential. However it
is possible for a direct descendant to obtain a birth or marriage
certificate of a direct line ancestor by proving a direct line
relationship. Death certificates are not confidential.
The Genealogical Society of Utah has microfilmed the records of all
the localities of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, from 1796 to about
1892. These records are kept in chronological order of the
occurrence of the event for each locality. Yearly indexes are found
at the end of each year of birth marriage or death.
There are also Ten-year indexes. These are usually grouped together
by locality.
Example of ten year index of births in Vianden film 1921745 it.3-5
67 Bruck Elisabethe 15 fevrier 1832
68 Caspar Jean Rheinhart 3 mars 1824
69 Colling Marguerithe 29 9bre 1824
70 Caster Marie Caroline 8 mars 1824
71 Colling Gaspard 27 fevrier 1825
72 Colling Catherine 7 aout 1826
73 Colling Christophe 7 aout 1826
74 Colling Marguerithe 20 Xbre 1826
75 Castel Antoine Joseph 24 7bre 1826
76 Collin C‚lestin Marie 9 9bre 1827
77 Colling Mathias 7 fevrier 1827
Example of marriage ten year index in Vianden film 1921745 it.3-5
9 Bettendorff Pierre marie a
Daleyden Marie Catherine 12 fevrier 1829
10 Barthelmi Fran‡ois Joseph marie a
Alff Marie Josephe 3 9bre 1830
11 Bous Jean marie a
Rinnsch Marguerite 3 9bre 1830
12 Bicker Bernard marie a
Starck Elisabethe 13 janvier 1831
13 Bohr George marie a
Bettendorff Anne Marie 26 jan 1831
14 Bohr Guillaume marie a
Mantenach Regine 3 mai 1832
15 Colling Nicolas marie a
Herman Marie Madelaine 8 Xbre 1823
16 Colling Mathias marie a
Schaefer Marie Madelaine 24 fevrier 1824
Example of death ten year index in Vianden film 1921745 it.3-5
50 Colling Margueritte 9 8bre 1823
51 Coster Marie Caroline 13 juillet 1825
52 Coster Christine 10 aout 1826
53 Coster Elisabeth 5 mars 1826
54 Colling Damien 10 7bre 1827
55 Colling Marie Catherine 28 fevrier 1827
56 Colling Mathias 4 9bre 1828
57 Cleis Henri 6 janvier 1831
(Note that sometimes the indexes are arranged alphabetically by the
first letter only.)
Because the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a rather small country, it
is possible to search ALL of the Ten-year indexes in order to find
the town of origin of your emigrant ancestor. You may want to
proceed by searching all the localities of one county at the time.
The civil registers are kept in German or in French depending upon
the time period. You do not have to be fluent in these languages
to decipher and understand a birth, marriage or death record. You
need only to have a sample of the German Gothic Script and a basic
German and French word list.
If you want to read and understand the civil records of Luxembourg,
it is necessary that you learn to read and understand the numbers
from 1 to 31, 100, 1000, in order to read the dates and ages. The
months of the year are very much the same as in English. Knowing a
few basic words such as father, mother, son of, daughter of, his
wife, brother, sister, will help you to get started.
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