oldenburg-l - Nachricht 2007-08 00078

[David Harfst <Genealogy(a)HarfstFamily.org>]

As a follow up to that, does the word "Gemeinde" refer to a governmental 
division?

In the U.S., with the exception of the state of Louisiana, I believe, 
the only time I've heard the word "parish" used is in regards to the 
Catholic Church, in which case it is a geographic division of the 
Church's organization, and is completely independent of the the state's 
internal divisions that are usually referred to as a "county".

In Louisiana, it's use is a governmental division, the same as what 
other states call "county".

The county "seat" refers to the seat of government of the county and the 
place where legal records would be filed and held, such as birth 
certificates, marriage licenses, land deeds, etc.

Is that what a "Gemeinde" is?  I suppose back before the government took 
over all that record keeping, the church, be it Lutheran or Catholic, 
would be that "seat", and therefore a parish and county would be the 
same thing.  I assume there would be some overlap between the Lutheran 
and Catholic "parishes" in Germany.  Or maybe not - back in those days 
citizens were required to follow the religion of their lord, were they 
not?  So in any geographic region, there was only one church, and 
therefore only one seat of the parish?

Heiko Ahlers wrote:
> Hi,
> Visbek is a village, and this village is also the seat of the Gemeinde ("parish") Visbek, which encompasses, a.o. the villages Wostendöllen, -Varnhorn, -Norddöllen,...
> Astrup also is a village in Gemeinde Visbek, Vestrup is in Gemeinde Bakum.
> They all were part of the State/Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (not of the city of O.). 
>
> Regards
> Heiko
>
>
> "Annette Sweetman" <bubs(a)nc.rr.com> schrieb:
> > Hi
> > I've found many of my ancestors from Visbek.  What exactly is Visbek? A 
> > village? A group of villages?  How is it related to Visbek - 
> > Wostendollen, -Varnhorn, -Norddollen, -Erlte, -Hogenbogen, -Rechterfeld, 
> > -Siedenbogen, -Endel.  Are Vestrup and Astrup also villages? Does 
> > Oldenburg encompass all of these?  Thanks
> > Annette
> > Oldenburg-L mailing list
> > Oldenburg-L(a)genealogy.net
> > http://list.genealogy.net/mailman/listinfo/oldenburg-l
>
> Oldenburg-L mailing list
> Oldenburg-L(a)genealogy.net
> http://list.genealogy.net/mailman/listinfo/oldenburg-l