Moselle, France ancestors Alsace-Lorraine

by Rose
(Buffalo, NY)

I have German ancestors going back to at least 1700s from Achen and Etting, Moselle France Alcace Lorraine area. Some were married into French families. Searching names Demmerle, Hoffman, Ackerman, Koch etc. Families stayed there a couple centuries.

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Alsace-Lorraine ancestors
by: Suzele

Hi Rose,

Achen and Etting are right on the border inside Moselle so very close to Alsace.

The Moselle department in Lorraine has a shared history with most of Alsace. They have quite a lot in common culturally.

I'm curious what your question is about your ancestors.

You should be able to go online and check the archives for Moselle

https://www.archives57.com/

I've spent most of my time looking in Alsace's archives so I can't speak to how it works for Moselle but normally it should be similar.

You have the names of the villages and that's where your search starts.

They are small villages so this will be easier - because there are fewer records.

Next everything should be organized by birth, marriage and death.

Then by year.

Then in alphabetical order.

Even if you don't have the exact dates, you should be able to go through each year without too much trouble - because there will not be too many records.

It's possible they're missing some because of fire. It was always a risk. Other than fire, they should have records.

If you're looking for records before 1789, you won't find state records. You'll need church records.

Many of them have been put online.

They're sometimes very hard to read because all church record writers seem to have studied penmanship at the same horrible school ;-)

And they could be in Latin if they're Catholic records.

A few details that might help...

Up until 1871, the records are probably in French but also could be in a Germanic language because that's what most people spoke at the time.

After 1871, they are most definitely written in German because Moselle was part of the German Empire.

I would look at your relatives as Mosellan and not German or French. They were most likely tied to their region culturally. And not the country.

Curious about what you're looking for about your ancestors.

Something I offer mostly for Alsace but if it's very close to Alsace, I can do Ancestry tours.

Where we go on a treasure hunt for more information. Not the kind you find in written records - although we do find those sometimes too.

In the past, we've found addresses, additional relatives and villages, actual homes that are still standing, and sometimes locations of where homes used to stand.

Also we've found local historians that can help with more context.

And sometimes living relatives of your ancestors.

Those are just a few things I've done recently on tours last year.

Wishing you lots of luck with your research,
Suzele

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