I am beginning to develop information about my ancestor Chr. (Christian or Christoph?) HOFFMANN and his family. He was pastor of the evangelical church in Nussloch, Baden, about 1680. [source: CHRONIK der evangelischen Kirchengemeinde Nussloch]. I'm hoping that some list members may be familiar with records and their locations in Nussloch, Heidelberg, or Karlsruhe. I know that the destruction during the French occupation, and earlier during the 30-years War, is going to make finding 17th century records difficult. I know from the 1706 marriage record of Christian's son Gerhardt (in Wiesloch) that Christian died before 1706. Next week I will order from the Family History Library the microfilm of the ev. Kirche Nussloch which has birth, marriage, death, and communion records starting in 1698 or 1699. I may luck out and find Christian's death record or a few other family records. I also know from the CHRONIK that the church's oldest preserved Kirchenbuecher (birth, marriage, death) are from the 1680s or 1690s. FHL says its microfilm source is manuscripts in the Ev. Landeskirchenarchiv Karlsruhe. The CHRONIK states that the oldest document, about the church building's needing repair, is a letter from 1661 by then Pfarrer Nabholtz that is in the Generallandesarchiv in Karlsruhe. Questions: 1) Are all the church records now in the Landeskirchliches Archiv Karlsruhe? 2) Where am I likely to find civil records? Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe? Kreisarchiv Rhein-Neckar Kreis? Various Amts in Heidelberg? (Grundbuchamt Heidelberg holds at least some Grundbuecher from Nussloch as of 1 Feb 2008) 3) Any other suggestions for researching the 17th century? Thanks for your help.