Hello Patrick, The correct spelling for the term is Ortssippenbuch. A synonymous term is Ortsfamilienbuch. The abbreviations you often find are OSB / OFB. The English translation is Local Family Book or Local Heritage Book, sometimes also Family Register. Whatever the term used, it is a compilation of of the families who lived at a given time in a given locale, culled most often from the records found in the local parish registers; civil records, if available, might also have been considered. An example that I am familiar with is the Familienbuch for Burgstadt on the Main River in Lower Bavaria. It was compiled in the 1980's from the Registers of the local Parish Church; these are available in the Diocesan Archives in Wurzburg, and cover the years 1575-1900, with some gaps. The families are arranged alphabetically by surname; all families with the same surname are shown chronologically. Every family in the book has an ID number, used to reference it when it is mentioned in the entry of another family. For each person you will find dates for BMD, if shown in the original parish Register, which was sometimes not the case. Records may have been missing, the person may have been born in another place and moved to Burgstadt later, or may have left Burgstadt. Other information that MIGHT be included: occupation, address/house number in the village, cause of death, annotation of where a person may have moved to [for numerous persons in the Burgstadt Familienbuch there are notes showing a marriage or death in the USA]. In the introduction to the book you might find historical information about the town or parish; a list of officials or pastors; the sources consulted in compiling the book. The author of the Burgstadt book also provided a helpful description of historical names for diseases. It is important to keep in mind that a Familienbuch or Ortssippenbuch is NOT an official record; it was assembled after the fact, often a century or two later, from surviving sources. The compiler may have misread, misinterpreted, or omitted records. Very, very few of these books have been placed on-line; only one or two are in Bavaria. Here's the link to the list: http://www.online-ofb.de/ Here's an extensive list of Family Books, in all of Germany and in some neighboring countries: http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/w/index.php?title=Kategorie:Ortsfamilienbuch&until= Eppe%2C+OFB (Click on "(vorherige 200) (nachste 200)" to navigate to the next/preceding page. ) Happy Hunting. George >From: "Patrick M. Lofft" <> >Subject: RE: [BAVARIA] ortssippenbooks >Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2005 10:32:51 -0800 In-Reply-To: <436904F8.7040307@cox.net> >What is an ortssippenbook and what would I find in one?