Hello rwe, thanks for the tip, unfortunately, there is no data that's searchable online and it covers only a limited area: Passau, Bavaria Kurhessen-Waldeck Rheinland Berlin Palatinate. While it states that all research is free, there is no online access to the digitized records and if you locate a town and want to look at the church records [I was interested in Rockensuess, Kurhessen-Waldeck], a window pops up requesting you to enter a name and they will do a search for 70.00 Euro to start. That's outside the budget of most family researchers. It appears to me that the Germans have caught on real quick and for a price are more than anxious to feed America's hunger for the roots of its ancestors. Ursula ____________________________________________________ There will come a time, when you'll have no more time.

Hi Ursula and Rick, Perhaps I can offer some clarification regarding the Matricula Online website. This site is intended as a place where Western European archives can post images of church records for free access. So far, the Diocesan Archive of St. Poelten, Austria, and the Diocesan Archive of Passau in Bavaria have posted images of most [ if not all, by now] of their parish registers on that site, and those are searchable free of charge. The other archives you mentioned: Kurhessen-Waldeck [Kassel] Rheinland Berlin Palatinate basically used this site to practice putting images and inventories online. The Kassel Evangelical archive posted an inventory and the images of the Gelnhausen area church records on that site, and the Lutheran Archive of the Rhineland also posted a sampling of records from its holdings online. Most of this material is not available on FamilySearch, but can be freely searched online. The drawback is that it only covers a limited area. Last July a group of about 33 church archives [various denominations]created a new Web site: www.kirchenbuchportal.de. This group, which includes the archives listed above, has decided to Put their records online "mittelfristig", that is, in the not too distant future. They have begun by posting detailed inventories of each archive's holdings, along with a searchable database of the combined inventories. This database can be used without charge, and it is already helpful. The group plans to charge for access to the church records they post online to help pay for the expensive hardware and software they have to buy to make it possible. My guess is that the fees will not be in the 70 Dollar range, or no one will use the site, but so far they have not given a ballpark figure. With the price of plane tickets these days it'll probably still be a good deal... The most exciting part of the Kirchenbuchportal site is the list of participating archives. FamilySearch has not filmed in most of them, and many are the popular ones like the Hannover Lutheran Archive, the Saxony and Thueringen archives, and some Bavarian ones. I, for one, am hoping that "mittelfristig" comes soon! Many German church archives now charge in the neighborhood of 70 Dollars per hour to do research for patrons, some more, some less. I think that's why Matricula states it will cost that much if the archive does the research for you. Baerbel ------------ While it states that all research is free, there is no online access to the digitized records and if you locate a town and want to look at the church records [I was interested in Rockensuess, Kurhessen-Waldeck], a window pops up requesting you to enter a name and they will do a search for 70.00 Euro to start. That's outside the budget of most family researchers. It appears to me that the Germans have caught on real quick and for a price are more than anxious to feed America's hunger for the roots of its ancestors. Ursula ____________________________________________________ There will come a time, when you'll have no more time. For all the latest News, please visit our Homepage: http://www.germanyroots.com Please visit and participate in our new forum http://www.germanyroots.com/phpBB3/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Baerbel, thank you so much for the clarification. I will start searching in Nuernberg, pronto! Ursula ____________________________________________________ There will come a time, when you'll have no more time. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Baerbel Johnson" <JohnsonBx@familysearch.org> To: germany-passenger-lists@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011 10:16:26 AM Subject: Re: [G-P-L] Matricula Online Hi Ursula and Rick, Perhaps I can offer some clarification regarding the Matricula Online website. This site is intended as a place where Western European archives can post images of church records for free access. So far, the Diocesan Archive of St. Poelten, Austria, and the Diocesan Archive of Passau in Bavaria have posted images of most [ if not all, by now] of their parish registers on that site, and those are searchable free of charge. The other archives you mentioned: Kurhessen-Waldeck [Kassel] Rheinland Berlin Palatinate basically used this site to practice putting images and inventories online. The Kassel Evangelical archive posted an inventory and the images of the Gelnhausen area church records on that site, and the Lutheran Archive of the Rhineland also posted a sampling of records from its holdings online. Most of this material is not available on FamilySearch, but can be freely searched online. The drawback is that it only covers a limited area. Last July a group of about 33 church archives [various denominations]created a new Web site: www.kirchenbuchportal.de. This group, which includes the archives listed above, has decided to Put their records online "mittelfristig", that is, in the not too distant future. They have begun by posting detailed inventories of each archive's holdings, along with a searchable database of the combined inventories. This database can be used without charge, and it is already helpful. The group plans to charge for access to the church records they post online to help pay for the expensive hardware and software they have to buy to make it possible. My guess is that the fees will not be in the 70 Dollar range, or no one will use the site, but so far they have not given a ballpark figure. With the price of plane tickets these days it'll probably still be a good deal... The most exciting part of the Kirchenbuchportal site is the list of participating archives. FamilySearch has not filmed in most of them, and many are the popular ones like the Hannover Lutheran Archive, the Saxony and Thueringen archives, and some Bavarian ones. I, for one, am hoping that "mittelfristig" comes soon! Many German church archives now charge in the neighborhood of 70 Dollars per hour to do research for patrons, some more, some less. I think that's why Matricula states it will cost that much if the archive does the research for you. Baerbel ------------ While it states that all research is free, there is no online access to the digitized records and if you locate a town and want to look at the church records [I was interested in Rockensuess, Kurhessen-Waldeck], a window pops up requesting you to enter a name and they will do a search for 70.00 Euro to start. That's outside the budget of most family researchers. It appears to me that the Germans have caught on real quick and for a price are more than anxious to feed America's hunger for the roots of its ancestors. Ursula ____________________________________________________ There will come a time, when you'll have no more time. For all the latest News, please visit our Homepage: http://www.germanyroots.com Please visit and participate in our new forum http://www.germanyroots.com/phpBB3/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. For all the latest News, please visit our Homepage: http://www.germanyroots.com Please visit and participate in our new forum http://www.germanyroots.com/phpBB3/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Ursula, >While it states that all research is free, there is no online access to the digitized records and if you >locate a town and want to look at the church records [I was interested in Rockensuess, Kurhessen-Waldeck], >a window pops up requesting you to enter a name and they will do a search for 70.00 Euro to start. >That's outside the budget of most family researchers. While I absolutely agree that an hourly rate of 70 Euros is mostly unacceptable why don't you contact the archive in Kassel, holding the microfilmed church books for your parish of interest, directly? Their charges are 18 Euros per half hour plus 1.50 Euro per record copy. Or why don't you simply join a German mailing list for Hessen and ask for help there? As an aside... regarding the postcard showing houses of Rockensuess and whether those still exist: Try to contact Edith and Eberhard Auerswald in Cornberg-Rockensuess and I am sure they can help you. Use this website <http://www.ferienhaus-cornberg-rockensuess.de/index.php?option=com_flex icontact&Itemid=68> >It appears to me that the Germans have caught on real quick and for a price are more than anxious to feed >America's hunger for the roots of its ancestors. That's kind of a very bitter statement to which I can't agree at all. I am really sorry. I for one am one of those "hungry Germans" looking for roots of their ancestors in the US and was recently confronted with an estimate of costs from an American archive for 1 record for 150 (!!) Dollars. Vera

One more comment regarding the prices charged by archives for doing research. "Service charges" vary considerably from archive to archive. A lot depends on the archive's financial resources and available manpower. The other thing to consider is the Euro-Dollar exchange rate, which is not in our favor at this time. User fees for those visiting the archives run around 10 Euros per day; copies vary from 50 Eurocents to 7 Euros, depending on the archive. Professional researchers charge 35-45 Euros per hour on the average, plus travel time and -costs, and the cost of copies. Baerbel NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.