The Darmstadt State Archives keeps duplicates of Parochial Registers (Kirchenbücher; church registers), for the provinces of Starkenburg and Oberhessen, which cover the period from 1808-1875. Zentralarchiv der EKHN Darmstadt Central Protestant Archive for Hessen and Nassau Ahastrasse 5a Street Address 64285 Darmstadt Zip + City Tel. +49 6151 / 3663-63 E-Mail: zentralarchiv@ekhn-kv.de Website: www.ekhn.de/inhalt/kirche/profil/aufbau/ges_archiv.htm for protestants. For Catholics, you should ask the Bischöliches Ordinariat Bishop Diocese Dom- und Diözesanarchiv Street Address Postfach 1560 PO Box 55005 Mainz Zip + City Tel: +49 6131 253-157 and +49 6131 253-432 Fax: +49 6131 253-406 E-Mail: archiv@bistum-mainz.de General information on the family reseach in the State Archives Darmstadt you can see from "Guidelines For Family Research" at http://www.staatsarchiv-darmstadt.hessen.de/irj/HStAD_Internet?cid=a4f68a82f673c7f55a54a27c82b6cef3 Hessische Familiengeschichtliche Vereinigung Family History Federation Karolinenplatz 3 Street Address 64289 Darmstadt Zip + City Tel.: +49 6151 165960 E- Mail: hfv@haus-der-geschichte.com Website: http://www.genealogy.net/vereine/HFV Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt Hessen State Archives Karolinenplatz 3 Street Address 64289 Darmstadt Zip + City Tel: +49 6151-165962 Fax: +49 6151-165901 E-mail: m.coccejus@stad.hessen.de Zustündige Aufsichtsbehörde Supervisory Authority Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst Hessen Ministry for Science & the Arts Rheinstr. 23 - 25 Street Address 65185 Wiesbaden Zip + City Website: http://www.stad.hessen.de In the early days of internet genealogy countless Americans inquired about their family history in English and without return postage. Tons of inquiries went unanswered after the anslaught of researchers taking advantage of this new resource. Countless numbers overlooked their local Family History Library, which already had access to a ton of archives in Germany via films made by the Mormons. The incredible number of inquiries has slowed tremendously since those early days. The Germans have centralized many of the church archives (collected from perhaps 10 towns) and in some cases they have stored indexes and even copies of the old documents on computer. PLEASE read my website for insights and pointers! http://members.cox.net/hessen/hsstory.htm and http://familysearch.org and don't overlook http://members.cox.net/hessen/payforit.htm ? :-) Don Watson ?