Hello Ginni, in pre-1871 Germany you had to apply for citizenship (Bürgerrecht) of a town in order to become a citizen of that town. Usually a man would do so when moving to the town or before marrying and founding a household if his own. Nobody was a citizen (Bürger) of a country in those days. People were subject (Untertan) of their king. What is the "recent citizen" in the original German source? "gewesener Bürger" may indicate the man was already dead when the record was made. Carl ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ginni L. Morey" <glmorey@earthlink.net> To: <HESSE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 10:16 PM Subject: [HESSE] Citizen > I'm just getting started in Germany and have found the marriage for my > 4Great Grandparents. It list my grandfather as a recent citizen. What is > the significance of this? Is there a certain age they become citizens? Or > do they become citizens when marrying? > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Ginni Morey from Campbell CA > Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society Web Master: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~cascchgs/ > Personal Home page: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~reinwald > mailto: GLMorey@earthlink.net > > > ==== HESSE Mailing List ==== > Going on Vacation? Longer than 4 days? Go to > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/HESSE.html > to unsubscribe > >

I want to thank everyone who helped me understand about the definition of citizen. I am trying to get a better understanding of what their life was like. My 4XGreat grandmother went from being a bride, new mother and a widow in 2 short years. She also watched her father-in-law die months after her husband died. It was a reminder in how short life is. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Ginni Morey from Campbell CA Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society Web Master: http://www.rootsweb.com/~cascchgs/ Personal Home page: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~reinwald mailto: GLMorey@earthlink.net <mailto:GLMorey@earthlink.net> -----Original Message----- From: Carl Becker [mailto:carl@becker-wiesbaden.de] Sent: 09 August, 2003 2:03 AM To: HESSE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [HESSE] Citizen Hello Ginni, in pre-1871 Germany you had to apply for citizenship (Bürgerrecht) of a town in order to become a citizen of that town. Usually a man would do so when moving to the town or before marrying and founding a household if his own. Nobody was a citizen (Bürger) of a country in those days. People were subject (Untertan) of their king. What is the "recent citizen" in the original German source? "gewesener Bürger" may indicate the man was already dead when the record was made. Carl ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ginni L. Morey" <glmorey@earthlink.net> To: <HESSE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 10:16 PM Subject: [HESSE] Citizen > I'm just getting started in Germany and have found the marriage for my > 4Great Grandparents. It list my grandfather as a recent citizen. What is > the significance of this? Is there a certain age they become citizens? Or > do they become citizens when marrying? > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Ginni Morey from Campbell CA > Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society Web Master: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~cascchgs/ > Personal Home page: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~reinwald > mailto: GLMorey@earthlink.net > > > ==== HESSE Mailing List ==== > Going on Vacation? Longer than 4 days? Go to > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/HESSE.html > to unsubscribe > > ==== HESSE Mailing List ==== Many towns in Germany have the same name! Add the 5-digit zip code in front of the name! Zip codes explained, http://members.cox.net/hessen/table.htm