Question

How should we categorize towns in Rheinland-Pfalz please, especially before the 1700s?

Answer 1

As I understand it, for categorization purposes use the current name and location: "Category:Eckweiler, Rheinland-Pfalz" (needs to be created) as subcategory to Category: Bad Kreuznach (Kreis), Rheinland-Pfalz. However, on June 10, 1979 the village was dissolved and only exists as a marker in a field today. I don't know how that should be handled. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denkmal_Eckweiler.jpg#/media/File:Denkmal_Eckweiler.jpg

As to the historic location: this area had a very complicated history. It belonged to the Grafschaft Sponheim which was immediate to the Holy Roman Empire. It then split into a Vordere Grafschaft Sponheim (where Eckweiler belonged) and a Hintere Grafschaft Sponheim. The Vordere Grafschaft became a Condominium of the Markgrafen von Baden and the Grafen von Veldenz in the 15th century. In the middle of the 15th century Veldenz died out and Pfalz-Simmern inherited their part of the Condominium. In 1707 the Condominium was finally divided and the area in question came to the kurfürstliche Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein, as it was called by that time.

 

Comments

Thank you Helmut! This  is a very confusing part of Europe and I appreciate your help in figuring out the Categories!  I read through the history of the Palatinate given in a category up the line and it is fascinating. I always wondered where the Palatinate was. Now I know that is a French name for Pfalz!

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You said " history of the Palatinate given in a category up the line and it is fascinating"  Would you care to share a link to that history?

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[[Category:Rhineland-Palatinate,Germany]]

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I would suggest the towns should be categorized according to their names during the 2nd Reich, with notes of their current/prior names.

This way the towns can be found in Meyers Gazetteer. Also that is how FamilySearch has the names categorized.

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Please keep me posted on the correct categories, because my knowledge of German geography is minimal. I live in the United States and only know Germany from maps.

Answer 2

This question is over a year old, but maybe I can add something to it that will help others in their research (sorry if that information is already known): Rheinland-Pfalz belonged to Bayern (Bavaria) from about 1816 to 1946.

Due to the bad economical situation, many Palatinate people emigrated to (mainly) North America up until the second half of the 19th Century. (As you might already know, that included the Heinz (ketchup) family and Trump's ancestors - they were not only from the same village, but also distantly related.)

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfalz_(Region)#Bayerische_Zeit

This might be helpful to know when looking for documents, as they might be "hidden" in Bavarian archives, where one would not immediately think to look.