Ancestry.com has Meyers Geographical and Commercial Gazetteer of the German Empireavailable online as color scans of an original copy of the book (as a free item). The scans are nice to use and very readable.

A while back I recorded a presentation on using the Meyers Orts gazetteer. It’s aimed at those who have been hesitant to use this finding aid to 19th and 20th century German places because of the language and the type.

Meyers-Orts entry for Wiesens. Image courtesy of Ancestry.com

 

Our approach is down-to-earth and hands-on. We don’t expect you to learn German to use this gazetteer, but we will show you how to find out where the local post office was–and the nearby church and other villages.

The presentation can be ordered here–download is immediate.