The most valuable sources for research in Luxembourg prior to the twentieth century were civil registration and church records. These records have been extremely well preserved, and continue today. Prior to the enactment of civil registration, the responsibility for keeping vital information was ecclesiastical. These records were usually generated by the Roman Catholic church, beginning in the mid-seventeenth century. They are found chronologically organized.
Many records also show the names of the parents of the bride and groom.
Residence can often lead to outside parishes of origin, especially when births did not occur in the same parish being researched. Marriage records are found chronologically organized. Most marriage records have been microfilmed through 1800, with some areas as late as the 1830s. The marriages prior to 1800 have been combined in a consolidated index, microfilmed and made available through the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Many times the records will also identify the cause of death, whether a widow or widower, record the specific relationship to a father if a small child, and occasionally even record information about origins if a notable individual.