German Family History Research

German Family History Research

By Samantha Guptill

Main Issues in German Family History Research

Document Analysis

Language (what language is it in?)
Alphabet (German handwriting/Fraktur handwriting/Fraktur Gothic or Typeset
Content (What does this record include information about?)
Author (who is issuing or writing the document
These components will help you determine where to look for further information and how far backwards in your family line you can continue to research

Types of Records in Germany

Church Records
These may be found as far back as the 1520s and are the most thorough type of record
Most of the information you will find will be about the father of the child or individuals in the records
Towns were predominantly Lutheran or Catholic and knowing this will help determine the likelihood of a family migration pattern

Civil Records
Pre-Napoleon there were no unified record keeping practices. However, Napoleon mandated Civil Record keeping to take power away from the Church and identify who was in the region
After the Franco-Prussian War Germany united in 1871 and Otto von Bismarck reinstated Civil Record Keeping
By 1874 all of Prussia is to register births, marriages, and deaths at the regional level and these records have been maintained up to today
In 1938 Germany instated the civil registry system when it took over Austria

Ortssippenbuch
These are village lineage books and are great resources to find a lot of information very quickly
The Family History Library has a large collection of these books and can be found in the catalog under “Genealogy” in the region you are researching
These are secondary resources and the original records should always be checked for possible issues with transcription error

Gazetteers and Maps
A Gazetteer is a dictionary of place names but may include more information that is invaluable to research such as: religious denominations, common occupations, and where to find civil or church records
The most common is the Meyers Orts-und-Verkehrs-Lexikon des Deutschen Reichsand is available on FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, and through the Hathitrust
The Gemeindelexicon is a Prussian Gazetteer for the early 1900 Austria-Hungarian region
Maps are vital for conducting German Family History Research due to boundary changes and there are excellent historic maps online

Passenger Lists
Ports of Departure and where your ancestor is most likely to have travelled from or into in the United States, depending on what time period they first appear in the United States
Some places to find hometown information: U.S. Census records, Naturalization, and Passenger Lists
Different Passenger Lists include: Germans to America, Atlantic and Gulf Port Records, Hamburg Passenger Lists, Ellis Island and Castle Garden, and Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists

Reading German documents

Handwriting variations and languages: Records may be written in a variety of alphabets and languages that make understanding German records difficult
There are many resources to learn German script and if you put in the time and effort, you CAN read these records!

Web Resources

Resources to learn German Script

Websites for Future Research