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Finding a
German Place of Origin
- Suggestions -
by John Movius
© copyright 1997-2001 by John Movius, all rights
reserved
Latest Update: 27 June 2001
SUGGESTIONS For Finding a Place of Origin in
Germany
There are several possible ways to "jump the pond" from the
North America, South America, Australia, Africa, etc. to a
possible place of origin back in the pre-World War I German
Empire. Here are some suggestions:
1) Check for your surname in the IGI (International
Genealogical Index) on CD-ROM at your nearest Family History
Center. There are over 200 million persons listed. The location
of births and marriages is listed if it is known.
2) Search Die Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen
Volkes: The third largest Germanic database (next to the
IGI is Die
Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes and the Brenner
collection for northern Bavaria). The 1,221 microfilm reel
collection is a three step process described on this website and
in a GGD article and a printed Ahnenstammkartei Register
by Thomas Edlund. This is probably the most under-utilized
resource for determining village of origin and pedigree
information.
3) Check for others researching your surname: Look for
them under your surname in the Ancestral File at your nearest
Family History Center and on the FEEFHS website using the
"Website Index".
4) Look for a German Language Obituary in a German-
American (or German-Canadian) Language newspaper near their North
American home. (under construction).
5) Check a German Nammenlexikon for the earliest known
place where your surname is found. Bahlow's Nammenlekicon
is usually found as part of the core German collection at all
Family History Centers in North Amrica. Others for various
provinces (such as Silesia and Pommern) are found in the main
library at larger cities and at University libraries, especially
research and reference libraries.
6) Did your ancestor leave from Hamburg? If so there are
some sources for you. Check the:
6.1) Hamburg Passenger Lists: Two lists exist (1850-1934):
the DIRECT List (Hamburg direct to the destination/arrival port)
and the INDIRECT List (Hamburg via a British port (like
Southhampton) and then to the destination / arrival port. There
are 486 reels available from the FHL. Searching is a two-step
process. You can find the microfilm number(s) for your year in
the FHL Catalog under Hamburg, Emigration (Topic #12), Record #4.
There is a fifteen year index (1856-1871) on microfilm (Record
#5). There is also a free 4 page FHL printed summary available
at most North American FHC's. It is also on microfilm (Record
#6).
6.2) Hamburg Police Records of Passport Applications:
These are called Reisepass Protokolle (1851-1929). This
application contains the name, birth date and place. They are
indexed by year. There are 323 reels of FHL microfilm available.
Find this in the FHL Catalog under Hamburg, Hamburg, Emigration
(Topic #12) Record #2.
7) Did your ancestor leave from Bremmen?: If so, the
pickings are extremely slim, but a FEW microfilm records DO exist
for the years 1904-1914 (with lots of gaps): see Namenskartei aus den
"Bremer Schiffslisten" (Bremen Ship Passengers
1904-1914).
8) Did your ancestor arrive at Baltimore?: Many of the
Bremen departures arrived at Baltimore (just as Rotterdam
departures often arrived at Phildelphia inn the 18th and 19th
centuries). There are two indexes of passenger records and 7
emigration/immigration records on FHL microfilm or in books at
Salt Lake City. They might be referred to if you are really sure
it was a Baltimore arrival.
9) Get a copy of the Germany: Research Outline: -
available for about US$1.00 from most FHC's. This is an
excellent summary of FHL sources available to help you. See also
my Research Outline:
Germany - Annotations.
10) Finding Living Relatives in Germany Today: Search the
German Telephone Book on
CD-ROM. An easy way to do this is to ask the IGS (Immigrant Genealogy
Society) of Burbank California do so for you for a few
dollars.
11) Locating a Place of Origin in the Old German Empire
(Pre-World-War I):
Use the Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des Deutschen
Reichs by E. Uetrecht (1912-1913). It is part of the "core"
collection for Germany at virtually all 3,200+ Family History
Centers (FHC's) worldwide. The "FHLC" (FHL Catalog) listing is
under Germany, Gazetteers (topic #77 of 500, collection #35 of
69). The 29 FHL microfiche numbers are 6000001 - 6000029. The 2
FHL microfilm numbers are 496460 and 496641.
12) Locating an LDS Family History Center: There is one
nearby nearly everyone in North America and in most major cities
in Western Europe and elsewhere. They are growing in number by
about 200 a year worldwide. See the page on this website
regarding Finding an FHL
microfilm.
13) Don't Forget to Check this Website by entering your
location name or surname in the FEEFHS WebSite Index There is
sufficient continuing activity in posting new web databases here
every few days that you would be very wise to re-check your names
here every 3 or 4 months.
14) Search the WWW with a Web Search engine: Open the
Best Genealogy Search Engines navigation link on the top
of the FEEFHS FrontPage (Home Page at http://feefhs.org) and use
several (such as HotBot and AltaVista) to search the web. Its
surprising what you might find.
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