Searching For My German Ancestors - Some Resources

For this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, I've decided to write about some of the resources and records that I have used to research my German ancestors. Since I have just begun to research in German records, most of my resources will be of American records; however, I will also list resources that might assist people in researching their German ancestors. Here are the resources I have used:

Books

When I first began my research into my German ancestors, I read a couple of books on the topic to uncover the possible problems in researching German genealogy and how to research my German ancestors. One of the books I read, and bought, was A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Germanic Ancestors by Chris Anderson and Ernest Thode, and I gave a brief description of the book here. There are other books, so one does not have to buy or check-out this book. I just happen to own a copy of the book.

Another book that I highly recommend one has for doing German research is a German-English Dictionary for obvious reasons. Two other useful books that I wish I owned are Following the paper trail : a multilingual translation guide by Jonathan D. Shea and Deciphering handwriting in German documents : analyzing German, Latin, and French in vital records written in Germany by Roger P. Minert, both of which I wrote about here. (I should note that Following the Paper Trail is also useful for other countries, and if I remember correctly, has information on translating records in Polish, Russian and Lithuanian as well as French and other languages that I cannot recall at the moment.

Census Records

I've used censuses not only to determine where my ancestors lived and the names of family members, but also to determine where they were born or when they came to the United States. I've also used the information to determine if they were naturalized and how many in the household at a given time came to the U. S. Obviously, I am referring to U. S. census records, but some of this information might be found in the censuses of other countries.

Vital Records

Vital records from the locations where my ancestors resided have been useful as well. I've been able to determine when and where my ancestors married, died or sometimes, when they were born. Of course, most of the vital records I have uncovered have been American records, although I have started to do some research in German vital records, especially for Trippstadt, Germany.

Death Notices

Another American source that I have used to trace my German ancestors is death notices. Death notices are similar to obituaries, except that they are fairly short, and do not include any biographical details. They only list when a person died, the time of the funeral and the survivors. Of course, the information is still valuable, and so far, I have only found death notices for my ancestors in the newspapers. I haven't found any obituaries for my ancestors yet.

Naturalization Records

I've also used naturalization records, but my experience has been limited. Depending upon the place and time, the naturalization records might contain vital information on your ancestor.

Passenger Lists

I've also used passenger lists to determine when my ancestors came to the United States. Depending upon the time period, one can uncover the age, birthplace, occupation and next of kin, although for the earlier years, one might only uncover the name, age and occupation of a person.

Church Records

So far, I have only researched my ancestor in German church records, but I've still been able to confirm or uncover important information on my ancestors and their siblings. I do hope to use church records in America when I get a chance as well.

Well, those are some of the records I have used to uncover my German ancestors. I haven't listed all of the records I have used so far due to being busy, but these are the main resources. I hope this helps someone in researching their German ancestors. What records do you use? As always, you can leave a comment with your opinions or experiences. Thanks!

15th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted!

The 15th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on Irish portraits, and you can read more about it here. Enjoy!

14th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted!

The 14th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been published! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on Irish reading, and topics will be due by August 30th. Enjoy!

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 3

I have finished my third book for this reading challenge! The book I read this time was Soul By Soul: Life Inside The Antebellum Slave Market by Walter Johnson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999). Like the two previous books I read and reviewed, this book was on the reading list for my fall history class.

As you can tell from the book's title, the book focuses on the slave market in the South between 1810 and 1865. Most of the focus is on the New Orleans slave market, but the author does focus on the internal slave trade between the Upper and Lower South. The author also focuses on the slave masters and slaves thoughts and experiences with the slave trade and slavery. Additionally, he also explores how slave traders were able to convert human beings into items, and the beliefs of those who bought the slaves.

Although I have read about slavery in the United States before, I did not have a complete comprehension of the evils of slavery. I knew slavery was evil, but I did not realize or comprehend how bad it was until I read this book. For me, this book brought the experience of slavery to life more than anything else I had read before, and I was able to picture what life was like to live in a society with slavery, either as a slave or someone who was free. This book brought an aspect of history to life that I had read before and thought I understood. If you want to learn more about slavery in the United States, I highly recommend that you read this book.

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 2

I have finished reading another book for this summer's reading challenge, and like the previous review, the book I read was also on the reading list for my fall history classes. And like the previous book, this book is a social history of Early American history, but it focuses on the south only.

Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt by Christine Leigh Heyrman (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1997), focuses on the early Evangelical churches in the Southern United States and how the South became to be the center of Evangelical Christianity in the U.S. The time period of the book stretches from 1740 to 1840, but the primary focus of the book is on the years between 1790 and 1830. The Evangelical churches explored in this book are the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches, but most of the book focuses only on the Methodists and Baptists. For me, the most interesting thing to learn about was that prior to the American Revolution, the Evangelical churches were rejected by Southerners, and thus, the author's exploration into why that was so, was the most interesting part of the book for me. As for the later and greater acceptance of the Evangelical churches. Although, I disagreed with some of the author's conclusions in the epilogue, I would still recommend this book for others to read as I found it to be quite interesting, so much so, that I would like to read about the Evangelical movement occurring in the Northern part of America in the same time period. I hope that other people will find this book as interesting as I did. Enjoy!

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 1

As I mentioned yesterday, I have decided to join a reading challenge, and I have already finished reading my first book for this challenge!

The book I chose to read was Inheriting The Revolution: The First Generation of Americans by Joyce Appleby (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000). As the book's title implies, the book is on how the culture of the United States was formed and created by the generation of Americans after the Revolutionary War generation. The author explores how that generation changed American colonial society and recreated that society. She also describes how those Americans interpreted the legacy of the Revolutionary War, and carried on the ideals of the revolution. In short, the book is a social history of American life between 1787 and 1824.

How did I learn about this book? Well, I requested the reading lists for my fall classes from my professors, and this book was one of the books on the reading list. Although I would have had to read this book for my future history class in the fall, I still enjoyed reading it. Why? Well, for one, I enjoyed the author's writing style, and secondly, I have an interest in social history. As someone who has an interest in social history as a result of my genealogy research, I enjoyed this book for those reasons. Would I recommend this book? Yes, because this book illuminated several movements and life in America at this time period and because of this fact, I believe this book would be beneficial in giving historical social context for genealogists researching in this time period. I hope that other people might enjoy this book and find it interesting as I did.

A Summer Reading Challenge!

As you may or not remember, I participated last year in reading challenge where I had to read five non-fiction books, and I wanted to do so again this year. Until today, I had no idea as to whether or not the challenge was still occurring, but I happened to find the link here. So, stay tuned for this summer's reviews. Enjoy!

13th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted!

The 13th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on Irish vacations, and you can read more about it here. The topic for the 15th edition will be on the 2nd summer reading challenge, and you can read more about it here. Enjoy!

Military History Reading Challenge: A List of the Books I Read

I have finally completed the Military History reading challenge! For those who might be interested, here is a list of the books I read with links to the reviews of each book I read

• Silent Night: The Story Of The World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub
• Because Each Life Is Precious: Why an Iraqi Man Risked Everything for Private Jessica Lynch by Mohammed Odeh Al-Rehaief and Jeff Coplon
• Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution by Laurent Dubois

Well, those are the three books I read for this challenge. I enjoyed reading each of the books, and I would recommend them to others as well.

56th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 56th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted, and since this edition is quite large, it has been split up into two parts. You can read Part One here and Part Two here. The topic for the next edition will be on:

"I read it in the news! Newspapers can be a wonderful source of family history information. Share some aspect about your family history that you learned about in a newspaper. Articles, advertisements, obituaries, classified ads, photos... all are fair game if they appeared in a newspaper. What did you learn about your family from this information? Was the information accurate? How did you learn about this information... online search? Perusing old newspapers? A clipping saved by a relative? Fill us in on your family scoops... who in your family was in the news? The deadline for submissions is October 1st. The next edition will be hosted at the Creative Gene blog.

"To All COG Participants: Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Introductions for your articles will not be provided for you due to the volume of articles submitted. Thank you!"

Enjoy!

10 Essential Genealogy Books That I Have Or Wish I Have

For this carnival edition, we have to list ten genealogy books that we believe are essential to doing genealogy research, where it is how to do genealogy or for research in a specific location. A few of the books in my list below are books that I own; however, several of the books listed are books that I wish I owned. So, here is my list of the essential ten:

Books That I Own

• Unpuzzling Your Past by Emily Anne Croom - The book is a general how-to-do genealogy in the United States book. This book is the very first book that I read on how to do genealogy, and I still believe it is an excellent book for beginning genealogists to read. I will still occasionally go back to the book to get ideas for possible records to research. The edition I bought was the third edition, and it included a workbook with the book. (I happened to buy it at a bargain price.) Even though some of the information on ordering records from the NARA might be out of date, I still believe the book is very useful. Besides, one can find more up-to-date information on the internet.
• In Search of Your British & Irish Roots: A Complete Guide to Tracing Your English, Welsh, Scottish & Irish Ancestors by Angus Baxter - At least I think I have an edition of this book, or a modified version of it. The edition I have is not the fourth edition. My edition has lots of pictures, large print, and comes to be about 200 something pages long. (Either way, it was on sale, so I bought it.) This book is a how-to-do genealogy research in the United Kingdom, and it gives an overview of the different types of records a person could use to trace his or her ancestry. It is a good reference guide for the genealogist who is being to do research in the United Kingdom.
• A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Germanic Ancestors by Chris Anderson and Ernest Thode - Again, I think this is another how-to-do research on German ancestors for those who are just beginning to do research on their German ancestors. Since I am just starting to get into German research, I have found this book to be very helpful, especially when it comes to being able to decipher German handwriting.
• Family Tree Resource Book For Genealogists: The Essential Guide to American County and Town Sources by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack - I realize that most of the information in this book could be found on the internet, but I still think it is an essential book for genealogists to have. Personally, I think it is nice to have a resource where I could look up information without having to get on the internet, and I also think it is nice that the book gives web addresses for different sites, so that I don't have to go searching through page after page of results for the site I want.
• Your Guide to Cemetery Research by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack - As you can tell from the book's title, this book is a how-to-do research in a cemetery with plenty of tips on how to read tombstones and interpret tombstones.

Books I Wish I Owned

• Michigan Genealogy: Sources and Resources (2005 edition) by Carol McGinnis - If you are interested in finding out what resources or sources that are available to do genealogy research in Michigan, this book is probably the best guide on Michigan genealogy. Some of the most important information in this book would be on the different laws passed on keeping vital records, and the years that more information is required. As someone who has had ancestors residing in Michigan for over the past 150 years, I have found the information on the vital records laws to be especially helpful, especially when it comes to the recording of marriages. I did do a brief review of this book over a year ago, and more recently, Miriam also reviewed this book. Jasia also mentions this book in her list as well.
• Following the paper trail : a multilingual translation guideby Jonathan D. Shea - This book gives information and how to transcribe documents used by genealogists in several different European languages. Since there are multiple languages listed, I think this book would useful for the genealogist who potentially have ancestors from different areas of Europe. Since I have some ancestors from Central and Eastern Europe, I know this book would come in handy in my research.
• Deciphering handwriting in German documents : analyzing German, Latin, and French in vital records written in Germany by Roger P. Minert - Again this book is a how-to transcribe German records, and since the book only focuses on German records, and the three possible languages the records might be in, this book has multiple examples of handwriting to help the genealogist transcribe the records central to his or her research. Since I am still learning how to read the handwriting in German documents, I know I would be using this book frequently.
• A genealogist's guide to discovering your Scottish ancestors : how to find and record your unique heritage by Linda Jonas - This book is a book I need to read. I have started to work with Scottish records in my research, and since I am inexperienced and unfamiliar with doing genealogy research on Scottish ancestors, I think this book would probably be helpful for me. (Again, the book on British genealogy that I mentioned above, does cover a little bit on doing research on Scottish ancestors, but most of the book is focused on English records, with only a few pages covering the other parts of the British Isles.)
• What did they mean by that? : a dictionary of historical & genealogical terms old & new by Paul E. Drake - Again, this is another book that I have not read, but I am sure it would come in handy only because I have already come across terms in my research that I did not recognize. I am sure many other genealogists would find this book or a book like this one useful.

So, as you can see, I have made some suggestions of possible useful books, although I have not read through two of the books listed. These are just a few of the books that I either know about or are familiar with, and it is very possible that there are other books out there that would be much better resources than the ones I recommended. Either way, I hope someone will find one of the books on this list to be useful.

Military History Reading Challenge: Book Review 2

For the second military history book that I had to read, I chose Because Each Life Is Precious: Why an Iraqi Man Risked Everything for Private Jessica Lynch by Mohammed Odeh Al-Rehaief and Jeff Coplon (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003). Although I am not completely sure if this book would fit into the military history category, I chose to read this book primarily because I had wanted to read this book for some time and because this book is a recounting from a civilian's point of view an event that occurred a few years ago during the Iraq War.

This book, though, is just more than about why Mohammed Odeh Al-Rehaief chose to help Private Jessica Lynch; it is also a book about his life under Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraqi culture and his experiences of life during the three most recent wars Iraq had been involved in. In short, the book is part autobiography and part memoir. Additionally, his description of how life was under Saddam's government does make it very clear that his decision to help Private Lynch was putting whole family at risk; his wife, daughter, siblings and father also could have faced reprisals for what he did. And even if he did have some legitimate grievances against Saddam's government, I did not feel that that was his main motive in wanting to help Private Lynch. From my reading, I gather that he was motivated more by compassion and humanity than anything else.

Of course, this is just my opinion of the book. I think it is a very good and interesting book, and I enjoyed reading it.

55th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 55th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here, and the next edition will be hosted by Lori Thornton. The topic for the next will be on "the ten essential books in my genealogy library." Enjoy!

Summer Reading Challenge: A List of the Books I Read

As I promised yesterday, I am posting the links to the reviews of books I read for the Summer Reading Challenge. For this challenge, I had to read five books between the months of May and September, and one of the books had to be in a different category from the other four books. So, here is my list:

1. Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations by Charles Wilkinson
2. Making Your Dreams Come True by Marcia Wieder
3. Lincoln At Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln's Domestic Life by David Herbert Donald
4. From Front Porch To Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America by Beth L. Bailey
5. A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by William J. Bernstein

I enjoyed taking part in this challenge, and I enjoyed reading all of these books, even though there is one that I would not highly recommend. I hope others enjoy these books as much as I did. Have fun reading!

Summer Reading Challenge: Book Review 5

I have now finally finished reading the last book for the Summer Reading Challenge that I signed up for back in April. For my last book, I chose to read A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by William J. Bernstein (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008).

As the book title obviously makes clear, this book is on the history of trade in the world and how trade has affected world history. Although there is a little focus on economics, the book is primarily concerned with how trade has developed throughout history. From the ancient beginning of trade to the present day, this book covers what objects were traded and how they were traded. In addition, the movement and development of trade is tied into the context of the world events and how western and non-western countries interacted with each other. Another bonus for this book is that it is well written and that the author explains economic issues in terms that a lay person could understand. If you are looking for a general world history book that focuses on more than just Western world history, I believe this book would be a good place to start.

And since this is the last book for the summer reading challenge, I will be posting the links of all my reviews for this challenge in another post sometime later in this week.

Another Reading Challenge!

I just learned about a another reading challenge from Lori's post. This time, the reading challenge is to read 3 military history books by November 11th, and you can read more about it here.

I think I have three military history books that I have not read yet that will work just fine for this reading challenge. Oh, and by the way, I am still reading my fifth book for the summer reading challenge.

7th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted!

The seventh edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been posted, and you can read it here. The topic for the next carnival will be either on genealogy research plans or learning more about Irish culture. You can find more information here. Enjoy!

A Book On The History of Ireland: A Reader's Thoughts Partway Through The Book

Since this upcoming edition was announced back in June, I have been reading Modern Ireland, 1600-1972 by R. F. Foster (Penquin Books: London, 1989). I have not yet finished reading the book, but I can write about what I learned and about my observations of this book.

Obviously from the title, one can gather that this book is a survey of a history of Ireland from 1600 to 1972. So far, though, I have only read up to the Eighteenth Century in the book. Most of what I have been reading has been dealing with the Seventeenth Century. The prologue of the book deals with the different varieties of Irishness, and I wish I had read that part of the book earlier since it fit nicely with the previous edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture. The other chapters I have read deal with the events of the 1600s, from the politics and transplating of Protestant English and Scots to the uprising of 1641. For a survey of the history of modern Ireland, this book does get into detail about the events and major players of the events. My only problem with this book is that I feel as though one must have a general knowledge of Irish history to understand or get the feel of the book. Since I do not even have a general knowledge of Irish history, I do not have a context that I can put the details of this history in. I almost feel as though I have to be reading another, less detailed Irish history book for me to truly understand the book. The best way I can explain this is if a person happened to read a detailed history book on the history of the United States, but did not have any previous general knowledge of the history of the U. S. This is how I feel when I read this book, and I'm a history major! Aside from this criticism, I think this book would be good for a person who has a great interest in Ireland's history.

Summer Reading Challenge: Book Review 4

Well, I have finished reading another book. The book I chose to read was From Front Porch To Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America by Beth L. Bailey (Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991). This book falls into the categories of history and women's studies. As the title suggests, the book is on a history of Twentieth Century courtship/dating practices in the United States, but the book only covers practices from the early 1900s to about 1965.

The book is interesting, but I do not believe I would recommend it. The book was obviously written for academia, so I do not believe the book would be of interest to most people. Of course, if someone is doing research into U. S. dating practices of the past, then I would recommend that that person read this book. Outside of that, this is not a book for children as the subject matter is what I consider "adult reading material."

Summer Reading Challenge: Book Review 3

Well, I have finally finished reading my third book. I've been reading several books at the same time, so it's been a while since I've had a chance to post one of these posts.

The book that I have just finished is Lincoln At Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln's Domestic Life by David Herbert Donald (Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association and Thornwillow Press, 1999). The book is short, coming only to about 96 pages long, and the book is focused on Lincoln's private life. One part of the book is divided into his and his family's life in the White House, and the other half of the book has transcriptions of letters between Lincoln, his wife, and their son, Robert. The book is very easy to read, and includes end notes at the end of the book that explains the context of the letters. Since I did not find any objectionable material in the book, I think it would be a good book for children to read and to use for reports.