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!

Updates On Researching My British Ancestors ...

Over the past couple of weeks I've received some answers on a couple of my British ancestral lines. A birth certificate for an ancestor and a marriage certificate for another ancestor arrived in the mail a couple of weeks to about one-and-a-half weeks ago, and I was able to confirm my suspicions about the ancestors' parents. The birth certificate confirmed the maiden name of my ancestor's mother, and the marriage certificate confirmed the bride's father's name. Also, I received an e-mail a couple days ago from a distant cousin from another line, and he sent me images of my the 1911 census for my ancestors and the images of another relative's World War One records.

As you can imagine, I'm excited by both of these events, and I do plan on writing about the World War One records of my ancestors and relatives on Veteran's Day. Enjoy and stay tuned for that post ...

New Records Added to FamilySearch's Record Search

I forgot to mention this earlier, but over the past week, FamilySearch's Record Search has added a couple databases to their site. The records added were the 1892 New York State census, church records for a parish in Jamaica, and some more records for a diocese in Spain. I hope these new databases will help you with your research. Enjoy!

More Records Added to FamilySearch Lab's Record Search

Some records have been added to FamilySearch Lab's Record Search. The records added are the Irish civil registrations, 1869 Argentina census, and the San Francisco, California funeral home records. I hope this helps someone. As for me, I am going to take a look at the Irish records. Enjoy!

More Records Added to FamilySearch's Record Search

A few more records have been added to FamilySearch Lab's record search. The records added are church records for Aguascalientes parish in Mexico, the 1916 census for Canada and church records for Costa Rica. I hope these records help you. Enjoy!

Some Info on the 1911 U.K. Census ...

I just happened to notice that John Reid over at Anglo-Celtic Connections has posted some news on the releasing of the 1911 U.K. You can read about it here. Enjoy!

Blog Changes and Other News ...

I'm playing check-up for the past few days as I realize I have forgotten to mention a few things. First off, I have added a Coming Soon paragraph to the left side of the blog, just above the Genealogy and History Thoughts section. I plan to use the paragraph to list topics for future posts. I do not know if anyone noticed, but I created that section earlier this week. Hopefully, I will get to some of the posts that I want to write for this month and in the future.

I also noticed a few days ago on the Rochester Area Research Aides blog that there was a post on an index of names in old Rochester newspapers recently posted on the Monroe county, New York library website. The indexes are split up into groups of numbers and into two time periods. The first time period is from 1818 to 1850, and the second period is from 1851 to 1897. Since my Havens ancestors were in Rochester, New York around 1850, I decided to take a look at the indexes, and I found a couple things that might help me in my research. (I'll post on those index findings in a future post.)

In addition to forgetting to mention the items above, I forgot to mention that FamilySearch Lab's Record Search has added a couple more databases to their site. They added civil vital records for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and a census for Buenos Aires, Argentina last week. In addition, the site has been adding more names to the 1850, 1860 and 1870 U.S. censuses over the past few days.

Finally! I've gotten around to posting this news!

Looking For My German Ancestors - Part 5

Since today is German-American Day, I thought I would honor my German ancestors by posting another article on my continuing research into my German ancestors.

In my previous post, I mentioned the research on what I had been able to find on Fred, Carl's relative and possible brother. I also stated that I wanted to focus on another branch of German ancestors, and for this post, I'll be focusing on Carl's wife's family.

In the early 1880s, Carl married Anna in what was then East Saginaw, Michigan. Anna, like Carl, had been born in Germany, but unlike Carl, Anna had spent most of her life in the United States. She immigrated to the U. S. in the mid-1860s as a young child with her parents, Frederick and Emilia, and her siblings. Although I do not know exactly where Anna's family lived for the first six years (they might have lived in New Jersey), I do know that by the time of the 1870 U. S. census, the family was living in Cleveland, Ohio. Within ten years, the family had moved to the Saginaw, Michigan area where they were living in the 1880 U. S. census. Although I still do not know when they moved to Saginaw, I do know that it had to be after 1876 and before 1880. (In 1876, Frederick and Emilia were last mentioned in a deed, and this is the latest that I have them living in Cleveland at the moment. Of course, I might be able to narrow it down even more, if I am able to look at Cleveland city directories for that time period. At the moment, I have not had a chance to look at those city directories.)

Frederick, like Carl, worked as a baker, and he is lasted listed in the Saginaw city directories in the 1883 edition. By 1887, he is not listed, so I have assumed that he had passed away, as his wife is living with her oldest daughter in that directory. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a death record or probate file for Frederick, so I do not know when he died exactly, and in addition, the 1884 Michigan state census for Saginaw county does not appear to have survived. Thus, I am unable to check to see if he was still alive in 1884 or not. What I do know is that Emilia died in Saginaw in the early-1890s, and it is possible they are buried near each other. Of course, I won't know for sure until I can locate Emilia's grave. I still do not know where she is buried, and I have not yet had a chance to take a look at Saginaw's cemetery records. Hopefully, I'll be able to do so sometime in the future.

Of course, there are also a couple of other records that I have not checked that might help me narrow down my timeline: land records and tax records for Saginaw county. I have not yet check for those records. In my next post, I will explore the connections Anna's family had to Cleveland, Ohio, since many of Anna's siblings and a few of her relatives chose to reside in Cleveland, Ohio. Stay tuned ...

New Databases Added to FamilySearch Lab's Record Search

I forgot to post on the FamilySearch Lab's Record Search databases update when they were updated a few days ago. The databases added or updated are:

• Vermont Probate Records - Only 14% has been added so far.
• Catholic Church records of Avila Diocese, Spain
• 1850 and 1870 censuses

I'm glad that FamilySearch is updating the records, but I would like to see the Michigan Vital Records updated, since some records that I have found in clerk's books in that period are not in the database. Also, I would like to see Michigan added to the World War Two draft cards. Oh, well. I'll just wait.

And More Databases Added to FamilySearch Labs' Record Search

I forgot to mention this earlier in the week, but FamilySearch Lab's has added a few more databases to Record Search. The records added, that I noticed, were the 1885, 1935 and 1945 Florida state censuses. At the moment, there are only browseable images, so an index is not available. I just thought I would mention this, even though I am late in doing so.

Whoa! This Is A Bit Shocking ...

Did I read that right? I just happened to notice an article on Ancestry's blog about the agreement between Ancestry and Familysearch. You can read the announcement here. I did not expect this to happen, and at the moment I'm stunned. I will, though, post my thoughts later today in another post as this one announcement I cannot pass up.

On another note, this is my 619th post in less than a year-and-a-half. Since I started posting in Mid-March 2007, I have posted that many posts!

A Couple More Databases Added to FamilySearch's Record Search

A couple more databases have been added to FamilySearch Lab's Record Search, and another database was updated yesterday. The databases added were:

• 1841 England and Wales Census
• 1861 England and Wales Census

The 1850 U. S. census was also updated at the same time. The English and Welsh censuses are primarily only indexes. If you want to see the image, you have to pay to view, as the indexes were given to FamilySearch by findmypast.com.

Looking For My German Ancestors: My Research Experiences Part 3

In my previous post, I wrote about my research into my ancestor, Carl, and for this post, I thought I would continue to do so. In my research at the Library of Michigan, I wrote about finding Carl and his family in the 1894 Michigan State census, and I thought I would start this post by analyzing the census entry.

The image above is of Carl's household in 1894 in Bay County, Michigan. As you can see, I have cut-off Carl's surname, and I did this so that I could protect the identities of other people. After Carl's children are listed, Fred is listed. The census lists Fred's relationship to Carl as son, but that cannot be possible as Carl is listed only about 32 whereas Fred is about 25 in this census. One possibility is that Fred is Carl's younger brother or is Carl's cousin. What do you think? This happens to be the first piece of evidence that I have that connects these two men together.

This next above image is the second half of the census sheet. On this sheet, the occupations of the men are listed, and also the number of children a woman had in the census year. Also included on this image is the number of years that a foreign person has been in the United States and Michigan. According to this census, Carl has been in the U. S. since 1880 and Fred has been in the U. S. since 1889. Of course, these years are only suggestions, but this does help me narrow down the possibility of when Carl came to the U. S. (As I mentioned, I've had difficulty finding him in a passenger list.)

Unfortunately, this census still does not give me a more exact birthplace than the information that I already had. A couple years ago, before I found this census record, I went up to Bay City with my grandparents. While there, I looked for vital records for Carl's family (I had just found Carl's marriage earlier that day in Saginaw), and I found a couple of records. Before we left the county clerk's office, my grandmother mentioned to me that Carl had been a mason, and the clerk informed us that the city Masonic building was just across the street. To make a long story short, we went over to the Masonic building, and I was able to obtain some records on Carl. From the papers, I got Carl's birth date and a possible death date, but I still was unable to get a more detailed birthplace than Germany from these papers. (At the moment, I have only obtained records from Bay City. I have not yet contacted Detroit's Masonic temple, to see if they have any other information on Carl. Carl also lived in Detroit, in addition to Bay City.)

During the summer of the next year, I was able to visit the Library of Michigan, and I was able to obtain Carl's death certificate by going through the microfilmed death certificates from Detroit. (Death records for Detroit are kept separately from the rest of the death records for Wayne County, and I'm not sure why.) From Carl's death certificate, I was able to confirm that his birth date was the same as the Mason's records and confirm Carl's actual date of death. Unfortunately, my copy of Carl's death was poor, so I was unable to determine where in Germany he was born. I was able to read the name of his father, but I know I need to do more research to confirm the name of his father.

Although, the first three parts of this series was done for the Carnival of Central and Eastern European genealogy, I still plan to continue writing about my research into my German ancestors. Stay tuned for the next post in this series ...

A Few More Records Added to FamilySearch Lab's Record Search

I just happened to take a look at FamilySearch Lab's Record Search, and I noticed that images for the 1870 U. S. Census, Lima, Peru and another diocese in Spain have been added. You can see what was added here.

An Interesting Article On Future Censuses ...

Earlier today, I happened to notice an article on the 2010 Census posted on The Genetic Genealogist, and I thought it was interesting. The article also explains why we have to wait 72 years before we can view census records.

Also, John wrote a response to this article that you might want to read as well.

First Edition of Where Were You? Carnival Posted!

The first edition of the Where were you? carnival has been posted. You can read it here. The topic for the next carnival is where were you or your family was during the Great Depression. Enjoy!

Where Was I in the Censuses?

The only two censuses that I might have been in so far are the 1990 and 2000 Censuses, but I do not know if any census takers ever came to my house. In 1990, I would have been too young to remember. In 2000, I remember that a census was occurring, but I don't recall anyone coming to the door to ask about our family. I was under the impression that the census bureau would be mailing those sheets. I asked my dad if anyone had ever come by, or if we ever received a form, but he said no. So, I do not know if my family was recorded or not. So, I can't say for sure if I am in either census, even though I was living in the same house for both censuses.

Another Genealogy Carnival!

I just happened to be looking at Blog carnival's listings for history blogs, when I happened to notice another genealogy blog. This carnival is called Where Were You? The carnival is hosted by GenLady. The first carnival will be posted on February 11th. The topic for this carnival is: Where were you when the censuses were taken? You can find more information on this carnival here. Enjoy!