GENEALOGY

Resources, Tools, Databases

Your family. Our country. And the links between them. Welcome to the Genealogy section of our Web site. Here, you'll get resources that will be helpful not only in researching your family history but also in planning your own "Route to your Roots" heritage trip to Germany. We welcome your feedback. And we appreciate your contributions, as they may be helpful to our readers and community.

Documentation on immigration from Germany is inconsistent. But researchers have a variety of collections, repositories and databases from which to gather information. The sources date back to the beginning of German immigration in the early 17th century and into the 19th century. Since the ever-evolving Internet, online resources have become more valuable.

Ready to discover your German roots? Here's how to do it.

To start off, your research strategy should be focused on finding out the last residence or at least the area in Germany from whence your family came. From there, you can identify local or regional resources. For this purpose, passenger manifests, including lists of arrivals at U.S. ports, or departures from Germany often provide very helpful information to prepare your next steps. In some cases, established large databases, provided by commercial firms for fees, or those offered for free by societies or other institutions are a must.

You can continue on to the next levels of your research: state archives, church archives, civil registration offices of communities, towns or districts in big cities. Also, local databases, including name-lists, family and local history publications will be helpful. You will notice that archives in Germany – be it church or state archives, Germany-based Web sites from genealogical societies, church offices or groups of volunteers, do not always provide English-language navigation or explanation. This may make things complicated but often people will help you in English if you contact them directly. That said, be prepared when contacting institutions or organizations that many of them may not have the resources to carry out research or that they need time to work on your request. Also nominal fees may apply.

The following list may help you with your pre-trip preparations. The recommendations are based on a selection of addresses, resources, institutions and tools that are helpful in a basic and practical way. Please keep in mind that even in times of electronic data and high-speed Internet, historical biographical research is a complicated task in individual cases. Every result will generate a new question and every research requires time and patience.

Click here to start your research.