How to find German family roots in North America

1. You need to know who you are looking for ! Do you have exact names with the date of birth ? If not, start your search in local church registers and US Census lists. With the Census entry you have at least an idea of the immigrated family and their dates of birth (don´t be particular about the listed age in the Census lists, they often were given wrong or simply estimated by the censor).

2. Do you have the right spelling of the surname ? Be aware of a possible Americanisation of a name, e.g. Müller became usually Miller, Dünnebacke became Dunneback, as well as Dinnebeck. Obviously there is no umlaut in the English language (ö, ü, ä) and the English native speaker seems to be unable to pronounce them correctly, although it´s simple, just say ö, ü, ä. In written form it is often substituted by oe (ö), ue (ü), and ae (ä), or simply the two dots on the vocal are being dropped (e.g. instead of ä, simply a). Also an ä can be substituted by an e, and an ü can be substituted by an i (e.g. Dinnebier instead of Dünnebier). In some cases the whole name is anglisized, e.g. Jungblut becomes Youngblood, and Gutjahr becomes Goodyear.

3. You´ve got no clue for the regional provenance of your folks?? Some knowledge about the social environment often helps. What religion ? Who were the neighbours ?? What clubs or societies were they members in? All this might bear information on the regional origin, because especially the first spot of settlement was often surrounded by folks from the same region of origin (this is valid particularly for rural settlements!).

4. Use passenger lists to find the place of origin! There are CD-Roms of passenger lists (like CD 354 from Broderbund) and Germans to America (CD 355 [1850-1874] and CD 356 [1875-1888] from Broderbund). These CDs are by far not complete, and sometimes even give a wrong place of origin, but all in all they are good help. Most of the entries on those CDs don´t give a specific place of origin, but they mostly give a province or a state in Germany, plus a precise date of arrival, and often the harbour of arrival plus a ship name. With this data you can look for the original passenger list (usually on microfilm), which may contain a name of the village of origin. The microfilms are available not only at the National Archives in Washington D.C., but also in migration research centers and good public libraries, plus the LDS-Family History Centers. Many lists are published also as books, an overview gives "American Passenger Arrival Record. A Guide to the Records of Immigrants Arriving at American Ports by Sail and Steam" by Michael Tepper (Baltimore: Gen. Publ. Co. 1988)

5. You´ve got a place, but cannot find it on any map! The name has probably a wrong spelling. Due to difficulties to read the old German Script and to computer problems, there are funny confusions, concerning the art of spelling German places: for Arnsberg I have seen Amesber; instead of Oehringhausen there was Acring, Hausen; instead of Eslohe there was Eshole. Yet, there are comic names by misunderstanding the German language, so there are places like Landwirt (farmer), evangelisch (protestant), and Eionede (Einöde=middle of nowhere). What you need to know, is the right name of the county (Kreis) or parish (Kirchspiel, Kirchengemeinde), and if you have a good map with the scale of 1:50.000 (Kreiskarte), you will find any rotten place that just sounds a bit like the confusing spelling you have.

6. Use the internet for your search! There are lots of query or family boards, where you can post messages with particular names and dates. Under ´Links´ you can find the most efficient ones, plus the major German telephone register. The biggest collection of links concerning genealogy is http://www.Cyndislist.com , where you will find links to any matter, including old German handwriting and online-dictionaries (use those translaters very carefully).

7. If you want to work with German church registers, learn German (at least a bit). You need to know the meaning of ´gestorben´, ´Hochzeit´, ´das dritte Kind, der zweite Sohn´. You should also know, what a ´Regierungsbezirk´ is...

8. Work together with professionals. There is no group of people, which is more serious about tracing their ancestors, than the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The central genealogical archive in Salt Lake City must be gigantic. Moreover, they run Family History Centers around the world, where you can order and read microfilms of most parish registers of the world for a small fee.


Some basic litreature for tracing German roots:

A. Baxter, In Search of your German roots: a complete guide to tracing your ancestors in the Germanic areas of Europe. Baltimore: Gen. Publ. Co. 1987

Genealogical guide to German ancestors from East Germany and Eastern Europe. Neustadt/Aisch: Degener 1984

C.M. Hall, The Atlantic bridge to Germany. Logan: Everton Publ. 1974-76

L. Jensen, A genealogical handbook of German research. Pleasent Grove: Jensen Publ. 1978

E. Thode, Address book for Germanic genealogy. Marietta: E. Thode 1991

E. Thode, Atlas for Germanic Genealogy. Marietta: E. Thode 1983

For Westfalen in particular:

Friedrich Müller, Westfälische Auswanderer im 19. Jahrhundert - Auswanderung aus dem Regierungsbezirk Münster. Teil 1: 1803-1850, in : Beiträge zur westfälischen Familienforschung 22-24 (1964-66), 7-484
(contains emigrant lists of officially dismissed emigrants in the Münster area, northern Westphalia, published in a periodical !!)

Friedrich Müller, Westfälische Auswanderer im 19. Jahrhundert - Auswanderung aus dem Regierungsbezirk Minden. Teil 1: 1816-1900 (Erlaubte Auswanderung), in : Beiträge zur westfälischen Familienforschung 38/38 (1980-81), 3-711
(contains emigrant lists of officially dismissed emigrants in the Minden area, north eastern Westphalia, published in a periodical !!)

Gisbert Strotdrees, Fremde in Westfalen - Westfalen in der Fremde. Zur Geschichte der Ein- und Auswanderung von 1200 bis 1950, Münster 1996 (Book on the emi- and immigration from and to Westfalen, more than 50 short reports on westphalian migration)

Friedhelm Treude, Die Auswanderung aus dem kurkölnischen Sauerland im Zuge der theresianischen Banatbesiedlung 1763-1772. Schriftenreihe des Kreises Olpe Nr. 14, Olpe 1988
(Book on the emigration from the Sauerland to the Banat area in the late 18th century