Getting to the Roots of Your Family - RootsWeb - Ancestry.com

Find Your German Ancestors Now!-
Strategies for Solving German Research Problems
FamilySearch
Presented by Baerbel K. Johnson, AG ®
Johnsonbx@familysearch.org
German ancestors can get “lost” in a variety of ways. Most commonly, they can’t be found in Germany
because key information, namely the town of origin, is still unknown. Or the town is known, but it either
doesn’t exist [under that spelling], or there are lots of towns by that name all over Germany [Just try
Oberdorf or Weiler!].
So what should the savvy researcher do? Even though there are just about as many solutions as
problems, some general principles and basic resources/tools can be of great help in finding lost
ancestors.
PROBLEM #1: ALL WE KNOW IS “GERMANY”, “PRUSSIA”, OR A GERMAN STATE.
Solutions:
• Look for more clues in U.S. records. The 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal census records
list the year of immigration and whether or not the person was naturalized. This information is
helpful in locating the immigrant in naturalization records and passenger lists. Earlier census
records, especially 1860 and 1870, may list the German state or province of origin.
• Even knowing a province can be helpful. In addition to published lists of emigrants, many online
resources are available, especially for the current German states. Link collections are found at
http://www.roots-in-germany.de/ [click on the tab “German resources”” for links to lists of
emigrants], and http://germanroots.com/. Search the Internet for regional lists of emigrants,
collections of surnames, and compiled genealogies. Similar material in book form may be
available through inter-library loan or on microfilm at a local family history center.
• Over 33 million newly indexed German names are now available at
https://www.familysearch.org/. Many of these names were extracted from German records
available on microfilm.
Example:
Herman Reiprecht was born about 1857 in Silesia (Schlesien), Prussia. He and his wife Pauline came to New York in 1883.
Herman died in New York City in 1901. The family was Lutheran.
Solution:
a. Locate the family in the U.S. censuses. The widow Pauline Reiprecht was found in the 1920 census. The record confirms
1883 as year of immigration.
b. Locate the incoming passenger list: Ship Lessing, arrived in New York 28 Nov 1883: Herm Reiprich, age 25, “cegarmaker”
and Pauline Reiprich, age 25, from Prussia. The ship left from Hamburg. (Name in index: “Reipricte” – search term
“Reipr*)
c. Locate the Hamburg passenger list, which listed the last residence as “Breslau, Schlesien”
d. Check www.familysearch.org for Reiprich(t) entries from Breslau. The couple’s marriage was found, along with the
baptism of a child and other Reiprechts who may be related.