Struggling to Trace Your German Roots?

Have you bumped into roadblocks uncovering your German heritage? Every family has a story to tell, but the path to it is rarely simple. As a U.S. Army–trained German linguist and country specialist, I bring a working understanding of German culture, history, and geography to every case. If you're at a brick wall, together we'll find your family's journey.

Research Tips

• Begin by evaluating your ancestors’ American documents, such as marriage and death records, to get a sense of which city or region your German ancestors may have resided in prior to emigrating to America.
• If you are interested in discovering which port your German ancestors departed from, in addition to sites such as Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch, the German Emigrant Databank from the Historical Museum of Bremerhaven is a wonderful place to start.
• German unification did not take place until 1871. Prior to that, "Germany" consisted of 25-plus principalities, such as the Kingdom of Hanover, established in 1814.
• Except for a brief period during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, Germany did not maintain official population records prior to 1876.
• Records such as baptismal, marriage, and burial records were maintained in local church record books. Some are well maintained and well organized.
• German websites such as Matricula.de (Catholic) and Archion.de (Protestant denominations) have many local church records online, but you have to know exactly where and how to conduct research.
• Based on experience, up until around 1790, most church records were written in Latin. Post-1790, records have a bit more structure and are better organized.

Records such as baptismal, marriage, and burial entries were maintained in local church record books — some far better organized than others. Below is a record page from St. Benedikt Catholic Church, Gersten, Lengerich, Emsland, Kingdom of Hanover.