Finding German Ancestors: Tips from James Beidler
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ย. 2017
- With few national records and a language that gets garbled, it's tough to identify the origins of our German ancestors. Learn about some valuable resources and methods from James Beidler, German genealogy expert. Find the show notes at: www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/findin... .
Slovakia has 4 villages named Zavadka, and I had to find the one for my father father's family
The Battigs came from Switzerland and family lore maintains that it means little mighty fighter but is it German?
not spotting the link to the "meyers gaz" site (i'm sure i badly misspelled the name)
It's meyersgaz.org (short for Meyers Gazetteer.) You can find all of the links at the show notes at: www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/finding-german-ancestors/
thanks, amy.
Great tips! Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
It's amazing what you can find out when you start researching.
There are several reasons why. People don't tell things accurately or completely. People misunderstand what is told to them. People forget. If everyone was told exactly everything about their history and it was all exactly correct, there would be no need to research. But that isn't the case. None of us are told about *all* of our heritage (and what we are told can be wrong). It isn't that anyone is lying (usually) -- it's that those who tell us didn't know the full story, either.
I think it's a matter of how people pass on what they are told. Go back a few generations... Someone says, "Your Grandma was an Indian." Already, she's gone from being half-Irish and half-Indian to just "Indian." Then that gets passed down a few more generations to "You know, we're Indian." What started with one ancestor being half-Irish and half-Indian changes into "we're Indian." I've seen it happen time and time again.
Why did I never hear about my Scottish ancestors? Why did my friend never hear about her French ancestors? Oral traditions generally have a kernel of truth, but they are almost never the whole truth. Like I said before, the whole story is never passed down.
Why are you so hesitant to believe the documentation? Consider this -- how would it be possible for all of that documentation about your father's side of the family tree be wrong?
It is much more likely that the story about the family being Indian has that kernel of truth with an ancestor who is documented to have been half-Irish and half-Indian. Over time, the story grew and grew. That's why we research -- to figure out what is correct.
Johanne Christoper came from Hesse German 1752 ship Sally to Nova Scotia
My father was born on a boat that left Germany in April of 1924, then adopted on the boat to a childless couple who died from TB when he was still a toddler. His birth mother stayed on the boat and returned to Germany and I have no clue what her name was. Where would I look for information on finding who my natural grandmother was?
If she really did stay on the boat, there would likely be a notation on the passenger list. He should also appear on the passenger list; I wouldn’t be surprised if it lists his birth mother. DNA would be another avenue to try.
How do I find out what ship he was born on? I did both ancestry and cri genetics testing. No German relatives in Germany were noted, but nearly 40% German for sure. How would I find the name of the ship and access the records from it?
Do you know what port they came through? If so, see if Ancestry or FamilySearch has the passenger lists for that port and search for the names of the adoptive parents; then read the entire passenger list for a record of a birth during the voyage. If the family story is true, the adoptive parents are on the same ship.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow I do know the adoptive parents name, but no idea what port it was. I only know it was in ny.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow is there a way to see a list of ships that would have landed at various ports in New York during that time period?
My grandmother’s parents were both Bavarian. Can I have German citizenship?