German Research in the U. S.

Written by HOST GFS Susanne

So -- you have discovered that your ancestors came from Germany (Deutschland, land of the Germans). Now you would like to find their records. Where do you start? Right here in the U.S.!!

Before you can do any researching in Germany, you have to find out exactly where in Germany your ancestor was from, and you should know what religion was practiced by your ancestor. This is because Church records are the PRIMARY source for genealogical records. The pastors and priests kept the vital records of a person's life in parish registers or church books.

There was no nation called Germany until after the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) when the German Empire (second Reich) was established with unification of the states on January 18, 1871 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, under King Wilhelm I. Before that year the word German was used to refer to only German speaking Kingdoms, Duchies, Provinces, and Independent Cities. In 1648 there were as many as 350 different German states that were under the First German Reich (Realm) which was called the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. It lasted until 1806 when Napoleon marched across the empire in conquest of Europe.

Because the German nation did not begin until 1871, most of the provinces and kingdoms began keeping records at different times.

The German States and Free Cities are....

  • Prussia
    Provinces:
    1. Brandenburg
    2. OstpreuBen (East Prussia)
    3. Hannover
    4. Hessen-Nassau (Hesse-Nassau)
    5. Hohenzollern
    6. Pommern (Pomerania)
    7. Posen (Poznan)
    8. Provinz Sachsen (Province of Saxony)
    9. Rheinprovinz (Rhine Province)
    10. Schleswig-Holstein
    11. Schlesien (Silesia)
    12. Westfalen (West Phalia)
    13. WestpreuBen (West Prussia)
  • Bayern (Bavaria)
    Provinces:
    1. Frankekn(Franconia)
    2. Pfalz(Palatinate)
    3. Oberpfalz(Upper Palatinate)
    4. Schwaben(Swabia)
  • Baden-Wurttemberg (Wuerttemberg)...Capital Stuttgart
  • Berlin (Free City)
  • Brandenburg....Captial Potsdam
  • Bremen (Free City)
  • Hamburg (Free City)
  • Hessen (Hesse)...Capital Wiesbaden
  • Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Pomerania)...Capital Schwerin
  • Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony)...Capital Hannover
  • Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhein)....Capital Dusseldorf
  • Rheinland-Pfalz...Capital Mainz
  • Saarland....Capital Saarbrucken
  • Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony)...Capital Dresden
  • Schleswig-Holstein....Capital Kiel
  • Thuringen....Capital Erfurt
U.S. records will "hopefully" provide you with the name of the town your ancestor came from. Once you have the name of the German town, you will have to locate it in Germany. To find the name of the town, you will need to search for your ancestors U.S. records.

Marriage records are a good source because they would give the birth place of the bride and groom. Look for civil as well as church marriage records. You might actually find more information in a church record than in the civil record, so be sure to get both. Civil records can be found either at the state or county level. For church records, you will probably have to find the parish archive where the records for the church were sent.

For Lutheran churches, write to:
Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
8765 West Higgins Road
Chicago, Ill 60331-4198
For Catholic churches, you might try the book, "U.S. Catholic Sources, A Diocesan Research Guide" by Virginia Humling. (or, if you tell me where you are looking, I can look it up for you in the book and email you an address)

Death records, funeral home records, and obituary notices might also provide you with information on where your ancestor was born in Germany. For death records, you will have to search the state and county offices. The Federal Government provides a booklet, "Where to Write for Vital Records" from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (PHS 90-1142), available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Washington, DC 20401. For county records, write to the County Clerk's Office in the county in which you are searching. Obituary notices can usually be found at the local library in the town of death, or call the local newspaper to determine if they have archived the records.

The U.S. Federal Census is always a good place to start researching. Begin with the latest census, 1920, and work your way back, not over looking the State Census.

1920 Census taken in January is available on microfilm for every state and territory. It is Soundexed. It contains...name of each person, relationship to head of family, home owned/rented/mortgaged, name of street, house number, sex, race, age at last birthday, single/married/widowed/divorced, year of immigration to US, naturalized or alien, year of naturalization, attended school, able to read/write, place of birth, mother tongue, father/mother's place of birth, speak English, profession, and whether working. It might not provide you with the name of the town your ancestor was from, but it can give you years needed for searching Passenger Arrival Documents, and Naturalization Records.

You can find Federal and State Census records at all LDS FHC libraries, or at a large local library that maintains census records...some smaller libraries have census records also. Contact your library for more information about census records availability in your area.

Another source would be Passenger Arrival documents for the U.S., and departure records from Germany. The largest ports for departure were Hamburg and Bremen in Germany. Some left from Antwerp in Belgium, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, but few records are available from these ports. As for Bremen, passenger lists from 1832-1907 were destroyed by the government because of lack for storage space. World War II destroyed the later lists. But do not despair here, although the German lists are gone, the arrivals lists in the US are available and many have been indexed.

Check the LDS fiche catalog under United States Emigration and Immigration #0759 National Archvies #M816 and T0519.

The Hamburg Passenger Lists are available from 1845 to 1934 (except for 1915-1919) and are available at the LDS on 486 rolls of microfilm. Found in the Locality Fiche Catalog under Germany>Hamburg>Hamburg>Emigration and Immigration, or on their computer #11064. William F. Filby has a publication for the Hamburg Lists, check your local library.

They are indexed and are divided into two sections:
  • Direct Lists: for passengers who sailed all the way on the same ship.
  • Indirect Lists: for passengers who changed ships at other European ports.
Also check in your library for P. William Filby "Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (Detroit: Gale Research Co. 1980). This is a ongoing project seeking to index all printed immigration records. It contains more than 2,200,000 names filed alphabetically with age, and destination. About 150,000 names are added each year. Checked the LDS FHC for information on fiche, or check you local library for the volumes.

The Historic Emigration Office in Hamburg can give you a certificate for your ancestor's departure from 1845-1934) containing their personal information such as age, marrital status, number of children, occupation, city of origin, ship name, date of departure. But you must provide them with the year of emigration, and there is a search charge of $75 per person, per year. Write to:
Historic Emigration Office
c/o Tourist Information am Hafen
Bei den St.-Pauli-Landungsbrucken 3
P.O. Box 102249
D-2000 Hamburg 36
Germany
There are also the Hamburg Police Records which include:
  1. Passport Applications:1852-1929, Reisepassprotokolle (travel passport)
  2. Non-Citizen Registor: 1843-1890, Allgemeine Fremden Meldeprotokolle (out of town arrivals)
  3. Transients (1834-1899). Laborers and domestics.
These are Indexed on microfilm at the LDS under Germany > Hamburg > Occupations or Germany > Hamburg > Population.

Naturalization records should not be overlooked. There are THREE documents to obtain for Naturalization:
  1. Declaration of Intent, filed first and called First Papers. Here the individual renounced citizenship to a foreign government and intent to become a United States citizen were pledged. This was usually two years before application to become a citizen was done. Even if the alien never became a citizen, the Intent Papers should be on file.
  2. Petition for Naturalization, "Second Papers," was the second step and was filed with the court. The alien would have to had met residency requirements of five years in the United States, one year in the state, and declared intention to become a citizen.
  3. Final Papers, or Certificate granting citizenship.
Be sure to get all three. The first two contain the most information, such as full name, date of birth, place of origin, date of arrival, ship arrived on, who their sponsor was, where they were living at the time of petition.

Note that the Naturalization Act of June 29, 1906 required issuance of a "Certificate of Arrival" for aliens filing a Declaration of Intention. Be sure to request this document...it will give you the name, date, and port of arrival.

For Citizenship/Naturalization papers, from September 26, 1906 write to:
Immigration & Naturalization Service
FOIA/PA Officer, Chester Arthur Building
425 I Street N.W.,
ULLICO Building, 2nd Floor
Washington D.C. 20536
Phone: (202) 514-3278 Fax: (202) 514-3902
Ask for Form G-639 or in a letter "RE: Freedom of Information Act", give Name, Date of birth, and place of birth, and date of Naturalization if you know it.

Before the Naturalization Act of 1906 the US government did not have control of records. For citizenship documents before September 26, 1906 you should write to the INS Regional Archives, if done in a federal court; OR write to the state court, OR county clerk's office. Always check the National Archives first.

Military Records are another source for information on your ancestor and might have place of birth.

WEBMASTER'S NOTE: Street addresses, E-mail addresses and telephone numbers shown in this document may change without notice. Please feel free to advise us of changes you discover by sending us the name or URL of this Web page, the name of the entity, and the new address and/or telephone number to GFSBrenda@aol.com



Return to German Resources
Return to Resource Center

The Genealogy Forum - Main Page
Beginners' Center | Internet Center | Message Boards
Surname Center | Reunion Center | File Library
Genealogy Forum News
Shop With Us



Genealogy Forum.com is a production of
Golden Gate Services, Inc. of Armada, Michigan.
© 1998 - 2009 All Rights Reserved. Brenda Jean Bova, President.
The Genealogy Forum is a member of the National Genealogical Society.
Tree logo provided by MeadPond Designs and is the trademark of GenealogyForum.com.

© 2009 Some graphics By Carol, All Rights Reserved  

 If you have any questions or comments,
please contact GenealogyForum@aol.com