General Chat

Hi Bob, I hope you don't mind me bumping this to the top but I am trying to help a friend with her German ancestors and found your thread very helpful. Thanks Helen

Hi Deanna, on of my relativrs cmae from Brody in the Ukraine, and married someone from Poland. However, instead of Ukraine and Poland, as in 'Geography NOW' think 'Geography THEN' and think Galicia or Galizien There are many sites on www. jewishgen.org that deal with Galicia also: http://www.halgal(.)com/ has lots of useful info. see also the thread here: "jewish ancestry searches" Good luck, Bob

I'm abit like you Sandra I have to think where I'm going next. My jewish rellies' came from ukrain to all over the place! I'm leaving it for a while so that I can do the tree I have. I may say I'm making a mess today. How do you delete mistakes in the tree ? Deanna

Hi Gerry, yes it's true, there are generally no central records, you need to know the town or district. There is also very liitle on the net, so if you've been "brought up" on a diet of familysearch, 1901, 1837online, freeBMD, freeCEN, UK-BMD, OPC sites, etc, etc, it is very discouraging !!! try the site just contributed by Joan Elmont (Thanks, Joan). I have only had a very quick look at it, but it looks like it is worth browsing thoroughly !

I found a great site for research, particularly in the Hessen area members(.)cox.net/hessen(.)links(.)htm I downloaded a massive XL file of IGI batch numbers for all the births and marriages in all the churches in the area. I would be willing email the XL file to anyone who contacts me. The headers are in German but the last two columns give M or C and the Batch file number. It works well - takes ages to wade through but if you know the town you are looking for it is easy

Firstly, I would like to give a big thanks to "Bob in Berline" for all his contributions to this thread. I recently emailed a "professional" researcher in Germany who advised me that they do not keep central records - they are kept by town so I would need to know my rellies place of birth to get anywhere!!! As I do not have this info I feel somewhat disheartened if this is true. Can anyone confirm what I have been told or am I being led up the ancestry garden path? Gerry

Yes I did try the naturalisation route, although Grandpa did tell me that his parents were never naturalised. During the first World war they were not interned, but they had to report daily to the police. I also drew a blank with police records - no response. As I live in Alsace, my research is limited to what I can glean on the web and to occasional forays to places such as the National Archive and other august bodies when I make a trip to visit the family. ALL help gratefully received! ;-))

I need as much information as possible on how i would search on Alwine bertha krohn also known as Bertha johanna Krohn who married William Henry Killington in Germany(dont know where to find certificate). He worked there and they lived there.She was born in Germany 2/08/1884 (Dont know how to get birth certificate). They lived in Germany, but they came back for the births of their 2 boys?????? Edward and Gilbert. Please i am at a dead end with this and need your help. Thanks in advance Carly

If you think your ancestors are naturalised Brits, try the naturalisation records at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/naturalisation/default.htm Not every immigrant did it, especially if they didn't need any of the "social benefits" of naturalisation, but I've heard that there is quite a lot of info. on these records, and that might be a start for getting further.

Marilyn, look at this thread too: "German Ancestors (Kohl) Help and ideas" on the "Tips" board. Heike Wolf is offering help, too

Hi Marilyn, did you try the Naturalisation records at Kew ? That might tell you more (if they did become naturalised of course. Not everybody did ) one possibility (a v-e-r-y, v-e-r-y long shot, for long winter evenings) is to go to GEDBAS: http://gedbas.genealogy.net/index.jsp and geneanet: http://www.geneanet.org/ and go through all the entries there to see if you can get lucky and find the families in Germany, before they came to Britain. wwAnother possibility is to go to http://www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html and look around there. Good luck !

Hi Bob, Hope this finds its way onto the right message board! I've exhausted the resources that I know of ( the Family Records centre, London Metropolitan Archive, Kew, the Wills and probate office etc) trying to locate a marriage certificate for my great-grandparents. Names are as follows: Carl Dickmann b. 1857 somewhere in Westphalia. Mathilde Kûppers b. 1869 in Krefeld. Tilly was the daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm Kûppers and Anna Elise Thusnelde Rothe. I wrote to the town hall in Krefeld, to ask if there was a marriage record there, but there isn't. They eloped around 1886/7 and my grandfather was christened in St Boniface German RC church, Adler Street, July 1889. The baptism cert states that his parents were "lawfully married" but there's no indication of where/when. I found the family in Union St Shoreditch, in the 1901 census, but that's the only trace I have of them. Any ideas as to how I might proceed? Best wishes, Marilyn

nudged, because there are several people on the "tips" board, who are looking for german relatives.

Here's another site with a searchable database: http://www.geneanet.org/ Enter a surname under "Familienname" e.g. "plitsch" and if you can, a place name under "Stadt" If you're lucky you get a list of hits with contact-links Click on the link, you may get a web address leading to a family or place-interst site, or you may get an e-mail address Gutes Jagd ! / Good Hunting !

Hi Louise, I had a quick look in GEDBAS, no Plitsch but lots of Pletsch ! presumably you have checked out the Plitschs on freeBMD ? - lots of 'em, from Newark, Wisbeach etc. two "ongoing" sites you should check out regularly: http://www.genealogy.doun.org/transcriptions/index.php Norfolk Transcription Archiv and http://contueor(.)com/wisbech/ ... and the Fenlands Maybe you know this already, just in case you don't: Wisbech and the Fenlands were sometimes in Cambridge, sometimes Norfolk and sometimes Lincoln !! Good Luck !

Try this site: http://gedbas.genealogy.net/index.jsp This is a german database with over 2 million names in over 800,000 families. The input mask is similar to familysearch, but no 'soundex' facility. Quick translation help: Vorname = First name Nachname = Surname Ehepartner = spouse Datum (Ereignis) = Date (event) Ort (Stadt,Provinz,Land) = Place (town, district, state) Suchen = Search Zurücksetzen = Clear ------------------------------------------- Hals und Beinbruch !! (= Good Luck !!) Bob

Sue Hare recommended a site on "Tips Board: Try this site..........." http://www.justgen(.)com/ The site is a list of links, sorted into various categories (countries, ethnic groups, software, books, misc., etc) and with links to chatrooms ! There is also a german section.

HI EVERYONE TRY this site you can pick your country might help remove the brackets http://www[.]rat.de/kuijsten/index[.]html sandra

Hallo Aileen, SNAP !! that's *my* situation. I don't know exactly when my GG-Grandfather came over, I don't know when he changed his name, I don't know what his name was before, I don't know when he married, the maiden name of GG-Grandma, etc, etc. Frustrating, isn't it ! So far I have only seen ship's list from Bremerhaven and Hamburg, which I believe, are for USA emigrants. I don't know of any for UK. let us know if you find out more ! Good Hunting / Frohes Jagd !

My great grandfather came over from Germany in 1850s, married an Englishwoman, then changed his surname. I have been at a loss as to how to find out more so thank you everyone for all the information you've shared. Just one question, has anyone had any success locating the ships that their relations came over on?? Aileenx