General Chat

Bob, don't suppose you know of any good sites for Sobernheim, Rheinland-Pfalz? Chloe

Hi Chloe, Family research in german is "Ahnenforschung" lit. Ancester research. A google search with "sobernheim ahnenforschung" turned up 5 pages of results. Most in german but also, through RootsWeb, the address of the Civil Archives in Bad Sobernheim http://archiver.rootsweb(.)com/th/read/GEN-DE/2001-11/1006829697 Suggestion: do the google search aswell, and let me know if any known names turn up, and we'll continue from there ... Regards, Bob

A thought I posted on the "Jewish Ancestry Searches" but also relevant here: QUOTE: Just been reading the eclipse/susser site article on the Jones Dental Dynasty. I found the idea of ".. Abraham ben Isaiah, otherwise known as Moses Abraham Groomsfelt, or Jones, a silversmith .." changing his name to JONES amusing !! I could understand GREENFIELD or something similar, but Jones --- the mind boggles. There has to be a story there ! My G-Grandfather purportedly changed his name from KALLNUNG to COLEMAN when he came to England, and all of us with "foreign" ancestors have to think twice about our names, what they might have been originally, how they may have been anglicized, etc, but Jones (without the reasons) does seem extreme UNQUOTE

Trying to keep useful information in one place: Margaret Drummond posted under "German Records" I have a family friend who was married in England and divorced in Germany around 1991. Can anyone advise me on how/where he can access copies of these papers? Any help or advice on this would be much appreciated. Regards Margaret I replied: Marriages (EHESCHLIESSUNG) and, presumably, divorces (EHESCHEIDUNG) are usually registerd at the Registry Office (STANDESAMT). Get in touch with the Standesamt in the town/city where the divorce took place, they should be able to help. Write in german if possible, as officials will/may react more favourably then ! There is a web site: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/, with lots of general info. and in particular, http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/places.html, for finding people and places.

Just bumping this up Need more ink for printer will print out when I get home this afternoon. I am also researching Germany and also France. Sandra

This is a good "how-to-do-it" page for german searches... full of hints and tips: http://www.genealogienetz.de/faqs/sgg.html

nudge, 'cause it "fell off" the 15th. page !

Just noticed, one of the links was incomplete. Here is the full link (remove brackets): http://members(.)core(.)com/%7Emikerose/genealog.html A list of links to Jewish, Polish, German and general Gen. sites. I don't know where I found it, some of the links look good, others are "broken" ...

Look-Up Volunteers - International Random Acts Of Genealogical Kindness This site, for England is already on Deb's List: http://www.raogk.org/england.htm They also list volunteers for International searches: http://www.raogk.org/listing.htm#international Look-up time is free, you pay copying and postage costs !

"Christine in Edinburgh" posted this site in "Brilliant web site - 100's of links!" www(.)compter(.)org included in the site is a forum, for genealogical questions. http://www.whocarez(.)co.uk/forum/ One of the boards is called "Europe" and covers all sorts of look-up queries, "trying to find..." etc.

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

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 !

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

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.

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

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 !

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 !

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

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

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 !