|
A GENEALOGICAL HANDBOOK OF GERMAN RESEARCH |
|
Table of Contents
Introduction
Acknowldegements
Chapter 1 Historical And Geographical
Chapter 2 Emigration Before 1800
Chapter 3 Emigration After 1800
Chapter 4 Determining The Place Of Origin L.d.s. Sources
Chapter 5 Determining The Place Of Origin U.S. Sources
Chapter 6 Determining The Place Of Origin European Sources
Chapter 7 Analyzing Surnames And Place Names
Chapter 8 Locating The Parish
Chapter 9 Determining The Present Name Of Localities
Chapter 10 Conducting An Area Search
Chapter 11 Record Repositories
Chapter 12 Naming Practices (patronymics And Occupational)
Chapter 13 Naming Practices (farm And Locality)
Chapter 14 Handwriting And Terminology Beginning
Chapter 15 Handwriting And Terminology Intermediate
Chapter 16 Handwriting And Terminology Advanced
Chapter 17 Feast Days And Calendars
Chapter 18 Finding A Birth Record
Chapter 19 Finding A Marriage Record
Chapter 20 Finding A Death Record
Chapter 21 Corresponding For Records
Chapter 22 German Genealogical And Family Organizations
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Appendix F
Index
More often than not, the U.S. sources will be the only ones available that will give the exact place where an ancestor was from. What may be surprising to some is the variety of U.S. records that exist which could provide this information. First, the different types of vital records will be covered. These records will vary from one state to the next as far as when they began, what they contain, and where they are located. A very helpful brochure as far as giving answers to some of these question is where to write for birth and death records, which is available from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare - Public Health Service. This pamphlet will tell where to write, when the death and birth records began, and how much it costs for each certificate. A similar brochure is available for marriage records as well.
Assume that your ancestor died at the time when vital statistics were being kept and that you have received a copy of his death certificate. On the certificate it has only the country of Germany as a place of birth. Too often when the certificate does not give the exact place of birth, a person will file it away and forget it. He does not realize that there is other information on the certificate that could get him into other sources which would give the place of birth.
Most death certificates give the address of residence and the length of stay in that city. If the immigrant had lived in that city since his arrival, as many of them did, it would be possible to determine the approximate year of arrival into the U.S. this could get you into port records and maybe even into passenger lists. If an immigrant had lived in other places prior to moving to the place where he eventually died, the information relative to his length of stay would not be of much help. If It could be determined that he was residing in the U.S. when the 1900 census was taken, this would show the length of stay in the U.S. and then this too could get you into the port records or passenger lists.
On the death certificate there is also a place for the individual's occupation, and very often occupational records, if they are still available, would provide the place of birth.
Usually there will be a place on the certificate that indicates whether or not the immigrant took out U.S. citizenship. If so, this can lead to naturalization records.
Whether the immigrant had been in the military may also be indicated on the death record. If this were so, there may be enlistment, service, discharge, and pension records in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. that you could write for.
The cause of death may indicate that he may have been hospitalized prior to dying. If the hospital records still exist, they too may provide information on the birthplace. The doctor's records would be still another source, and often the name of the mortician and the name of the funeral director will be given.
A final source that is usually found on the death certificate is the name of the cemetery where the immigrant was buried. This can lead you to tombstone inscriptions, or better still, the Sexton records.
As can be seen, even if a death certificate does not give an actual place of birth, it may, nevertheless, lead to other sources which will.
Prior to the keeping of vital statistics, most records were kept by the county officials. Just how detailed these records were depended upon the county recorder. Some of them were very thorough and listed the exact place of birth of the deceased.
If the death registers do not give this information, an individual's obituary may. To locate an obituary, one of two reference sources may be used. The first is as follows:
If a copy of a newspaper is on microfilm at a local library, it may be possible to have the film sent to your own public library through interlibrary loan for a small fee. This would save the expense of having someone search for the obituary for you.
If the immigrant was married in America, the marriage record may also give a place of birth, but given the choice as to which to search first, you should always go after the death record.
Just as with civil records, you should try to obtain the church death record first. It will be found that most of the church records will be written in German, even though they are American church records. Fig. 5A is a copy of a death entry in 1860 for a young lady. This church record gave her place of birth as Hofhagen in the district of Collberg in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg.
Dorothea Sophie Anne Passchl (Witts foster-daughter) born 1849 (?) in Hofhagen, Collberg district, duchy of Mecklenburg, died the 25 September 1860 at 8 a. m. buried the 26 September, Wednesday, 4 p. m. Funeral text Psalms 122:1-3 Schoenberg
Fig. 5A
If the immigrant was married and had children under the age of 12 with him when he immigrated, the church confirmation record may list the place of birth in Germany for that child. Confirmations in most churches occurred when the child was about 13 years old or older. These church records usually list the name of the child and sometimes the names of the parents. It will usually give the child's birth date or age and often the place name where the child was born.
Other church records that have been known to give a place of birth in Germany are the marriage records, church membership records, and christening records of children born in America.
Few people know that prior to the turn of the last century, naturalization records were kept on a county level and that for the most part they are still in the possession of the courts that made them. One of the main problems in obtaining a copy of these records is that of determining to which court one should write. One source for solving this problem, if available, is the County Archives Inventories, compiled by the Works Projects Administration (WPA) during the 1930s and 1940s. Every county in the United States was supposed to be inventoried. Some of the inventories that were printed are available at the genealogical library. The majority of these, however, were never printed and exist today somewhere, still in their manuscript form. The value of these inventories is that they give a complete description of the different types of records, naturalization records included, which were handled by various courts and county officials, you can actually know what information you will receive before writing for it. Fig. 5B is an extract from page 137 of the archive inventory of Erie County, Pennsylvania. Item 169 on this page is a detailed description of the declaration of intention. This is one of three types of naturalization records that may give the exact place of birth for the immigrant. The other two are the application for naturalization and the petition for naturalization. All three of these records were created when the immigrant first applied for naturalization, usually right after he arrived at the place where he intended to settle. You should never write for the final papers, for they very rarely give the actual place in Germany where the immigrant was from.
There are several things to note from this inventory copy. For one thing, the time period that the record was kept will be one of the first things given. That information alone may determine whether you should write for a copy of the document or not. The copy also shows whether there is a separate index.
Many immigrants upon arriving in America declared their intention to become citizens and then for one reason or another, failed to follow through with it. Item 170 in Fig. 5B shows that even if immigrants never followed through with the final papers, if they declared their intention, and most of them did, then the declaration of intention would still be on file.
The most important information given in this inventory is found at the top of the page. This is the name of the court which handled the naturalization records for this county. In this case it was the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. In another state it may have been the orphans court or maybe the district court. In New York City, any and all courts handled naturalization because of the large number of immigrants applying for it in that city.
There are many types of histories which may give information regarding the immigrant's place of origin. The first type, if it is available, is the family history. Too often, researchers take for granted that there will be no family history on the lines they work on. The genealogical library has probably the largest collection of family histories available. At various times, it has become known that the library was collecting family histories and as a result they have received them from all over the world. These family histories range from manuscripts of just a few pages in length to large printed books. For the most part, these family histories are not on prominent people; but as people compiled genealogies and information on their lines, they have submitted them to the library. There have been many instances where people have gone to the genealogical library not expecting to find anything, and they have found family history books where some of their lines have been worked out.
The rest of the histories are combined into what can be called locality histories. These may be city, township, county or state histories. In searching locality histories you should always begin with the smallest area, which in this case would be the city. The reason for this is that if an individual is prominent enough to be mentioned in one of these histories, it will be the city history before any of the others. If the immigrant ancestor is not mentioned in either a city or a township history, he probably will not be mentioned in the county or state. That does not mean that the county or state histories should not be searched. When many of the Germans emigrated out of Germany, they did so in groups. When they settled in America, they usually remained in these same groups as is shown from the extract taken from A History of Orange County Virginia by W.W. Scott in Fig. 5C.
The national archives in Washington, D.C., divide these records into three groups. They are pension, bounty land, and military. The military records pertain to enlistment, service, and discharge records. The bounty land records concern the transfer of land to servicemen for service during war time. The pension records were usually made after the death of the serviceman when his widow applied for it.
From the United States 1850 census on, complete families are listed along with the state or country of birth. Occasions have been found where the census taker has inadvertently written down the exact place of birth instead of just the country. Also, if the immigrant ancestor was alive when the 1900 census was taken, it will give his year of immigration into the U.S., the number of years in the U.S., and whether they were naturalized or not. With this information it would be possible to search port records or maybe passenger lists.
Problems of finding a place of origin for individuals who immigrated into the U.S. prior to 1800 were explained in the latter part of Chapter 2. The records mentioned in this chapter are by no means all of the records that might exist and which might give the place of origin, a great deal depends on the area where the immigrant settled and the records that existed there.
The records mentioned in this chapter are by no means all of the records that might exist and which might give the place of origin. A great deal depends on the area where the immigrant settled and the records that existed there.
Previous Document Next Document
Copyright 1996, by Larry O. Jensen. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be translated or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the author. Printed in the U.S.A.
Chapter 5 Determining the Place of Origin U.S. Sources
Vital and Civil Records
Gregory, Winifred, ed. American Newspapers, 1821 - 1936: A Union List of Files Available in the United States and Canada. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1937. (Ref Q 970 A3bs) (Film No. 430,291)
This book lists alphabetically every state and province in the U.S. and Canada. Under each state and province, the cities and towns which had newspapers are listed alphabetically. Finally, under the name of the town, the names of the newspapers are given, along with the dates covered. Next, listed alphabetically, are the abbreviations of societies, repositories, and other organizations which have copies of these newspapers. With this information it is possible to write for an obituary. If the town where the immigrant died did not have a newspaper, then the neighboring towns should be checked until the closest one having a newspaper is found. The second reference source for locating an obituary is:
Arndt, Karl J. R. and Olson, May E. comp. German-American Newspapers and Periodicals,1732- 1955. 2nd rev. ed. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation 1965. (Ref 973 E4ar) (Film No. 824,091 item 1)
This reference book lists each state alphabetically; and in turn, each city having a German newspaper is listed alphabetically. Under the name of each newspaper, the abbreviation for the society or repository having a copy of the newspaper is given.
Naturalization Records
Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas
169.(DECLARATION OF INTENTIONS), 1906. 23 vols. (123). 18231905 in (Naturalization Petitionand Record), entry 168.
Original affidavits and declarations of intention to become a citizen, showing date, name, address, age, physical description, place and date of birth, last foreign residence, ports of embarkation and entry, vessel, date of arrival, marital status, renunciation of foreign allegiance, signatures of declarant and prothonotary, official seal, and date filed. Arr. chron. by date filed. Indexed alph. by first letter of surname of declarant; for separate index, 190632, see entry 167. Typed on ptd. fin. Aver. 400 pp. 10x12x3. Off.
170. (Void) DECLARATION OF INTENTIONS, 18241906. 4 f.b. (dated). Discontinued. Declarations of intentions of aliens who failed to receive final papers of citizenship, showing information as in entry 169. Arr. chron. No index. 1 f.b., hdw., 182440, 3 f.b., hdw. on ptd. fin., 18411906. 10 x 5 x i4. Bsmt. vlt.
Fig. 5B
Histories
Page 81
All these first colonists belonged to the German Reformed Church, the great German branch of the Presbyterian family of churches. They were natives of the old principality of Nassau-Siegen, now a part of Westphalia, Germany, and their homes were in and near the city of Siegen and the town of Muesen.
Fig. 5C
Military Records
Census Records
[FamilySearchTM: Research Guidance
Version of Data: 6/7/2001]