Saturday 2 January 2016

Is German family history too difficult?


Many people in Australia have ancestral roots from Germany and the surrounding areas that were once in the German Empire. Some family historians baulk at researching those ancestors, believing that it's all too difficult or that the records have all been lost.

Although some records were destroyed during and after World War Two, the majority of records still exist and it is often possible to trace families back to the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries through civil records of birth, marriage and death, and church records of baptism, marriage and burial.

Researching church registers at Eckernförde, Schleswig-Holstein

17 comments:

  1. Welcome to the Blogisphere Eric.

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  2. Welcome to the Blogisphere Eric.

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  3. Your blog sounds as if it will be very useful for Aussies with German ancestors, Eric. Not for me as yet, but you never know!

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  4. Well -I have not started on looking for what German records may exist for my German ancestors who came to Queensland in 1870 but will have to start one day....your blog may be very useful to me.

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  5. Well -I have not started on looking for what German records may exist for my German ancestors who came to Queensland in 1870 but will have to start one day....your blog may be very useful to me.

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  6. Hi Eric, Look forward to lots of good reading as always.

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  7. Looks great, Eric! I'll be keeping an eye on this one. I may not be Australian, but I am an American with about about half German blood. Most of my ancestors came to Wisconsin in the mid-1800's. My mother's family is from a city in Wisconsin called Kiel, in the town of Schleswig... which is next to New Holstein... and so on. There was quite an influx into that part of the world. Here's hoping I can get more digging into my German roots!

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  8. Oh, this looks like it will be very helpful! I'm going to subscribe to you through Feedly. I'm not Australian (am American), but I've a bunch of German ancestors and any help I can glean in how to find out more about them will be much appreciated!

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  9. Replies
    1. Leslie, I am new to blogging and am proceeding bit by bit. I have now included the option of following by email.

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    2. thank you. i just subscribed. part of my family was from east prussia - ortelsburg, koenigsberg, niedenberg, schuttschen and a few other towns.

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  10. Eric, Great to see you in the blogisphere. Look forward to many interesting and informative posts. Can remember my father clearly telling me there was no point in researching his German heritage (from Switzerland actually) because all the records were destroyed in WW2. Have had many fascinating research experiences since and learned, Never Give Up! Bought an interesting book while visiting Wisconsin a few years ago that told the story of the Swiss-German community's immigration to the US. Found many similarities between America and Australia's immigration stories where the Swiss-German community was concerned. Happy to put my hands on the book and provide details if folks are interested. In the meantime all the best with your research everyone and for you with this new venture Eric. Lyndall M

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  11. In researching the family of Grabsch - Welzel Jahnel Schilder of Wiesenthal and Ratsch - we were fortunate to discover this resource via a Google Search http://www.online-ofb.de/wiesenthal/ - http://www.online-ofb.de/namelist.php?nachname=WELZEL&ofb=wiesenthal&modus=&lang=de - http://www.online-ofb.de/famreport.php?ofb=wiesenthal&ID=I5130&nachname=GRABSCH&modus=&lang=de - we found more than we could ever have imagined

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  12. So lovely to see you here in blogland Eric. I hope you enjoy it and find it as rewarding as I do.

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  13. Welcome to the GeneaBlogging land! I'm looking forward to following all your posts.

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  14. I look forward to reading more as I have not started on my German heritage yet :)

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