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Germany and German Ancestry

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This group was created for anyone interested in researching German Ancestry.

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Comment by Marianne Szabo on July 13, 2012 at 8:35am: Peggy Ruley - also remember that the spelling of surnames changed a lot in the records. Many people were illiterate and didn't know how to spell their names, while those who entered the data wrote down the names as they heard them. The original spelling of your ancestor's surname might have been Gerhardt.

Comment by Catherine Davis on July 13, 2012 at 8:05am: Also, have you tried searching of familysearch.org?

Comment by Catherine Davis on July 13, 2012 at 8:03am: Peggy Ruley--have you worked backwards from yourself, through all the censuses, birth, marriage, and death records available in this country? Checked other people's family trees on ancestry.com, geneanet, rootsweb, etc. for hints? Looked for local history books from the area where they settled here? Naturalization records?

Comment by Peggy Ruley on July 13, 2012 at 7:55am: I am new to this group. Hello to all.
I am researching Gearharts in Pa. And Md., trying to find where my Garheart,
Gearhart family originated.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Peggy

Comment by Prussian MARTIN on June 29, 2012 at 1:07am: Catherine Davis - many thanks for the advice. I recently came into possession of a family photograph (not my copyright so cannot post on the internet, etc) and letter dated 1865 which clearly reveals my black African ancestry whereas original Y-DNA results says otherwise. I'm eagerly awaiting further Y-DNA results!

Comment by Susan Teresa Holmes on June 28, 2012 at 3:57pm: Marianne Szabo Thank You for the info, I will certainly begin checking the list out.

Comment by Lisa A. (Thamm) Spegal on June 28, 2012 at 11:51am: @Kathryn Ellis: familysearch.org has lots of records (I have a friend who's ancestors were from there too) also just google "Poznan genealogy databases" or "Poznan genealogy" I found lots that way myself when helping others. Rootsweb is bound to have something too. Check forums and message boards also they can be a great help. Don't know if you've already tried any of that, but....

Comment by Kathryn Ellis on June 28, 2012 at 10:31am: I found my relatives on census and they emigrated 1870s from Poznan/Posen. I haven't begun to figure out how to search, so I thought I would ask here. Any help is appreciated. Kat

Comment by Marianne Szabo on June 28, 2012 at 8:52am: To Susan Teresa Holmes: a check of FamilySearch.org revealed over 2000 entries that could be "Matthew Nesensohn." Without further dates, etc., it's difficult to pare them down. If you know Wilhemina was born in 1855 in Germany, you can narrow down this list.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/records/index#count=20&quer...

Comment by Catherine Davis on June 28, 2012 at 8:11am: Prussian Martin, it looks like Magdeburg is a large town with several parishes, the church records for many of which are available on microfilm via Family History Centers. Check out familysearch.org, click on catalog, and enter Magdeburg, Germany for details.