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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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Latest Activity: Nov 10, 2024

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Comment by Prussian MARTIN on June 28, 2012 at 7:37am: My earliest known ancestor is Charles William MARTIN born about 1784 in Magdeburg, Prussia now Germany. Charles, believed to be of black African descent, came to England via France in 1800 and joined the British navy. He served on HMS ACHILLE at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. Married Priscilla SHERKEY in 1813. Following his discharge fron the navy in 1815, he settled in Priscilla's birthplace of Frome, Somersetshire, England. Looking to trace earlier ancestry by conventional genealogy and Y-DNA testing.

Comment by Randall Stackhouse on June 12, 2012 at 3:39pm: I am finding this interesting! Re German Script - check this out! http://www.google.ca/search?q=german+script&hl=en&prmd=imvn...

Comment by Catherine Davis on June 12, 2012 at 12:47pm: Kevin,

From the 1930 census for Lincoln, Illinois, Dorothy Louise's parents were Christian E. and Leta Franz. Info from that census below. If you have access to ancestry.com, there are several census records and WWI and WWII registrations for Christian.

1930:

Christian E. Franz, 43 age at marriage 22, b. MO, father b. Germany,mother b. Illinois, laborer in building/construction

Leta Franz, 38, age at marriage 18, she and parents all b. Ill

William A., 18, laborer in dairy

Catherine 13

Myrna C. 11

Elmer E. 8

Betty J. 6

Dorothy L. 7

Edward C. 8/12

Children all are indicated as born in Illinois and both of their parents are indicated as born in IL which contradicts the MO bp of Christian's listing, but his other records also indicate he was born in MO.

Comment by Susan Teresa Holmes on June 12, 2012 at 8:27am: sorry, she was born in Germany in 1855

Comment by Susan Teresa Holmes on June 12, 2012 at 8:26am: I am still searching for GG Grandfather, Mathew Nesensohn. He is the only parent named on my G Grandmother Wilhelmina's Death Cir. cant find her either until 1900 US Fed. Census married to my G. Grandfather Samuel Oliver Holmes, in Oakland, California. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comment by kevin lee vannoy on June 11, 2012 at 8:29pm: my dads mom is Dorothy Louise Franz. Her info is1926 to 1991, born in illinois, died in springfield, illinois, was married to Merton Upton Vannoy

Comment by Catherine Davis on May 13, 2012 at 8:33am: Lisa, if the directory is pre-1930s, the word is probably schlosser meaning locksmith. In old German handwriting, the lower case s looks like a modern English f. Germany did not adopt the Roman alphabet that we use until Hitler decided to do so.

Comment by Lisa on May 13, 2012 at 5:45am: 1924%20radue%20germany%20large.psd

I have stumbled upon a German directory. I blew up the portion of my ancesters. Radue.

Carl, Schloffer, Lichtenbg., Maximillianftr, 23.

Above is Ferdinand, Schloffer, N 20 Bechliner Str, 6 II.

I believe Ferdinand is Carl's father. Does anyone know what Schloffer means??

Comment by Catherine Davis on May 12, 2012 at 7:40pm: A good starting point for any German research is https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Germany#Getting_started_... .

Then you might try using the people search on familysearch.org for specific names in which you are interested. You probably will not see any actual records but the transcription will tell you a film number where an actual record is located and you can then rent the film from your local Family History Center, usually connected to a church of the Latter Day Saints but open to all.

If your family is not listed there, it may just mean that the film has not been transcribed yet, so try clicking on "catalog" at the top of the familysearch homepage, then look for Berlin, Germany. You should get a listing of records available on microfilm which you can rent at the FHC.

You can also check out http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~deuberst/

geneanet.org is a European site where persons may post their family trees. It has both a free and subscription service. The free service is a bit cumbersome since you can only search by surname and then have to go through each record looking to see if anyone has posted information on your family, but it's doable.

Comment by Lisa on May 12, 2012 at 6:59pm: need help with Berlin, Germany ancestory help!

Where to start??

Lisa