My great great grandparents were from Germany- I want to trace that side of my family tree.?

Question

I am researching my family tree and have discovered that my great great grandparents were from Germany- Pyrmont. My great grandmother came over to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in around 1860. I have found a death certificate which gives their names and also occupation of my great great grandfather. How do I go about researching them ( I don't speak German)? My great grandmother also had a sister. I know her married name and also her address in the 1930's. That is all I have though. Any one out there who can help me!!!
Thank you.
Karen

Answer 1

Have you tried to find church records? Those can be helpful when tracing a family in another country.

Do you know anymore about your great grandma's sister? Did she have children? You could look for her relatives who may be able to tell you more.

Have you checked for posted family trees? Did you find out if your German great great grandfather was naturalized? If not, you may want to check the indexes for a petition, and naturalization papers. (The National Archives).

It is best to start by writing down what you know for sure. Find the documents that prove this if possible. Birth certificates, Marriage certificates and Death certificates or registration records can tell you a great deal about the family.

Depending on where you live and where they lived, you can check land records, and more localized censuses. You can asked your local historical society.

Many records were filmed are in the Family History Centers of the Later Day Saints. They may have more data. They also have sources to help you read the German records. If the relatives were Catholic, chuch records would be in Latin.

Not understanding German should not prevent you from looking for a Surname in the records. Once you find it, then you can see who can translate the record for you.

Answer 2

I live in Germany. The city you named is probably Bad Pyrmont, at google you certainly get any data when you enter bad pyrmont and the surname or old adress.

This would allow you reduce the location to a city destrict to seach a church in that area, so that you can ask via email if they have data. English is no problem for germans, but every information in Germany costs money. Here we get charged for everything.

Therefore i would suggest something different, use the mormon database to see if the have data for grandaunt. This may allow to identify if she had children. And well the mormon database allows to view more centuries for free and without registration.

Nevertheless the best way to find relatives is to use the german telephone finder. I added you the link, just enter as location Bad Pyrmont and your surname and then see, if there is a living relative.

Answer 3

I began researching my tree last year. It has grown from around 100 family members, to over 2500!
I have done it all on line, and I never spent a penny. Try these sites:

http://www.onegreatfamily.com/Account/Login.aspx
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/
http://www.mycinnamontoast.com/
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=search_all1.asp&clear_form=true
http://genforum.genealogy.com/my/http://www.kindredkonnections.com/
http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/htsearch
http://www.usgenweb.com/

I had a lot of luck searching the forums. You will be surprised by how many people you will find that are doing the same research you are. The key is to find them! The more names and info you have, the better luck you will have finding someone who knows something. Good Luck

Answer 4

Go to your search modum and type in Germany. It will take you to so many places. On there you can find German Genealogy. Then type in the name your searching for. You can obtain lots of free help , doing this method. Keep searching and you can find what your looking for. Good Luck.

Answer 5

You will eventually get to records which you can't read because they are written in Sütterlin (Suetterlin) which is the old German script. You would need someone to translate that into our modern alphabet. This is Sütterlin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BCtterlin

Answer 6

Try the german links at:

http://www.cyndislist.com