User:Kimballgeorgecarter/Sandbox

A Guideline with examples
You probably know that your ancestor came from someplace in Germany, but knowing the specific hometown is critical to finding records about them in their homeland. Records were kept primarily in the town your ancestor lived in before they immigrated to the United States. These records are often from the local church parish, which was usually very small in geography. Trying to find your ancestor in German records without knowing their hometown is usually futile.

This page has been created to help you discover your ancestor's hometown—read it carefully and by following the guidelines listed here you will probably find your German ancestor's hometown.

1. Find every  record about your ancestor and their family in the U.S. (or other country of arrival) FIRST!
Your ancestor probably appears in many records; censuses, vital records, military records, newspapers, church records, and more. Your ancestor's birthplace/hometown may be listed in a few of these records or just one of them, so it's important to search as many of them as needed to find their hometown. For one ancestor it could be a census record that lists their hometown, for another a church death record, for another a naturalization record, and for another an obituary—hence the need to search as many records as needed.

Sometimes the records for your ancestor don't list their hometown, but the records of their sibling or parent do. Always search for records for the entire family, you never know which one left a record that lists their hometown!

2. Start with family records.
Have you gathered all of the records from your family members? Many times the hometown of your ancestor is listed in an old family bible or other family record. Perhaps an ancestor kept a journal that was handed down to your cousin. Contact extended family to make sure you're not overlooking a document that hold this information.

Example: Charles Baker's hometown was listed on a family record that was in the possession of an aunt of the researcher. The information was confusing to read, but when after analyzing it more thoroughly it listed Charle's hometown in Alsace-Lorraine and his birthdate. A search of records found his original birth record.



3. Search the FAN club of your ancestor.
FAN stands for friends, acquaintances and neighbors. People usually immigrated with other people from the area they left behind and they often settled in the U.S. near these friends, attended churches with them and often became family through marriages of children. Look at who is living near your ancestor in the census that is from the same country as your ancestor. See if their immigration year is similar to your ancestor. Research these people as if they were your own—they may end up leading you to information about your ancestor. Neighbors often immigrated with each other. The records of an extended family member, neighbor or friend may have information about their home in the old country when your ancestor’s record doesn’t.

4. Be open to new spellings and different names.
Many immigrants names changed when they came to the U.S. Remember that standardized spelling is a relatively new concept. When our ancestors arrived in America the people who wrote down their names often didn’t speak their language and they wrote what they heard, how they thought it would be spelled. Stay open minded to creative spellings of your ancestors names, and be prepared for inconsistent spellings!

Example: When the Christian Warning family from Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany settled in West Seneca, New York in 1870, the census taker wrote their surname “Vorning.” The next census it was “Warning.” Even in Germany the name was inconsistent, in one parish it was “Warning,” another wrote “Warnick,” and still another “Warneke!” They are all the same family



5. Find your ancestor in every U.S. census record
Analyze and correlate all the records you find. Look for consistencies of immigration years, children's names, how many children the mother gave birth to, occupations, countries of origin, etc. Remember country names may have been listed differently as their country of origin changed borders and names over time. Analyze any unique spellings for their country of birth—the census taker may have written phoeneticlally. One census record listed the place of birth as “hazenarmistead” which turned out to be Hesse-Darmstadt.

Image example showing Hazenarmistead - Image example comparing census records table

If your ancestor, their siblings or parents, were living in 1900, 1910, 1920 or 1930, check to see the year they listed on the census for their immigration. Be aware that often people would say they came in 1850 on one census and 1848 or 1851 on another. Remember that these people often didn't remember the exact year, sometimes they just forgot, but usually they were within 5 years of the actual year they immigrated.

Image example immigration year listing in U.S. census

6. Emigration records - from Germany
Germany emigration records sometimes list the hometown of the emigrating ancestor. The Hamburg Passenger lists are one record set that often provides this information and are now indexed and searchable at Ancestry.com. If you have a passenger arrival list in the U.S., check to see if your ancestor departed from Hamburg - if they did you will probably be able to find them on the Hamburg Passenger Lists. Check the FHL catalog for emigration records for the area in germany your ancestor came from. The Hamburg Passenger lists and other emigration records can be a great resource for finding the hometowns for German immigrant ancestors.