Internet Resources for Finding 19th Century German Emigrants

Many lists of German emigrants listing towns of origin are found on the internet. Following is a list of useful websites. Additional material can be found by entering the German region plus the terms “emigrants, emigration” or their German equivalents: “Auswanderer, Auswanderung” in a search engine.

General Information

 * USGenWeb State and country sites often include links to indexed vital records, church information, naturalization records, county histories, and other resources.
 * RootsWeb
 * German search engine
 * Metasearch Engine - Use keywords Auswanderer, Auswanderung, emigration,immigration” to find little-known lists of emigrants
 * Palmer list of merchant vessels, descriptions and pictures of European sailing vessels, including many earlier emigrant ships
 * Forschungsstelle deutscher Auswanderer in die USA, discussion of problems with Germans to America, links to transcribed passenger lists, offers research services.
 * German Emigrant Data Base covers 1820-1939, main source: New York passenger lists beginning in 1820, supplemented by material found in Germany, ($)
 * Ancestors on Board: A Journey of Discovery
 * Americana in German Archives

U.S. and German passenger lists and indexes

 * Ellis Island Records - New York arrivals 1892-1924, limited search functionality
 * The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
 * Improved Search Masks for the Ellis Island website and Castle Garden allows searches by various fields, with or without a complete name
 * Ancestry.comincludes an ever-increasing number of passenger list indexes and linked imagees, ($).
 * lists Emigrants coming through Canada
 * Routes to the Roots has good links to emigrant data bases arranged by geographical area
 * Germany Roots, data base of over 230,000 emigrants
 * Immigrant Ships Transcribers’ Guild
 * Galveston Immigration Lists
 * Bremen passenger lists, 1920-1939
 * French Lines
 * Institut Deutsche Adelsforschung Emigrants from noble families

Lists of emigrants from individual towns

 * Alfter, Rheingau
 * Borgholz and Burgsteinfurt, Muensterland, Westfalen
 * Buer, Westfalen
 * Gechingen, Wuerttemberg
 * Neuhausen ob Eck, Baden-Württemberg
 * Rheine, Westfalen
 * Rommelshausen, OA Cannstadt, Wuerttemberg
 * Wuesten, Germany before 1900

Germans to Latin America

 * Lists of Germans immigrating to Brazil, in Portuguese.