For those unfamiliar with, or simply wishing to learn more about, conducting German/ Prussian genealogical research this is my second posting in a series on the topic of German-Prussian Genealogy Pointers. One of the greatest difficulties people have with researching Germanic family members involves name spellings.  This is especially true for those English speakers.  Over the centuries, Germans who emigrated into English speaking lands have either tried to spell their names in ways that would be pronounced correctly or had assistance with their name spellings upon arrival or ‘later’ in Census takings.  This ‘help’ has lead to numerous challenges in finding the right folks in the old homeland (Heimatland). Here…

Recently, I have received numerous queries on how to get started or better conduct German genealogy research.  Rather than simply email folks one at a time, I thought a post on the subject might be useful. By way of background, I ought to state that almost everyone I hear from tells me that they are: German (of German descent) the neither read nor speak German (or just very little) few are aware of much German history fewer are aware of their family’s cultural background in Germany Having provided the little list above likely provides clues as to items researchers need to pay attention to: If you do not speak the…