Finding birth town in Germany

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Tony Cooper

Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Tony Cooper » 20 mar 2007 04:56:33

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

2. Died in Luzerne Twpt., Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1787.

3. Had a land grant in either Frederick County MD or Fayette County
PA dated July 20, 1762. Probably MD since it coincides with his
naturalization date.

Using the above data, are there any sources that could be employed to
try to find the ancestor's birth town in Germany?




--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Hugh Watkins

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 20 mar 2007 14:33:35

Tony Cooper wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

2. Died in Luzerne Twpt., Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1787.

3. Had a land grant in either Frederick County MD or Fayette County
PA dated July 20, 1762. Probably MD since it coincides with his
naturalization date.

Using the above data, are there any sources that could be employed to
try to find the ancestor's birth town in Germany?

no you need a name and a date of birth and a sex

BTW Germany did not exist at that time
read some history

google and wiki for starters

what ship?

Hugh W

--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

Tony Cooper

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Tony Cooper » 20 mar 2007 15:36:27

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:33:35 +0000, Hugh Watkins
<hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:

Tony Cooper wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

2. Died in Luzerne Twpt., Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1787.

3. Had a land grant in either Frederick County MD or Fayette County
PA dated July 20, 1762. Probably MD since it coincides with his
naturalization date.

Using the above data, are there any sources that could be employed to
try to find the ancestor's birth town in Germany?

no you need a name and a date of birth and a sex

I know the name and the sex, but not the birth date.

BTW Germany did not exist at that time
read some history

You think that I should write that he was born in the Holy Roman
Empire? Prussia? Silesia? Pomerania? Without knowing where the
ancestor was from, "Germany" is the most appropriate term.

History books describe what is now Germany as "Germany" in references
to events prior to 1806. Your own cite of "read Wiki" says "Around
the beginning of the 16th century there was much discontent in Germany
with abuses in the Catholic Church and a desire for reform." when
describing the Reformation. Just glancing at an encyclopedia, I see
"By 1600, great tension had developed between the Protestant and Roman
Catholic forces in Germany".

what ship?

If I knew that, I would have added that.

If you can help me with my question, I would appreciate it. If not,
don't waste your time.


--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Joe Pessarra

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Joe Pessarra » 20 mar 2007 16:21:03

"Tony Cooper" <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:ghrvv25omqlnh28kdufob2ks6q7q26ouci@4ax.com...
On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:33:35 +0000, Hugh Watkins
hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:

Tony Cooper wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

2. Died in Luzerne Twpt., Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1787.

3. Had a land grant in either Frederick County MD or Fayette County
PA dated July 20, 1762. Probably MD since it coincides with his
naturalization date.

Using the above data, are there any sources that could be employed to
try to find the ancestor's birth town in Germany?

no you need a name and a date of birth and a sex

I know the name and the sex, but not the birth date.

BTW Germany did not exist at that time
read some history

You think that I should write that he was born in the Holy Roman
Empire? Prussia? Silesia? Pomerania? Without knowing where the
ancestor was from, "Germany" is the most appropriate term.

History books describe what is now Germany as "Germany" in references
to events prior to 1806. Your own cite of "read Wiki" says "Around
the beginning of the 16th century there was much discontent in Germany
with abuses in the Catholic Church and a desire for reform." when
describing the Reformation. Just glancing at an encyclopedia, I see
"By 1600, great tension had developed between the Protestant and Roman
Catholic forces in Germany".

what ship?

If I knew that, I would have added that.

If you can help me with my question, I would appreciate it. If not,
don't waste your time.

Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

If the surname is unusual, you might see if it still exists in Germany by
using the German telephone directory at http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/, as
well as the Geogen site at
http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/Default.aspx to find the distribution
in Germany.

You haven't given us very much information, but that may be all that you
have. It would be useful to at least know the surname in order to give you
better help.

I assume you have some paperwork that states he/she was from "Germany", or
is it only family lore that says this?

Hugh Watkins is a big help to a lot of searchers on this news group. His
comments were appropriate. Guess we could argue forever about when
"Germany" existed.

Joe in Georgetown, Texas
Researching Beer, Schuster, Conrady, Pessarra

Joe Pessarra

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Joe Pessarra » 20 mar 2007 16:51:03

"Joe Pessarra" <joepessarra@suddenlink.net> wrote in message
news:eXSLh.22048$zJ1.21238@newsfe24.lga...
"Tony Cooper" <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:ghrvv25omqlnh28kdufob2ks6q7q26ouci@4ax.com...
On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:33:35 +0000, Hugh Watkins
hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:

Tony Cooper wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

Forgot to suggest that you might post this request to the news group titled
soc.genealogy.german.

Joe in Texas

Tony Cooper

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Tony Cooper » 20 mar 2007 17:14:27

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:18:29 -0600, "Joe Pessarra"
<joepessarra@suddenlink.net> wrote:

"Tony Cooper" <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:ghrvv25omqlnh28kdufob2ks6q7q26ouci@4ax.com...
On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:33:35 +0000, Hugh Watkins
hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:

Tony Cooper wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

2. Died in Luzerne Twpt., Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1787.

3. Had a land grant in either Frederick County MD or Fayette County
PA dated July 20, 1762. Probably MD since it coincides with his
naturalization date.

Using the above data, are there any sources that could be employed to
try to find the ancestor's birth town in Germany?

no you need a name and a date of birth and a sex

I know the name and the sex, but not the birth date.

BTW Germany did not exist at that time
read some history

You think that I should write that he was born in the Holy Roman
Empire? Prussia? Silesia? Pomerania? Without knowing where the
ancestor was from, "Germany" is the most appropriate term.

History books describe what is now Germany as "Germany" in references
to events prior to 1806. Your own cite of "read Wiki" says "Around
the beginning of the 16th century there was much discontent in Germany
with abuses in the Catholic Church and a desire for reform." when
describing the Reformation. Just glancing at an encyclopedia, I see
"By 1600, great tension had developed between the Protestant and Roman
Catholic forces in Germany".

what ship?

If I knew that, I would have added that.

If you can help me with my question, I would appreciate it. If not,
don't waste your time.

If the surname is unusual, you might see if it still exists in Germany by
using the German telephone directory at http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/, as
well as the Geogen site at
http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/Default.aspx to find the distribution
in Germany.

The surname is one of those names that has many, many current
spellings. In a family history written in 1952 by a descendent, 20
different variations of the spelling were found. The immigrant signed
papers using several spellings, but his signature was merely an "X"
indicating that he wouldn't have corrected a misspelling.

There are four common spellings of the surname that are currently
found in Germany and Austria.

You haven't given us very much information, but that may be all that you
have. It would be useful to at least know the surname in order to give you
better help.

I'll supply this by e-mail but I'm reluctant to post it here. Since
my question is not intended to solicit information on the name itself,
or to locate people researching the same name, I don't think that the
surname is important.

My primary question is about the availability of locating information
on naturalization records since those records would indicate place of
origin. However, I don't know if these records are searchable or how
to go about it.

I assume you have some paperwork that states he/she was from "Germany", or
is it only family lore that says this?

What I'm working from is a thick book compiled in 1952 by a very
distantly related person with the same surname. The author makes
several references to the immigrant's birth in Germany, but does not
cite any records from which he gained this knowledge.

I've contacted this family, but the current-generation members do not
have any interest in the field or any knowledge about where the
author's information came from.

Hugh Watkins is a big help to a lot of searchers on this news group. His
comments were appropriate. Guess we could argue forever about when
"Germany" existed.

I've participated in newsgroups - primarily in the area of English
(language) usage - for ten years or so. I'm familiar with how
appropriate comments can be couched.


--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Huntersglenn

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Huntersglenn » 20 mar 2007 19:21:02

Tony Cooper wrote:
My primary question is about the availability of locating information
on naturalization records since those records would indicate place of
origin. However, I don't know if these records are searchable or how
to go about it.


His naturalization would have been as a citizen of Great Britain, and
not as an American citizen, so you might not find any records of it here
in the states.

The best you might hope for would be a mention of his place of origin in
an early deed or marriage record. Or, if he helped out in any way in
the war, then in the paperwork asking for compensation. If he fought in
the war and lived long enough to receive a pension, then his place of
origin might be mentioned in that paperwork. As for the naturalization,
you need to check the State Archives/Libraries for the two states where
you think he was living at the time to see if they have colonial records
that might mention naturalizations.

People were asking for the last name because as a group, we have access
to many different sources and might have been able to locate a record or
two for you, or at least point you in the direction of an appropriate
archive. They were not asking so that people could jump onto your
surname bandwagon, but so that we might be able to help you.

Cathy

Hugh Watkins

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 20 mar 2007 20:49:38

Tony Cooper wrote:
On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 10:18:29 -0600, "Joe Pessarra"
joepessarra@suddenlink.net> wrote:


"Tony Cooper" <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:ghrvv25omqlnh28kdufob2ks6q7q26ouci@4ax.com...

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:33:35 +0000, Hugh Watkins
hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:


Tony Cooper wrote:


The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

2. Died in Luzerne Twpt., Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1787.

3. Had a land grant in either Frederick County MD or Fayette County
PA dated July 20, 1762. Probably MD since it coincides with his
naturalization date.

Using the above data, are there any sources that could be employed to
try to find the ancestor's birth town in Germany?

no you need a name and a date of birth and a sex

I know the name and the sex, but not the birth date.


BTW Germany did not exist at that time
read some history

You think that I should write that he was born in the Holy Roman
Empire? Prussia? Silesia? Pomerania? Without knowing where the
ancestor was from, "Germany" is the most appropriate term.

History books describe what is now Germany as "Germany" in references
to events prior to 1806. Your own cite of "read Wiki" says "Around
the beginning of the 16th century there was much discontent in Germany
with abuses in the Catholic Church and a desire for reform." when
describing the Reformation. Just glancing at an encyclopedia, I see
"By 1600, great tension had developed between the Protestant and Roman
Catholic forces in Germany".


what ship?

If I knew that, I would have added that.

If you can help me with my question, I would appreciate it. If not,
don't waste your time.

If the surname is unusual, you might see if it still exists in Germany by
using the German telephone directory at http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/, as
well as the Geogen site at
http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/Default.aspx to find the distribution
in Germany.


The surname is one of those names that has many, many current
spellings. In a family history written in 1952 by a descendent, 20
different variations of the spelling were found. The immigrant signed
papers using several spellings, but his signature was merely an "X"
indicating that he wouldn't have corrected a misspelling.

There are four common spellings of the surname that are currently
found in Germany and Austria.


You haven't given us very much information, but that may be all that you
have. It would be useful to at least know the surname in order to give you
better help.


I'll supply this by e-mail but I'm reluctant to post it here. Since
my question is not intended to solicit information on the name itself,
or to locate people researching the same name, I don't think that the
surname is important.

My primary question is about the availability of locating information
on naturalization records since those records would indicate place of
origin. However, I don't know if these records are searchable or how
to go about it.


I assume you have some paperwork that states he/she was from "Germany", or
is it only family lore that says this?


What I'm working from is a thick book compiled in 1952 by a very
distantly related person with the same surname. The author makes
several references to the immigrant's birth in Germany, but does not
cite any records from which he gained this knowledge.

I've contacted this family, but the current-generation members do not
have any interest in the field or any knowledge about where the
author's information came from.


Hugh Watkins is a big help to a lot of searchers on this news group. His
comments were appropriate. Guess we could argue forever about when
"Germany" existed.


I've participated in newsgroups - primarily in the area of English
(language) usage - for ten years or so. I'm familiar with how
appropriate comments can be couched.

if you do not share
you may not get much help

a good friend is doing baltic genealogy using worldconnect.rootsweb.com
have you uploaded a gedcom?

other knowledgeable genealogists and distant cousins keep finding her

the usenet community has changed in the last 10 years

I am a subscriber to http://ancestry.de/
if you had posted the details I would have made a search there already

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

Prussia has conscription records but I have no detailed knowledge of
what survives

you have to build a picture of Europe from about 1720 to 1767
and find out what archives still exist and where they are today

the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation dating from the 9th
century until 1806. At its largest extent, the territory of this empire

included what today is Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic,
western Poland, the Low Countries, eastern France, Switzerland and most
of northern Italy. After the mid 15th century, it was known as the "Holy
Roman Empire of the German Nation". <<<


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Holyromanempire.png
around 1630


http://www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html
try
GedBas: Die genealogische Datenbasis

http://gedbas.genealogy.net/

explore that site

Hugh W


--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

Hugh Watkins

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 20 mar 2007 20:58:35

Tony Cooper wrote:

If you can help me with my question, I would appreciate it. If not,
don't waste your time.

I do this for fun
and your question led to me learning something so I get fun however
silly you are

but vague questions go nowhere
the surname may contain the answer which you lack the knowledge to interpret

I have a passive knowledge of german - often watch german TV
- and the north of Germany and Denmark are some of my specialities

religious persecution was a common motive for migration in that period
then famines and wars

some germans went north to Denmark then England then USA
journeymen / svend were expected to travel to get experience of their
craft - some wandered never to return

Hugh W
--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

Tony Cooper

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Tony Cooper » 21 mar 2007 00:10:46

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:49:38 +0000, Hugh Watkins
<hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:

You haven't given us very much information, but that may be all that you
have. It would be useful to at least know the surname in order to give you
better help.

Snipping quite a bit.
I'll supply this by e-mail but I'm reluctant to post it here. Since
my question is not intended to solicit information on the name itself,
or to locate people researching the same name, I don't think that the
surname is important.

My primary question is about the availability of locating information
on naturalization records since those records would indicate place of
origin. However, I don't know if these records are searchable or how
to go about it.

I've participated in newsgroups - primarily in the area of English
(language) usage - for ten years or so. I'm familiar with how
appropriate comments can be couched.

if you do not share
you may not get much help

I've been a regular newsgroup poster for too long not to know better
than to go into a new group and pick a fight with a regular. What I
was trying to do was to get a better handle on the availability of
source information on naturalization records without asking people to
do my work for me.

In my regular newsgroup - which is centered around word usage - we get
a lot of drop-ins who want us to do their EFL/ESL homework for them,
and I don't want to be one of those people.

I have a reason for not wanting to post the surname, but no objection
to revealing it in email. Not that I'm asking for email contact,
though.

I'll figure out the nature of this group. Bear with me.
a good friend is doing baltic genealogy using worldconnect.rootsweb.com
have you uploaded a gedcom?

Dunno what a gedcom is, but I do see some Googlehits for it. I'll
check 'em out.

I am a subscriber to http://ancestry.de/
if you had posted the details I would have made a search there already

Ich verstehe das nicht since I don't speak German, but I can Babel
Fish the search terms and see what I can come up with.

http://gedbas.genealogy.net/

explore that site

Vide super.

Thanks for a start. I appreciate it.


--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Tony Cooper

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Tony Cooper » 21 mar 2007 00:16:39

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:58:35 +0000, Hugh Watkins
<hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:

Tony Cooper wrote:

If you can help me with my question, I would appreciate it. If not,
don't waste your time.

I do this for fun
and your question led to me learning something so I get fun however
silly you are

but vague questions go nowhere
the surname may contain the answer which you lack the knowledge to interpret

I have a passive knowledge of german - often watch german TV
- and the north of Germany and Denmark are some of my specialities

religious persecution was a common motive for migration in that period
then famines and wars

some germans went north to Denmark then England then USA
journeymen / svend were expected to travel to get experience of their
craft - some wandered never to return

My brother (born in the US) has lived in Denmark for 30-some years.
He moved there when he was 30 or so. He's the one that is really
prompting my quest since he wants to visit the OI's town.

I have the family tree sorted out to the late 1700s, but he's
interested in where the OI was born.


--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Hugh Watkins

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 21 mar 2007 00:52:48

Tony Cooper wrote:

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:49:38 +0000, Hugh Watkins
hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:


You haven't given us very much information, but that may be all that you
have. It would be useful to at least know the surname in order to give you
better help.


Snipping quite a bit.

I'll supply this by e-mail but I'm reluctant to post it here. Since
my question is not intended to solicit information on the name itself,
or to locate people researching the same name, I don't think that the
surname is important.

My primary question is about the availability of locating information
on naturalization records since those records would indicate place of
origin. However, I don't know if these records are searchable or how
to go about it.

I've participated in newsgroups - primarily in the area of English
(language) usage - for ten years or so. I'm familiar with how
appropriate comments can be couched.

if you do not share
you may not get much help


I've been a regular newsgroup poster for too long not to know better
than to go into a new group and pick a fight with a regular. What I
was trying to do was to get a better handle on the availability of
source information on naturalization records without asking people to
do my work for me.

In my regular newsgroup - which is centered around word usage - we get
a lot of drop-ins who want us to do their EFL/ESL homework for them,
and I don't want to be one of those people.

I have a reason for not wanting to post the surname, but no objection
to revealing it in email. Not that I'm asking for email contact,
though.

I'll figure out the nature of this group. Bear with me.

a good friend is doing baltic genealogy using worldconnect.rootsweb.com
have you uploaded a gedcom?


Dunno what a gedcom is, but I do see some Googlehits for it. I'll
check 'em out.


I am a subscriber to http://ancestry.de/
if you had posted the details I would have made a search there already


Ich verstehe das nicht since I don't speak German, but I can Babel
Fish the search terms and see what I can come up with.


http://gedbas.genealogy.net/

explore that site

a gedcom is a text file for exachanging genealogical information

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/

search your surname born germany

13538 schmidt

hornung
gets results like
17 FEB 1784 Göppingen,Donaukreis,Württemberg,Germany

or
Hornung, Franz Gottlieb
15 AUG 1830 Friedrichstal, Baden, Germany
6 AUG 1915 Rochester, Sangamon County, Illinois

if you post the name
I might be able to suggest a german spelling too

danish names get badly messed up in USA

Hugh W






--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

ecunningham

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av ecunningham » 21 mar 2007 01:53:55

Tony Cooper wrote:
I've been a regular newsgroup poster for too long not to know better
than to go into a new group and pick a fight with a regular. What I
was trying to do was to get a better handle on the availability of
source information on naturalization records without asking people to
do my work for me.

Tony: Google the Maryland Archives and you'll find they have digitized
some records one of which is a colonial law of 1760 regarding
naturalization requirements. (searched for naturalization) Bottom
line--to hold land they had to swear allegiance to the English King
(if my reading of colonial legislature legalese is good). Hence, I
would ask Maryland Archives for hints, or check the English Archives
catalog online (439 hits for Maryland some of which are digitized
Maryland wills). http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Last resort would be Library of Virginia which has a spectacular index
and digitization program and covers much of the central colonies area.

ecunningham@att.net

singhals

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av singhals » 21 mar 2007 02:01:29

Tony Cooper wrote:
On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:58:35 +0000, Hugh Watkins
hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:


Tony Cooper wrote:


If you can help me with my question, I would appreciate it. If not,
don't waste your time.

I do this for fun
and your question led to me learning something so I get fun however
silly you are

but vague questions go nowhere
the surname may contain the answer which you lack the knowledge to interpret

I have a passive knowledge of german - often watch german TV
- and the north of Germany and Denmark are some of my specialities

religious persecution was a common motive for migration in that period
then famines and wars

some germans went north to Denmark then England then USA
journeymen / svend were expected to travel to get experience of their
craft - some wandered never to return


My brother (born in the US) has lived in Denmark for 30-some years.
He moved there when he was 30 or so. He's the one that is really
prompting my quest since he wants to visit the OI's town.

I have the family tree sorted out to the late 1700s, but he's
interested in where the OI was born.

Google "MSA" and Maryland State Archives. Annapolis being
the capital city'n'all ... in that time period there may
have been some oddnesses going on involving an in-comer
needing to be naturalized as a Maryland citizen for
landownership or settlement rights reasons.

You might also check around for Oaths of Allegiance -- prior
to 1776, any immigrants had to sign such an oath in some
colonies. You might also check Hetrinka, the series listing
the names of Hessian soldiers who served in the colonies
(some of whom were garrisoned here before Concord,
evidently). Also check Maryland personal property tax
lists. Emigration out of Germany was more controlled than
immigration into the colonies, so you might want to look at
the major ports of exit, including, of course Le Havre and
Rotterdam.

I _do_ see your point about the surname being unnecessary
(heck, I've made the same point myself fairly often), but
the fact here is that you're looking for _someone_ not an
opinion (I'm generally ISO an opinion). I spent 30 years
looking for someone (Greitzner, out of Mechlenburg, to be
specific) without finding the first clue; mentioned the name
complainingly to a friend who has a huge collection of
German marriage records, and within a week I had something
closer than Mechlenburg; now I'm back three generations in 3
years.

You might want to invest some free time into d/l a
genealogy-database program. Try PAF-5 from
http;//www.familysearch.org under products (it's free) or
Legacy from http://www.legacyfamilytree.com (the basic
version is free and perfectly adequate to start on. This'll
help you keep track of what you've looked at, what you
haven't and why you want to.

Cheryl Singhal

clark1528@aol.com

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av clark1528@aol.com » 21 mar 2007 02:13:17

On Mar 19, 10:56 pm, Tony Cooper <tony_cooper...@earthlink.net> wrote:
The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

2. Died in Luzerne Twpt., Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1787.

3. Had a land grant in either Frederick County MD or Fayette County
PA dated July 20, 1762. Probably MD since it coincides with his
naturalization date.

Using the above data, are there any sources that could be employed to
try to find the ancestor's birth town in Germany?

--

Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL


I found the birthplace of my immigrant ancestor in the following way:

1. Searched the various ship lists at Olive Tree
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/index.shtml

2. Searched the various Palatine/German migration sources in my local
library. While I don't have the list at hand, there are a good number
of them. Some are indexed on Ancestry, others require a trip to the
library. I found my ancestor listed in one - with reference to an
advert he'd placed in a German language paper of the time
(1767)looking for his brother. In the advert he stated the locality
he was from.

3. There were 2 towns of that particular name, so I checked the
parish records for both - and found him in the 2nd.

It also helps to trace the names of fellow passengers once you're able
to find a ship's list. Often times many of the passengers were from
the same general area so if you can trace one or two, it may lead to
the town you're seeking.

Good luck,
Jennifer Clark

Tony Cooper

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Tony Cooper » 21 mar 2007 03:20:06

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:56:33 -0400, Tony Cooper
<tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:


Just so no one will feel unappreciated, I'm saving all of the reply
posts and will be following up on them. I don't want to add to the
thread by acknowledging each suggesting, but I do appreciate each.
--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

James A. Doemer

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av James A. Doemer » 21 mar 2007 03:26:10

In News 6g5103p6otprive8gg24b99ravgsjk9etn@4ax.com,, Tony Cooper at
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net, typed this:

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:56:33 -0400, Tony Cooper
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:


Just so no one will feel unappreciated, I'm saving all of the reply
posts and will be following up on them. I don't want to add to the
thread by acknowledging each suggesting, but I do appreciate each.

Have you looked at http:\\www.castlegarden.org to see if your ancestor is
listed?

Joe Pessarra

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Joe Pessarra » 21 mar 2007 04:11:03

"Tony Cooper" <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:6g5103p6otprive8gg24b99ravgsjk9etn@4ax.com...
On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:56:33 -0400, Tony Cooper
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:


Just so no one will feel unappreciated, I'm saving all of the reply
posts and will be following up on them. I don't want to add to the
thread by acknowledging each suggesting, but I do appreciate each.
--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Good luck. Hope you hit pay dirt.

Joe in Texas

Steve Hayes

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 21 mar 2007 06:06:02

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:10:46 -0400, Tony Cooper <tony_cooper213@earthlink.net>
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:49:38 +0000, Hugh Watkins
hugh.watkins@gmail.com> wrote:

You haven't given us very much information, but that may be all that you
have. It would be useful to at least know the surname in order to give you
better help.

Snipping quite a bit.

I'll supply this by e-mail but I'm reluctant to post it here. Since
my question is not intended to solicit information on the name itself,
or to locate people researching the same name, I don't think that the
surname is important.

My primary question is about the availability of locating information
on naturalization records since those records would indicate place of
origin. However, I don't know if these records are searchable or how
to go about it.

I've participated in newsgroups - primarily in the area of English
(language) usage - for ten years or so. I'm familiar with how
appropriate comments can be couched.

if you do not share
you may not get much help

I've been a regular newsgroup poster for too long not to know better
than to go into a new group and pick a fight with a regular. What I
was trying to do was to get a better handle on the availability of
source information on naturalization records without asking people to
do my work for me.

In my regular newsgroup - which is centered around word usage - we get
a lot of drop-ins who want us to do their EFL/ESL homework for them,
and I don't want to be one of those people.

Very wise indeed, and yes, there are people in genealogy groups who
shamelessly ask for lookups or other information when they could often just as
easily look it up themselves, and give scant thanks ton those who do the work
for them.

I've not chipped in to this conversation before, partly because I'm having
problems with internet access, and partly because I'm not familiar with the
records you're asking about, and I'm therefore not in a position to give
directly useful advice. But perhaps an anecdote or two might encourage you to
go on looking, and try various options.

When we began our family history research my wife's grandmother, whose maiden
name was Decker, told us a little about her father, but could not remember
much, because he had died when she was 8 and she had been brought up by other
relatives. But it was enough for us to look him up in the Cape Archives, where
he found his death notice. It said he was August Decker, hotel waiter, born in
Germany, died in King William's Topwn, father unknown, mother unknown, no
property, buried by public subscription.

That looked like about as dead a dead end as one could get, but on our way
home we stopping in Kingwilliam's Town and went to the local Museum, and they
had a card index of German Military settlers in the area. It gave his
regimental number in the British German Legion, and said he came from
Auerstedt in Prussia.

The British German Legion was raised to fight in the Crmean War, but the war
finished before they could fight, so they were sent to Britsh Kaffraria to
guard the frontier of the Cape Colony and the various Xhosa and related
kingdoms to the east.

We applied for, and got, his marriage certificate in England - he married Mary
Morton at Colchester in Essex, where the British German Legion was trained.
From that we found that his father was Carl Decker, farmer.

The point is that you should read as much as possible of the local history of
the area in which they first lived after immigrating (in the example case,
British Kaffraria) to learn the hitory if immigrants. Somethimes they came in
a batch, or may have been drawn from a particular area, or have been part of a
particular immigration scheme. The card index at the museum was almost
serendipity, but not quite.

The point is, read widely and keep looking. You may find surprising
discoveries in unexpected sources.

Oh, and please greet the people over in AUE. Apparently I can still post
there, but can't read any messages. Same problem with some genealogy groups,
like soc.genealogy.britian.

Dunno what a gedcom is, but I do see some Googlehits for it. I'll
check 'em out.

It's a method of exchanging data between different genealogy programs.


--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/famhist1.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

Tony Cooper

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Tony Cooper » 21 mar 2007 06:09:38

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 02:26:10 GMT, "James A. Doemer"
<ckdbigtoeNOSPAM@earthlink.net> wrote:

In News 6g5103p6otprive8gg24b99ravgsjk9etn@4ax.com,, Tony Cooper at
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net, typed this:

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:56:33 -0400, Tony Cooper
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:

The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:


Just so no one will feel unappreciated, I'm saving all of the reply
posts and will be following up on them. I don't want to add to the
thread by acknowledging each suggesting, but I do appreciate each.

Have you looked at http:\\www.castlegarden.org to see if your ancestor is
listed?


Their database doesn't go far enough back. My OI arrived in the late
1700s. Thanks anyway.


--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Tony Cooper

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Tony Cooper » 21 mar 2007 06:37:09

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:17:22 +0200, Steve Hayes
<hayesmstw@hotmail.com> wrote:

I've not chipped in to this conversation before, partly because I'm having
problems with internet access, and partly because I'm not familiar with the
records you're asking about, and I'm therefore not in a position to give
directly useful advice. But perhaps an anecdote or two might encourage you to
go on looking, and try various options.

Hello, Steve. Sorry to see you're still having problems accessing
aue.

Oh, and please greet the people over in AUE. Apparently I can still post
there, but can't read any messages. Same problem with some genealogy groups,
like soc.genealogy.britian.

Nothing really interesting going on except some New Zealander whinging

about us Yanks "highjacking" the term "Americans" when it really
should apply to all North and South Americans. It's not like *that*
subject hasn't come up before.


--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

cecilia

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av cecilia » 21 mar 2007 10:11:09

singhals wrote:
[...]
genealogy-database program. Try PAF-5 from
http;//www.familysearch.org under products (it's free) or
Legacy from http://www.legacyfamilytree.com (the basic
version is free and perfectly adequate to start on. This'll
help you keep track of what you've looked at, what you
haven't and why you want to.

It's quite possible within the same database to have disconnected
"trees" - so you can have the people you are sure of, and the people
who might be them, with the different connections, and only link them
together (by merging the individuals found to be the same) when/if you
are sure.

Or delete those you decide never to follow up again - though
sometimes it's handy to have them around to prevent going down the
same false path twice.

Meanwhile, the whole caboodle of possibilities show up on the list of
individuals in the database.

Hugh Watkins

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 21 mar 2007 10:25:18

James A. Doemer wrote:
In News 6g5103p6otprive8gg24b99ravgsjk9etn@4ax.com,, Tony Cooper at
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net, typed this:


On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:56:33 -0400, Tony Cooper
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:


The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:


Just so no one will feel unappreciated, I'm saving all of the reply
posts and will be following up on them. I don't want to add to the
thread by acknowledging each suggesting, but I do appreciate each.


Have you looked at http:\\www.castlegarden.org to see if your ancestor is
listed?


the new ancestry version looks a little better to me
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/ ... aspx?rt=40

which of course SKS in this group will search for you
if you post the details
saving you money and time

many of us have our own trees in a state which is satisfying and take
our hobby in the direction of transcribing and indexing
and doing searches for others sharpens my own skills


Hugh W


--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

Hugh Watkins

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 21 mar 2007 10:39:23

Steve Hayes wrote:


Very wise indeed,


and yes, there are people in genealogy groups who
shamelessly ask for lookups or other information when they could often just as
easily look it up themselves, and give scant thanks ton those who do the work
for them.

well they just get ignored in the end

but this guy is obviously a newbie

I've not chipped in to this conversation before, partly because I'm having
problems with internet access,

still a dial up?

Path:
uni-berlin.de!fu-berlin.de!newsfeed.freenet.de!news.teledata-fn.de!Quza.UK.peer!nntp.gblx.net!ctb-nntp1.saix.net!wblv-ip-nntp-1.saix.net!not-for-mail

http://saix.net/ really slow

come and join us on http://news.individual.net/



snip

The point is, read widely and keep looking. You may find surprising
discoveries in unexpected sources.

Oh, and please greet the people over in AUE. Apparently I can still post
there, but can't read any messages. Same problem with some genealogy groups,
like

new:soc.genealogy.britian.

and there are at least two other gateways to do that Steve

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.gene ... ain/topics?

http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/UK/GENBRIT.html





Dunno what a gedcom is, but I do see some Googlehits for it. I'll
check 'em out.


It's a method of exchanging data between different genealogy programs.

or get the Family tree Maker 16 single CD - or 2006 and update on the web

look for a discounted version Staples for example $18 to $30

Hugh W

--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

T.M. Sommers

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av T.M. Sommers » 21 mar 2007 11:06:05

Tony Cooper wrote:
The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

The Maryland State Archives web site mentions a book by Jeffrey
A. and Florence Wyand that covers colonial naturalizations in
Maryland. See
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/refserv/genea ... igrat.html

--
Thomas M. Sommers -- tms@nj.net -- AB2SB

Steve Hayes

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 21 mar 2007 11:21:02

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:39:23 +0000, Hugh Watkins <hugh.watkins@gmail.com>
wrote:

Steve Hayes wrote:
I've not chipped in to this conversation before, partly because I'm having
problems with internet access,

still a dial up?

No, ADSL.

Path:
uni-berlin.de!fu-berlin.de!newsfeed.freenet.de!news.teledata-fn.de!Quza.UK.peer!nntp.gblx.net!ctb-nntp1.saix.net!wblv-ip-nntp-1.saix.net!not-for-mail

http://saix.net/ really slow

come and join us on http://news.individual.net/

If there's anything left on newsgroups that's worth paying for.

The point is, read widely and keep looking. You may find surprising
discoveries in unexpected sources.

Oh, and please greet the people over in AUE. Apparently I can still post
there, but can't read any messages. Same problem with some genealogy groups,
like

new:soc.genealogy.britian.

and there are at least two other gateways to do that Steve

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.gene ... ain/topics?

I know, but I don't like the Google interface.

And I prefer to get it as a newsgroup rather than a mailing list, because my
inbox is too full already.

With a newsgroup I can download only the marked message bodies with subjects
that interest me, whereas with a mailing list I download the lot and then have
to delete the ones that don't interest me, takes longer, more schlep, and
wastes bandwidth.

Dunno what a gedcom is, but I do see some Googlehits for it. I'll
check 'em out.


It's a method of exchanging data between different genealogy programs.

or get the Family tree Maker 16 single CD - or 2006 and update on the web

That is a serious piece of disinformation, and you know it.

It is NOT what GEDCOM is, and Family Tree Maker is not for everyone. It might
suit you, but don't plug it as a substitute for GEDCOM, it isn't.






look for a discounted version Staples for example $18 to $30

Hugh W

--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/famhist1.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/

Hugh Watkins

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 21 mar 2007 15:16:29

Steve Hayes wrote:

It's a method of exchanging data between different genealogy programs.

or get the Family tree Maker 16 single CD - or 2006 and update on the web


That is a serious piece of disinformation, and you know it.

It is NOT what GEDCOM is, and Family Tree Maker is not for everyone.

no only for about 80% of the market

It might
suit you, but don't plug it as a substitute for GEDCOM, it isn't.

I import / export gedcom often with FTM and upload to worldconnect

look for a discounted version Staples for example $18 to $30

Hugh W

--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

James A. Doemer

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av James A. Doemer » 22 mar 2007 00:32:13

In News 56cbvvF27jk0uU1@mid.individual.net,, Hugh Watkins at
hugh.watkins@gmail.com, typed this:

James A. Doemer wrote:
In News 6g5103p6otprive8gg24b99ravgsjk9etn@4ax.com,, Tony Cooper at
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net, typed this:


On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:56:33 -0400, Tony Cooper
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:


The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd
like to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:


Just so no one will feel unappreciated, I'm saving all of the reply
posts and will be following up on them. I don't want to add to the
thread by acknowledging each suggesting, but I do appreciate each.


Have you looked at http:\\www.castlegarden.org to see if your
ancestor is listed?


the new ancestry version looks a little better to me
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/ ... aspx?rt=40

which of course SKS in this group will search for you
if you post the details
saving you money and time

many of us have our own trees in a state which is satisfying and take
our hobby in the direction of transcribing and indexing
and doing searches for others sharpens my own skills


Is there more information on the Ancestry site than at the Castle Garden
site? If so. look up Anton, Elisiabeth (Misspelled on the Castle Garden
site, should be Elisabeth, Elsie (Misspelled, should actually be Elise) and
Heinrich, arriving June 22nd, 1852 aboard the Belgian Ship, "Maria".
Surname is also misspelled as Daemer. Probably had something to do with
the umlaut o of the original spelling Dömer.

With all the misspellings, it's a wonder I ever found them at all.

Celia Mitschelen

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Celia Mitschelen » 22 mar 2007 01:37:12

"T.M. Sommers" <tms@nj.net> wrote in message
news:46010234$0$30072$470ef3ce@news.pa.net...
Tony Cooper wrote:
The first immigrant in our family was born in Germany, but we'd like
to determine what town in Germany. We do have the following
information:

1. Naturalized as a citizen in Annapolis MD in 1762.

The Maryland State Archives web site mentions a book by Jeffrey
A. and Florence Wyand that covers colonial naturalizations in
Maryland. See
http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/refserv/genea ... igrat.html


Look for possible church records in the area he was in. German church
records can be quite informative.

Celia

Huntersglenn

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av Huntersglenn » 22 mar 2007 03:06:03

James A. Doemer wrote:

Is there more information on the Ancestry site than at the Castle Garden
site? If so. look up Anton, Elisiabeth (Misspelled on the Castle Garden
site, should be Elisabeth, Elsie (Misspelled, should actually be Elise) and
Heinrich, arriving June 22nd, 1852 aboard the Belgian Ship, "Maria".
Surname is also misspelled as Daemer. Probably had something to do with
the umlaut o of the original spelling Dömer.

With all the misspellings, it's a wonder I ever found them at all.


They show the manifest page, which has the names, ages, occupation,

country to which they belong, country to which they're going. What
Ancestry has for this family is the New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,
and the passenger manifest is shown from where they boarded in Antwerp.

Ancestry has them indexed as Damer, but as Anbar, Elisabeth, Elise and
Heinrich. I lucked onto them because there's an Anton Plumer on that
same page, so when I searched for Anton, I thought I'd found the right
one and that they'd really messed up the indexing <grin>! Well, I guess
they did with the Anbar part, but...

Cathy

James A. Doemer

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av James A. Doemer » 22 mar 2007 03:28:54

In News ztlMh.7601$s8.1247@newsfe21.lga,, Huntersglenn at
huntersglenn@cox.net, typed this:

James A. Doemer wrote:


Is there more information on the Ancestry site than at the Castle
Garden site? If so. look up Anton, Elisiabeth (Misspelled on the
Castle Garden site, should be Elisabeth, Elsie (Misspelled, should
actually be Elise) and Heinrich, arriving June 22nd, 1852 aboard the
Belgian Ship, "Maria". Surname is also misspelled as Daemer. Probably
had something to do with the umlaut o of the original
spelling Dömer. With all the misspellings, it's a wonder I ever found
them at all.


They show the manifest page, which has the names, ages, occupation,
country to which they belong, country to which they're going. What
Ancestry has for this family is the New York Passenger Lists,
1820-1957, and the passenger manifest is shown from where they
boarded in Antwerp.
Ancestry has them indexed as Damer, but as Anbar, Elisabeth, Elise and
Heinrich. I lucked onto them because there's an Anton Plumer on that
same page, so when I searched for Anton, I thought I'd found the right
one and that they'd really messed up the indexing <grin>! Well, I
guess they did with the Anbar part, but...

Cathy

Sheesh! It's no wonder Genealogy can be so frustrating at times. Their
real and full names were Peter Anton Dömer, Anna Elisabeth Dömer (nee.
Rüenaufer), Anna Elisabeth Dömer, and Heinrich Dömer. Peter uses first
Anton, and then Anthony exclusively. He passes away in 1865 at the age of
47. The daughter Anna has been pretty elusive. I haven't found a death
cert on her, although oral tradition says she died around 1920. I loose
track of her in 1900. The 1900 Census has her listed in the John Doemer
household, Wayne Co., Detroit, Michigan as Lizzie Doemer. That's actually
brand new information. The Census says that she is 54, but that is also an
error, she would have been 51 in 1900. Anyway, then I lose track of her so
I don't know if she married after that, or what happened to her. I sent
away for a death cert from Michigan just last week, so hopefully something
will pan out there.

jj206

Re: Finding birth town in Germany

Legg inn av jj206 » 26 mar 2007 06:01:04

Tony Cooper wrote:
What I
was trying to do was to get a better handle on the availability of
source information on naturalization records without asking people to
do my work for me.

Hey Tony,

Actually alt.genealogy is the opposite of most other usenet groups.
People pop in and ask others to do work for them and then send a thank
you for the image sent or name search provided. Every usenet group has
its own flavor and tone. Some usenet groups use lots of smilies and
emoticons to show the tone of a post, whereas this usenet group doesn't
much, so often it can come across as gruff. But really Hugh is a nice
guy so far as I can tell. No one has gotten in trouble posting their
distant relatives full names. And actually its preferable and quicker
to do so. (^:

Jonathan

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