Discovering our roots

To make contact, you need names and addresses. It is unclear - do you have names and addresses? Since the world is very interconnected, my first contact would be via email or an actual letter. The other big issue that you are going to have is that any records, especially church records, in Germany will be, surprisingly, in German. It may cost you are few bucks, but if you are serious I would make contact with a local genealogy group who could do some research in advance for you. Otherwise you are just wasting your time. This takes time so don't postpone it till week before you leave.

Frank, We have no names or addresses. Your local genealogy suggestion is helpful. Thank you

jk,

You could always do what the Griswalds did and just show up at a house in Germany that you think might belong to relatives, and invite yourself for dinner ;-)

To answer your question about finding any "potential current, distant cousins or other relatives who may still be roaming those hills", you could start by sending a few E-mails to relatives that you know of, and asking them for information on their relatives (either by birth or marriage). This should provide you with enough information to prepare somewhat of a "family tree".

It is really hard to advise you without knowing exactly what you have and don't have. When you say you have done your groundwork on Ancestry, exactly what does that mean? Do you have solid names, linkages, with birth, marriage, and burial records (dates and sites)? Information on Ancestry can be very shaky especially if dealing with any third party reporting.

I would start with the churches you know. If you have an address for the church, write to the pastor, Pfarrer (some speak English), and ask him if there are any direct descendant living in the town. German churches usually have pretty good records of births, marriages, baptism, and death in the parish.

If it is a fairly small town, people know each other. I found my family in a small town in Baden-Württemberg because I was arriving by local bus from the nearby larger town where I was staying. I mentioned to the bus driver that I was looking for relatives and told him my last name. He said the people in the first two houses on the left entering town had that last name. I went to the first house and met my 5th cousin and his family.

I also went to a small town where I had found possible relatives in the Mormon FHC records. I went to the church where the records had come from and asked, but they said there were no longer people with that last name in town.

Another source might be the TI office. They probably have a phone directory for the town. If it's a small town, and your name is not too common (Kruer or Krür), there might only be a few names to check.

I don't know if you are looking at relatives in a village or city or a location in between. I also don't know if you have a common German last name or an unusual spelling. I can tell you what worked for me when I did a family search recently was to google my maiden name + name of the small town I knew my great grandfather came from. I found 3-4 people with the same last name and one was a business owner with a website. I mailed a letter in English and German, a copy of my great grandfathers travel document to the US and a picture of him and his family in the US. I included my email address. Within a week I got an email back from a town official who had tracked down the correct family for me in the small town. The person I had originally sent the letter to didn't speak English nor was related to me but he passed the information along to someone who could help.

Within 2 months we set up a little party in the town with as many relatives as could come, about 25 showed up. It was wonderful. They had more pictures and letters from my great grandfather which they had saved. No one from the US brother who immigrated (turns out there were 2 brothers who immigrated) had contacted them since letters were written in the 1880s.

I encourage you to keep looking online for contacts. My first attempt to look for these relatives was in 2000 and this resulted in only seeing gravestones of family names--no real internet searching beforehand. With careful internet searching, and some luck, in 2008 I found the right people in Germany who could help me and found relatives of the brother and sisters who didn't immigrate and had a great family reunion.

Hi, Lee. The German word for pastor is Pfarrer--masculine. But be careful. There are lots of Pfarrerin --female pastors in Germany.

I don't know what part of Germany you will be in, but this is a fascinating place to visit if you know that your relatives could have left from this embarkation station to come to the US. We didn't find my family names here, but spent a fascinating half-day. Not only is it an amazing experience to see what it was like for those Germans/Poles/Russians who left for America (they even have examples of the ships you can walk through), but the other half of the museum shows the history of immigrants who have come INTO Germany. One of the Top 10 Best Places we have ever visited.
http://www.bremerhaven.de/experience-the-sea/objects-of-interest/museums-adventure-worlds/german-emigration-center-bremerhaven/german-emigration-center-bremerhaven.46859.html

Mona, that is an amazing story. I would not have thought to google that way...just did with my Mom's Italian family name and the small town they emigrated from (in 1880 or so as well) and found a FB page for a manufacturing company. I'll do some research and see if I can find any family link. Thanks for the tip.

"...no names or addresses..." What about the towns/cities or the region or provinces? Those areas in Poland today? Do you know that? Did the ancestors come from South or Western Germany or from the eastern part? How far east? Any geographic landmarks or indications? West or east of the Rhine? West or east of the Elbe? South or north of Frankfurt?

I just did this in Sweden. I went armed with the ancestry.com information, photographs and information my family has, and such. Before I went I joined a couple of Facebook groups; i.e., Ancestors from Smäland and Ancestors from Vasterbotten. Those people were very helpful and provided names of the people who keep my family's family tree in Sweden and I notice they do research for others. So I had contact information, but I didn't…but I will. One can only do so much at a time and this information came in too close to my departure date. In addition, one of my contacts thru the FB group met up with me twice to see churches, the countryside, etc. Start with a FB search on the lines of Ancestors from Germany, and then one for the area, etc.

My intent was to just see two of four areas from which my family emigrated, some of the churches, etc. I knew no one, but I now know many people as a result of being there. Tell everyone you can what you are doing. One example: I went to the TI and asked them how to get to a village and told them why. I was told to come back the next day at a certain hour and she would introduce me to someone. I returned, she walked me down the street where I met two people who told me to return in two hours. They researched church records, etc. and then called another woman who picked me up the next day in her car and brought me to a multitude of churches, houses, farms, hamlets, and work places of my ancestors. She also knew who my family was and where they lived (and some in the US as well). This was just one example of the type of help I received from people I did not know. I did not meet a relative because I was not going to that area this trip…and I was so overwhelmed with the information I received and needed to sort through it. Next trip I'll hit the two locations where the people still live. This is a little longwinded and I apologize, but my point is just tell people what you are doing and, if they are like the Swedes, they'll love to help you. And if you get stuck, bartenders know everyone and how to do everything in town, it seemed, so they were helpful (and fun). The church can be extremely helpful as well for information, and be sure to call a day or so ahead to make sure they are open or will open for you. I do think that one of the secrets is that I traveled alone, so you might want to do some of the investigation alone so people will feel comfortable helping you, maybe driving you around, etc. Then meet up with your family and do a redo, etc. depending upon the situation. Or you can all spread out and do individual hunts and then compare notes. Just my thoughts on this. A crowd can be intimidating, one is not. I had an incredible time and received much information, so I wish the same for you. PM me if you have any questions. Wray

You may need a specialist to help you review church records. Even if you can understand the language, most documents pre-1940s were written in a script that even many native German speakers can only decipher with difficulty.

Hi,

Based on the two towns' locations, I would start at a Protestant (Evangelisch) church in the towns as an educated (lol) guess to see what their records reveal. You might try also the Rathaus (city hall) of the towns.