Finding Your German Ancestors : A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)

by Kevan M Hansen (Author)
Key Phrases: parish registers, Archiwum Panstwowe, Archiwum Diecezjalne, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"For those genealogists who have not done any research abroad, this book will be a valuable resource. Should you need a hand, small, no frills reference book, this is the book for your personal library."

Product Description
Introducing the first true beginner's guide to German ancestral research.

If you haven't worked with German records before, this compact guide will warm up your cold feet quickly and make intimidating foreign sources seem like old friends in no time.

Anyone who has worked with foreign records knows that the language can be intimidating. In order to overcome this research barrier, author Kevan Hansen provides the tools and information that empower researchers to work comfortably with German records.

Finding Your German Ancestors also offers a solution to one of the largest dilemmas German researchers face: shifting national and regional borders. Due to the continual changes of boundaries and jurisdictions in historic Germany, the types of records available vary from region to region. Finding Your German Ancestors explains the current locations of records from regions with names and boundaries that have changed. It even includes information for contacting each location!

Researchers using this book will not only have a greater understanding of their ancestors' lives, but will gain a tremendous asset in finding more information on German records.

Paperback, ISBN: 0-916489-83-3

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Ancestry.com (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0916489833
• ISBN-13: 978-0916489830
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #638,100 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very limited benefit, January 24, 2008

By	B. Trusinsky "Astro-German-Latvian-Genealogy ... (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It IS inexpensive, so that's a good thing. However, the book was about 50% history from the Roman Empire to the formation of the German state. None of this historical information would be of use to a beginner since it does self-identify as a "beginners guide". One thing that would be of obvious benefit would be for the book to include comprehensive examples of common german language documents such as birth, death, baptismal, etc, records. Nope. No such things. As someone who is doing family research with German documents, there are about 10 documents that are similar and are used over and over again throughout the German world. How about a translation of said documents?? How about explaining why, in some instances, the maiden name is omitted for the mother in birth documents? The book does have a bunch of contact information that anyone could amass in an afternoon on the internet. However, it was written in 1999, so who knows how valid the information is at this point. If I had to choose again, I'd go to the library and read it in about an hour. After that, I would photocopy the pages with contact information for a dollar and then be done with it. Don't buy it, but if you do, understand what you are getting and know that it isn't a reference book in any meaningful way. It really made me think that I could write a much better guide over the summer that would truly be useful for the beginner. Hmmmm...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a small quick book easy to use., May 14, 2007

By	D. B. Wolfe (Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am just beginning to trace my ancestors to the French-German border area. I found the background history in this book to be helpful in giving me insight into why my ancestors may have left their homes to come to America. The contacts and sources suggested later in the book likewise provide me a good starting point for dealing with foreign leads.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for beginners, January 17, 2009

By	Sherbet (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This book truly lives up to its name. It is full of useful information and and addresses. It also shows samples of some of the records you may come across in your search.