On this page we present information and tips for American citizens who are looking for their German ancestors in our consular district which includes the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Free and Hanseatic City of Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower-Saxony, and Schleswig Holstein.
Getting started
Genealogy.net is a project of the Verein fuer Computergenealogie. This association provides information on regional resources, societies, clubs, databases of genealogy societies, emigration information, passenger ship lists, sample letters to churches, offices, archives, organizations and much more.
http://www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html
There is also a step by step guide on how to perform genealogical research in Germany by combining traditional research methods with Internet genealogy.
http://www.genealogienetz.de/misc/anfaenger.html
Tips for researchers:
http://www.genealogienetz.de/misc/tips.html
The Immigrant Genealogical Society (IGS) was founded in North Hollywood, California in 1982 to help Americans trace their ancestors'origins, particularly in the German speaking areas of Europe.
http://www.immigrantgensoc.org/
RootsWeb
includes search engines and databases, family trees (over 70 million names), surname and geographical mailing lists, and message boards. The site also hosts other volunteer projects such as the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild and Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness. Although it remains free to users, RootsWeb is now sponsored by Ancestry.com, whose databases (both free and pay) can also be searched from this site.
http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/
Regional Research
Hamburg
Hamburg Link to your roots. The Hamburg Emigration Lists are a data bank which includes the personal data of 5 million people who emigrated via Hamburg from 1850 to 1934. The Hamburg emigration lists are now available starting with the years 1890-1893. This data bank will grow, on a regular basis, year by year.
http://www.hamburg.de/fhh/behoerden/staatsarchiv/link_to_your_roots/index.htm
Genealogy.net Hamburg's site covers not only general information on Hamburg, but also specifica on genealogical and historic societies, public offices, location directories and maps, archives and libraries, Internet resources and a bibliograpy.
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/HAM/hamburg-e.html
Bremen
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild provides passenger lists of people emigrated via Bremen or Bremerhaven.
http://www.immigrantships.net/bremenproj/bremenproject.html
Genealogy.net Bremen has compiled information on genealogical associations and societies, civil records, archives and libraries, Internet resources as well as a bibliography.
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/BRE/index_e.htm
Schleswig-Holstein
Genealogy.net Schleswig-Holstein has gathered substantial material on genealogical societies and records, gazetteers and maps, archives and libraries, mailing lists and a list of volunteers who help with the search for ancestors.
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/SCN/sh-e.html
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Genealogy.net Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's site covers the history of emigration in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as genealogical associations, genealogical and historical records, gazetteers and maps, archives and libraries, and a bibliography.
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/MEC/mec.html
Institute for Migration and Ancestral Research e.V.
In the 19th century about 200,000 Mecklenburg people left their country to find a new homeland. Most of them emigrated to America. If your ancestors come from Mecklenburg or West Pomerania I.M.A.R. will help you to trace your family roots.
http://www.imar-mv.com
Lower-Saxony
The Lower Saxony state archives in Hannover, Osnabrück and Wolfenbuettel provide information on persons who emigrated to the United State in the 18th and 19th century. The site can be searched by name, profession and place of birth. Unfortunately, there is no English explanation available. To find the searchpage you have to click on Auswanderer-Quellen in the left frame of the startpage.
http://www.staatsarchive.niedersachsen.de/
Research Center German Emigrants in the USA
The Research Center has at its disposal 1,586 rolls of Microfilm with passenger lists, that have been preserved. These rolls from the National Archives, Washington D.C., are available to the public in the library of the Oldenburg University.
http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/nausa/nausae.htm
Genealogy.net Niedersachsen has extensive information on religious divisions, genealogical and historical societies, and state and church archives.
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/NSAC/nsac.html
Helpful Resources
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. has announced the development of an exciting new family genealogy facility. To be housed in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and accessible via the Internet, the American Family Immigration History CenterTM will use state-of-the-art interactive computer technology to bring the immigration records on ancestors who came to this country as long as a century ago to one's fingertips.
http://www.ellisisland.org/
The National Archives has custody of millions of records relating to people who have had dealings with the federal government. These records are located in National Archives facilities in the Washington D.C. area. The Genealogy Page of the National Archives and Recors Administration provides finding aids, guides, and research tools which prepares for a visit to one of their facilities or for requesting records from NARA.
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/index.html/
Commercial and Non-commercial Organizations
http://www.ancestry.com
http://www.familyhistory.com
http://www.familysearch.org
http://www.fgs.org
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