From German Girls Genealogy (Teresa Steinkamp McMillin & Debra A. Hoffman):
In the blog posts of the past two weeks, we talked about the new German research course that we have been developing. “German Phase 1: Identify the Hometown” is scheduled for this coming Fall 2025. Registration will open May 17th https://slig.ugagenealogy.org/slig-fall-virtual/.
“German Phase 2: Research the Hometown Online” is planned for late 2026. The first iteration of the third phase “German Phase 3: Research Abroad in Baden-Württemberg” is planned for late 2027.
As with any research, not everything is online. Sometimes you need to visit archives to find what you need. This is exactly what “German Phase 3” addresses: going beyond church and online records. In our vision, there will be multiple Phase 3 courses, each dedicated to a different German state or historic region. I mentioned before that Germany was not a country until 1871. For that reason, the record keeping was different from one region to another. The archives are all different. You need to become proficient in researching your specific region. That is the idea behind Phase 3.
We conducted a survey of researchers to see what German areas they were most interested in. Baden-Württemberg was one of the top locations. This course will discuss how to prepare for research overseas. We will be covering sources that may only be accessed by going there. Other popular areas for Phase 3 courses include Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. We plan to continue repeating Phase 1 and Phase 2, as well. You can see we’re in this for the long-haul!
We will keep you posted as the courses unfold. We’d love to hear your feedback, too!
Lind Street Research 
I am skeptical that this course will help me. I spent two years reading through the unindexed north and south Baden birth records from the appropriate time years looking for my ancestor’s birth record. There are only two known paper trails for him: the ship manifest that states he is from Baden and his son’s baptismal record (1856) in a Chicago church which does not list his hometown. He died circa 1857. His widow remarried and relocated soon after. Thereafter, the infant/toddler son took the stepfather’s name. There were no legal adoptions (at least among the poor) during that period where his name may appear. One married a widow and the child took the new father’s name. What is the cost of your course? Thank you.
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It sounds like you have had some frustrations researching your Baden ancestor. German Phase 1 is geared to helping people work through cases like yours. We will meet for a full day of instruction for five consecutive weeks. We will teach about all the sources that should be checked when attempting to find someone’s hometown. If the ancestor’s records do not reveal the information, then we teach strategies for branching out from there.
I have not yet heard the cost of this year’s program. Keep up to date by visiting their website: https://slig.ugagenealogy.org/slig-fall-virtual/.
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