The third session of my Newberry class “Discover Your German Ancestors’ Origins,” focused on finding German church records. Why are church records so important, you might ask? Church records are the main category of records that document our German ancestors’ vital events. Depending on the specific town, these records may date to the 1500s. Civil… Continue reading Finding German Church Records
Author: Lind Street
I am Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, Certified Genealogist(R). I am a professional genealogist specializing in helping people discover their German ancestry. I also specialize in Chicago genealogy and other areas of the Midwest.
Gazetteers for German Research
In the second session of my Newberry class “Discover Your German Ancestors’ Origins,” I talked about historical gazetteers for finding the jurisdictions that define the ancestral home town. What is a gazetteer? It’s “a geographical dictionary” according to Merriam-Webster.[1] As genealogists, we use gazetteers to determine the jurisdictions to which a town belonged historically. Why… Continue reading Gazetteers for German Research
Where Did They Come From?
This weekend, I began teaching a four-session course at the Newberry in Chicago. The title of the course is “Discover Your German Ancestors’ Origins.” This first week, I focused on best practices for finding an immigrant ancestor’s town of birth. Without this piece of information, the ancestral line cannot be extended further back in time.… Continue reading Where Did They Come From?
German-language Newspapers
Researchers in the United States are spoiled with access to newspaper “mega sites” like Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank, and News Archive. They’re not free, but they do have a broad geographical reach. They do not hold all available newspapers, but they represent at least some newspapers from every U.S. state and sometimes other countries. A one-year subscription… Continue reading German-language Newspapers
Grandma’s Red Book
The month of August always reminds me of my grandmother, Laura (Huber) Bockhold. She was born in this month and she passed away three days after her ninetieth birthday. My niece, also born in August, carries her name. Grandma had a deep faith in God and family members believed that her prayers were always answered.… Continue reading Grandma’s Red Book
Chicago Street Address Renumbering
In my last post, I explained briefly how to find Chicago street names that changed. That is not the only aspect of Chicago address changes that you may encounter. On 22 June 1908 Chicago’s city council passed an ordinance to use a new street numbering system. It went into effect 1 September 1909. The city… Continue reading Chicago Street Address Renumbering
Browse for a Specific Chicago Address in the Census
Street addresses first appear on U.S. federal censuses in 1880 and every census year after that. To find a specific address you need to know the enumeration district (ED). In the years 1910, 1920, and 1940, you must also know the ward. Recently I helped someone search for 427 Beethoven Place in the 1920 census.… Continue reading Browse for a Specific Chicago Address in the Census
IGHR and IGGP – A Busy Week
This week I taught six sessions in the Intermediate German Course at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) in Athens, Georgia. I very much enjoyed the people and the beautiful setting. Plus, I love to teach, so this is a fun week. If you are not familiar with the Institute of Genealogy and… Continue reading IGHR and IGGP – A Busy Week
Regional Portal on CompGen
Do you know the history of the village where your German ancestors came from? Are you aware of resources that might exist overseas for them? One way to find information about your village is to explore the Regional Portal in the GenWiki at CompGen. This may be accessed from the home page at CompGen or… Continue reading Regional Portal on CompGen
GOV (Geschichtliches Ortsverzeichnis) – Historical Gazetteer
You may be asking yourself, “What is a gazetteer and why do I care?” A gazetteer is like a dictionary of place names. It tells you valuable information about the place in question. There is not necessarily a map component in a gazetteer. A historical gazetteer, such as the GOV, tells about places that historically… Continue reading GOV (Geschichtliches Ortsverzeichnis) – Historical Gazetteer
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