My German Family

14/11/2025

Doing 20th-century research also means looking into the lives of your parents. This is the street where my parents lived in the early 1960s. It's in Rome, Italy, where my parents were expatriates at the time.

12/11/2025

Today I’m attending the online conference “Analyzing Digitized Newspapers Using AI: Projects, Problems, Perspectives.”
Especially when researching the 20th century, newspapers are such an important and often underrated source! Looking forward to some new insights and ideas.

10/11/2025

After having done a lot of research for Finding Your Roots, I even had the chance to meet Henry Louis Gates Jr. in person at RootsTech!

07/11/2025

Last chance to register!

If your ancestors came from Prussian provinces now in Poland, I have a brand new lecture ready for you! I'll show you search paths for each of the six Prussian provinces to navigate the Polish archives and indexing sites to find civil records.
I'm excited about this talk, if I may say so myself!
Registration info for Saturday's symposium in the comments.
Image: Elbing (now Elblag) in Prussian times.

04/11/2025

A few impressions from Güttersbach in the Odenwald district of Hesse — a charming village surrounded by forest and history.

02/11/2025

31/10/2025

Happy Reformation Day!

24/10/2025

In Germany, there's a song called "Meine Oma fährt im Hühnerstall Motorrad"
(My grandma rides a motorcycle in the chicken coop). And here's my grandmother. 😆

16/10/2025

Register today!

Our German genealogy symposia are designed to give you insights into the life experience of your ancestors in their time through the study of resources. We will show you what records to look for, where to find them, and how to evaluate them in their historical context.

06/10/2025

Today would have been the birthday of my great-grandmother Marie. She was born on October 6, 1870, into a pastor's family. The family was large, lively, and full of joy, as the stories go. She was the third child from her father's second marriage to the Baroness von der Burg. There were already three girls from the first marriage, and after her, seven more children would follow. For pastor's daughters, there were three options: marry a pastor, remain unmarried and become a governess, or, option three, work in the households of their siblings, the latter of course being unpaid. Marie chose option one but had to work as a governess in the time between her engagement and marriage until her fiancé had his own parish. So, she waited faithfully for five long years until it finally happened in 1898. By then, she was already 27, relatively old for that time. She had five children between 1899 and 1910. The life of a pastor's wife was tough because she was not just a homemaker and mother but also had extensive duties in the community. And she had a husband who was probably not very accessible. Her health deteriorated over time, and she was often too weak to even get out of bed. Her younger sister, Lydia, unmarried, often came to support her, and her older sons came over in their school breaks to carry her up and down the stairs. In 1920, at the age of 49, she passed away, probably from tuberculosis, like some of her siblings before her. Her sister Lydia came more often, and after marrying her sister's widower in 1924, she stayed, not an easy situation for her and the children having to address her as “mother”. Marie was buried in the Friedeberg cemetery in Neumark, today Strzelce Krajeńskie in Poland, but there is no longer a grave.

02/10/2025

✨ Client Feedback ✨

"Thank you for being a brilliant researcher and for opening a window for my own healing with my parents. It has been a pleasure to work with you. I feel so lucky to have found you." 💛

I am always touched when research not only uncovers family history but also brings peace and healing.

If you’re curious about uncovering your own family story, I’d be honored to help.

28/09/2025

🎥 My webinar Finding Your Ancestors in German Directories is still available for free throughout September!

If you have German roots, this is a resource you shouldn’t miss — directories can help you track ancestors between church records and civil registrations, reveal occupations, and even pinpoint exact addresses that bring their lives into sharper focus.

👉 Watch it here:

In Germany, more and more directories are online, and some of them are even indexed. This presentation will tell you where to find them, show you how to work with...