Author Topic: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors  (Read 7807 times)

Offline sharpie

  • RootsChat Senior
  • ****
  • Posts: 271
  • Family Reflections
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday 24 October 07 09:23 BST (UK) »
I am having similar problems with my husbands tree as his late grandmother refused to talk about her past. All we know is that her maiden name was Schneider, she was born in Cologne  in 1898 and went to live in Madeira before coming to England sometime before 1922 when she married.

Without any knowledge of the German language how difficult are the online records to access.

Sharpie
Sharp/Leicestershire       Warburton/Yorkshire/Lincolnshire/Germany
Arnold/Warwickshire        Schneider/Cologne
Martin/Gloucestershire    Ward/Warwickshire
Peel(Pall)                         Wilkinson/Yorkshire

Offline aghadowey

  • RootsChat Honorary
  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 52,667
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday 24 October 07 10:06 BST (UK) »
Most German records don't seem to be online but my German is very limited and I am able to understand births, death, marriages, etc. Old handwriting is more of a problem.
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline Berlin-Bob

  • RootsChat Honorary
  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 7,442
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday 24 October 07 10:09 BST (UK) »
Hi Sharpie,

the biggest problem is not so much the language, but

a) the fact that there are very few online records in Germany
b) records are usually only available from the Registry Office, if you can prove direct descent
c) SCHNEIDER is a very common name in Germany
(it's one of these "probable origins in job-description" names:  means Cutter or Tailor in english)

Once you have a few more facts, the language isn't such a big problem, as you can usually find english speaking germans, who can help, or RootsChatters will help you with translations.

Good luck,
Bob

ps: not just helpful RootsChatters; we (RootsChat) also have connections to a german forum with some very helpful people there, too  :)
Any UK Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)

Offline KIWIBRIT

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 4
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #12 on: Wednesday 24 October 07 10:45 BST (UK) »
Bob,

Where do you think I should search for my great grandmother's birth records?

I have her name (Emilie Prohl) , year of birth and family word of mouth believes she was from Tegel, Berlin.

Regards,

Sean
Armstrong - Auckland, New Zealand
Armstrong -Tipperary, Ireland
Craig - Scotland
Prohl - London, U.K.
Prohl - Tegel, Berlin, Germany
Radocaj - London, U.K.
Radocaj - Austria


Offline sharpie

  • RootsChat Senior
  • ****
  • Posts: 271
  • Family Reflections
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #13 on: Wednesday 24 October 07 11:23 BST (UK) »
Hi Bob
Thanks for the advice, I expect  the first name Hermine is common as well, just my luck!

I'll keep searching.

Sharpie
Sharp/Leicestershire       Warburton/Yorkshire/Lincolnshire/Germany
Arnold/Warwickshire        Schneider/Cologne
Martin/Gloucestershire    Ward/Warwickshire
Peel(Pall)                         Wilkinson/Yorkshire

Offline loo

  • RootsChat Aristocrat
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,345
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #14 on: Wednesday 24 October 07 13:43 BST (UK) »
I'm sorry, but I don't have any special knowledge as to how to help with the questions that have been raised.

I did find these names in the 1902 London Trade Directory - Hairdressers and Perfumers section:

RADISIC, Sebastian.  4 Canfield Gardens, Hampstead
RADOMSKY, Mark, 74 George St., Euston Square.

They may not be yours, but could possibly be spelling variants, so thought I would mention them.  I got them from German Hairdressers in the UK by Jenny Towey, available from the Anglo-German Family History Association.  It is an interesting read.

If you have time and access, you could trawl through the newspapers of the hairdressing industry at the British Library at Colindale;  there is a lot of info in them, although I have not seen them.  Methinks they are begging to be indexed.

If these people left wills, you might get a clue there, but more likely you would not. 

What I have concluded from my own family history, now that I know as much as I do, is that in the wake of, first, one world war, and then another, with Germany being the enemy in both cases, and Austria, it was very common to downplay or camouflage one's origins - making them harder for us to find them now.  Anti-German feeling, indeed hysteria, including a significant amount of violence towards Germans in England, led people to be quite circumspect.  I have found this throughout the various families of German origin to which mine was closely related in the late 19th/early 20thC.  They all acted like each other never existed, never mind their original families in Germany.  I am quite sure my London-born grandfather understood German, but he never uttered a syllable, and his children never knew.  You thought yours were French;  we thought ours were "continental" - Belgian or Dutch, but certainly not German!

Something else you might look for is whether there are other people in England at about the same time with the same or similar surnames, coming from the same country.  Don't pay any attention to family members telling you that there were no other family members who immigrated.  Fully 3/4 of my family have emigrated from one country to another.  What I have learned is that almost invariably they did not come alone.  Sometimes it takes a while to find the brother (usually 1 or 2), sometimes the sister, and even the father quite often, but if you poke around, you will often find them.  These other people may have more information attached to their names on some record or other.

Have you looked for naturalisation records?  In most cases, they don't exist, and may never have existed, but worth checking, which you can do online at TNA.  If you find one, order it;  it will likely give details of origins.  I found one out of the four men I was tracking, but it did not give his origins, which was very disappointing.

Hermine is also spelled Hermione sometimes, which may or may not help.  It often gets butchered in transliteration, so search broadly.

Wish I knew more!
ARMSTRONG - Castleton Scot; NB; Westminstr Twp
BARFIELD - Nailsea
BRAKE - Nailsea
BURIATTE
CANDY - M'sex, Deptford
CLIFFORD - Maidstone
DURE(E) - France, Devon, Canada
HALLS - Chigwell
KREIN, Peter/Adam - Germany
LEOPOLD - Hanover, London
LATTIMER, MAXWELL - Ldn lightermen
MEYER - Lauenstein
MURRAY - Scot borders
STEWART - Chelsea; Reach
SWANICK - Mayo & Roscommon; Ontario
WEST - Rochester & Maidstone
WILLIS - Wilts, Berks, Hants, London
WOODHOUSE - Bristol tobacconist, London
WW1 internees

Offline KIWIBRIT

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 4
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #15 on: Wednesday 24 October 07 15:56 BST (UK) »
Thanks loo
Armstrong - Auckland, New Zealand
Armstrong -Tipperary, Ireland
Craig - Scotland
Prohl - London, U.K.
Prohl - Tegel, Berlin, Germany
Radocaj - London, U.K.
Radocaj - Austria

Offline sharpie

  • RootsChat Senior
  • ****
  • Posts: 271
  • Family Reflections
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #16 on: Wednesday 24 October 07 16:03 BST (UK) »
Quote
Hermine is also spelled Hermione sometimes, which may or may not help.  It often gets butchered in transliteration, so search broadly.

Thanks for the tip Loo, I'll give that a try.
Sharpie
Sharp/Leicestershire       Warburton/Yorkshire/Lincolnshire/Germany
Arnold/Warwickshire        Schneider/Cologne
Martin/Gloucestershire    Ward/Warwickshire
Peel(Pall)                         Wilkinson/Yorkshire

Offline Peonie

  • RootsChat Veteran
  • *****
  • Posts: 761
  • I wish ................!!
    • View Profile
Re: Don't give up on finding your German ancestors
« Reply #17 on: Thursday 25 October 07 13:24 BST (UK) »
Hi kiwibrit,

have you tried Radocaj on google.de? Lots of results in German and English. Good luck.

mz