« Reply #1 on: Friday 03 May 24 00:44 BST (UK) »
When I was researching my German ancestry I used GEDBAS in the hope that somebody was also researching the same family. As I didn;t know the place of origin I simply entered the surname and hoped that the search results would prompt a memory that gave me an idea of place of origin. For instance I see that the surname was popular in northern Germany, which suggests Hanover area. The Germanic peoples used a similar naming pattern as the British people, so it's helpful to know siblings names or their children's names...
https://gedbas.genealogy.net/?lang=enI also used the German telephone book. the white pages for personal names and the yellow pages for business names. Simply entering the surname could again bring up results of places where the surname is most prevalent.
https://whitepages.de/dastelefonbuch/?q=KrumwiedeYou might find this familysearch page helpful, especially if you know the port of entry, or the American state where the ancestor landed
url link
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01t5b/
Aberdeen: Findlay-Shirras,McCarthy: MidLothian: Mason,Telford,Darling,Cruikshanks,Bennett,Sime, Bell: Lanarks:Crum, Brown, MacKenzie,Cameron, Glen, Millar; Ross: Urray:Mackenzie: Moray: Findlay; Marshall/Marischell: Perthshire: Brown Ferguson: Wales: McCarthy, Thomas: England: Almond, Askin, Dodson, Well(es). Harrison, Maw, McCarthy, Munford, Pye, Shearing, Smith, Smythe, Speight, Strike, Wallis/Wallace, Ward, Wells;Germany: Flamme,Ehlers, Bielstein, Germer, Mohlm, Reupke