The Magic of German Church Records: Finding the Key to Your Ancestor's Past

by Katherine Schober

Learn how to extract your ancestor’s information from German church records – without needing to speak German! If you are researching your German ancestors, it is more likely than not that you will run into church records at some point in your research. For years, it was the German churches – not civil authorities – who meticulously kept track of their members’ births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths. Filled with information such as your ancestor’s name, parents’ names, occupations, dates, relationships, and more, these records are an amazing find for any German genealogist. But there is just one problem – they’re not in English.
In this how-to guide, learn how you can extract the information you need from German church records – without having to decipher every word on the page. Complete with handpicked examples from real German church records, this book teaches you
Best yet, this book includes the German transcriptions and English translations of multiple sample records - as well as comprehensive German vocabulary lists with handwritten examples of these important genealogy words. Whether you are just starting out in the field or have worked with church records for years, this book will teach you the must-know methods to unlock the mysteries of your ancestor’s past. Are you ready to get started?

Genres: Nonfiction

229 pages, Paperback

Published February 17, 2020

Reviews

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This may well be an excellent introduction to German Church Records for beginners, but as an experience researcher I was disappointed. To begin with, all of the examples are from Catholic churches, and while there are many similarities to Lutheran records, there are also differences. By including at least one example of a Lutheran record, these differences could have been highlighted.