Beginning German Research

 The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy offered a Library Day at the Family History Library in January 2020, with several free classes.  

From the class Beginning German Research by Fritz Juengling, I learned : 

• The FamilySearch Community for German research is an invaluable place to pose your research questions
• Ask for translation help or for help understanding the document 
• Join the Polish community if your ancestors came from eastern states.
• The Family History Library staff check in regularly to the Community and offer their advice.
• Other regions/topics have community groups but they may not be as active.

• The website Archion has many Protestant records (no Catholic records). View search results for free, but pay to view the images. The website is a work-in-progress. 

• The website Matricula is primarily Catholic records (some Protestant). Their goal is to put all church records online. They have many Austrian and Luxembourg records and some for Germany. 

• The online Meyer’s Gazette is a work-in-progress. 
• The project began with northern Germany, some southern areas aren’t included yet. 
• About ⅔ of Germany is on the website. 

JO

From Fraktur to German to English

If you run into German language documents written in this elaborate font, take a deep breath and consult a Fraktur chart.

Many German-language documents of the past were written in a type of font called Fraktur. It was also commonly used in German-American publications, such as newspapers.

While many letters are immediately recognizable, a few are misleading to English readers.

A capital I or J looks like a T: 


A capital T looks like an I: 

You can easily find a Fraktur chart online and use it to transcribe to a non-Fraktur font, and then translate the German to English. Keep in mind that printed letters may vary slightly from printer to printer.

If you'll be reading a lot of documents in Fraktur, you may want to learn common words written in the font so as to easily recognize them.


A search for the surname Aufdermarsch on ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov came up with this result in the January 16, 1913 edition of Tägliches Cincinnatier volkblatt, a Cincinnati, Ohio newspaper.  The description of Henry Markmeier's will mentions several Aufdermarsch. It concludes by saying any remainder of the legacy should be evenly distributed between John Buhrlage and the five Aufdermarsch sibling.

I recognized the five Aufdermarsch siblings, but what was their connection to Henry Markmeier? Their mother's maiden name was Mathilda Buhrlage, and she passed away in 1906.  In the 1870 census I found a 10 year old Mathilda Bohlage living with a Henry Marksmeier. I have yet to discover the specifics of their relationship, but I have a relationship to investigate. And now that I know about Fraktur, I'll be able to tackle more German-language documents!


JO