Spines of early prints at Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek Regensburg (Foto: A. Genest)
Published annually from 1785 onwards until 1944 by Justus Perthes Publishing House in Gotha the Almanach de Gotha (Gothaischer genealogischer Hofkalender) was regarded as an authority in the classification of monarchies, ducal houses, families of former rulers, and royalty. The serial was revived in 1951 by Starke Publishing in Limburg (Western Germany) as Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels (GHdA). Rambow Genealogie provides a well-structured overview of digitized volumes that are available online free of charge: http://www.rambow.de/adelslexika.html
Officially launched July 17, the new social networking site GenealogyWise already has shown rapid growth of members and interesting content.
The ability to create groups, start forum discussions and invite friends provides the structure for users to communicate topics like surname studies and specific locations, European, African, Asian or Jewish ancestry, proof standards, software and computer problems.
One can leave comments, embed Twitter feeds and blog posts, upload and share genealogy-related documents, podcasts, fotos and videos.
New York. Ellis Island. Immigrants walking across pier from bridge. National Photo Company Collection No. 3163E (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
Census and immigration records often show the short label “Posen” as the place of origin for German, Jewish and Polish immigrants. The Poznan Marriage Indexing Project helps descendants of those who left the Poznan area in the 19th century to identify the actual town or parish their ancestors left when departing for America, Australia or elsewhere. The period between 1835-1884 corresponds to the period of greatest emigration.
The database is located at:
http://bindweed.man.poznan.pl/posen/search.php
Memorial tablet for the soldiers killed during the War of the Sixth Coalition (prootestant church St. Ägidius, Hergisdorf, Saxony Anhalt)
Data of baptism, mariage, and death of military personnel and often their families were kept in regimental and garrison church registers. For genealogical research in this kind of sources it is helpful to know the place or region of enlistment, the approximate dates of service, and the exact regiment.
A printed directory of the 4087 preserved military church records available in about 156 different archives or rectories in Germany can be found in:
Wolfgang Eger: Verzeichnis der Militärkirchenbücher in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Neustadt an der Aisch, 2 Bände, 1993/96
With the help of data from telephone directories it is possible to visualize the regional distribution of surnames. So you can draw conclusions about their origin. There are appropriate websites concerning family names in the
More complicated is the search for Polish names: By submitting a name, the heraldic-genealogical service provides a code, which you have to copy and paste into a form on the website of GenPol (Genealogia Polska) for displaying a map, that shows the distribution of people with this surname in Poland.
A further project of JewishGen, the Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) collects data from tombstone inscriptions of and death records.
The data base is searchable by names and regions, sometimes even photographs of the gravestones (matzevot) are displayed. JewishGen-volunteers also help with translating
and/or transliterating Hebrew inscriptions. The cooperating Jewish Cemetery Project, identifies jewish burial sites worldwide and offers closer information about each particular cemetery.
The JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF) is a database of ancestral towns and surnames currently being researched by over 78.000 Jewish genealogists worldwide. It contains over 100,000 ancestral surnames and 18,000 town names, and is indexed and cross-referenced by both, which makes the Family Finder interesting also for regional studies on jewish history. Researchers should check the JGFF for genealogists with similar research interests, and contact them for an exchange of information. Value-added services for contributors include an ALERT-system and enhanced database search features.
Closely connected to their religious believes adherents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consecrate themselves to genealogical research.
Data is provided online in two different databases to everybody who is interested in family history. familysearch.org allows to search directly for ancestors. Information about them are gathered from church and civil records, lists of the immigration authorities and different censuses in the US. Using the OPAC of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City you can find references to microfilms or microfiches of the original documents. They are sent by the Family History Library to your next Family History Research Center
