Are you getting ready for the next class? Next week we look at German Church Records. I have pulled up past presentations I have watched or classes at HQ and reviewed what they had to say about researching German ancestors. I am comparing the information, looking specifically for church records. I am doing that so that when our speaker gives her presentation on August 6th the information will be somewhat familiar. It has a place to go, so to speak, in my personal filing cabinet called my brain and it has something to latch onto. 

My ancestors have mostly been in America for a long time so finding someone who has immigrated seems to be a challenge because most of the records just take them further toward the east coast. This week I am going to commit to attempting to confirm a German connection. I have some hints that lead me to Swiss-German ancestry, to Brandenburg and to other German areas but no firm identification. 

You would think with a name like Geise it would be easy but…that is my husband’s family. His grandmother came from Germany. My German connections have surnames such as Vance, Hartzell, Kreilling, Kingsley, Wolgomat, and Brandenburg. Sometimes I think the educator in me is too stuck on finding the perfect record that says “this ancestor from 1745 is the ancestor of Heidi Geise in Washington State in 2026.” It know it has to be a combination of records that together bring this 1745 ancestor to my connection. I also know that I won’t find them all on digital records on Family Search and Ancestry or My Heritage. I have to remind myself that genealogy is not easy but if I remember why I am doing it the effort is worth the work. Right?!

I ran across a hint the other day that summed it all up. I won’t put the comment in here but basically it was this person born in this year in this location couldn’t be the same one with the same name nearby but different spouse and the 5 others in the same area around the same time with the same name! It ended with “There are too many Samuel Vances.” 

All of this is also the reason it is very helpful to have a genealogy “buddy,” someone to bounce ideas off of. You don’t even have to be researching the same people of the same locations or time periods. Just someone else interested in family history that doesn’t roll their eyes and glaze over when you start talking genealogy. HQRL is a great place to find that help and support as well as some potential records. Just saying.

But I am taking a side trip aren’t I. I wrote this commitment so that I would be more likely to follow through. It is kind of like that exercise plan. If I don’t commit to it in writing or verbally or with a buddy that exercise bike becomes a storage unit for toddler toys and ironing. So I am going to find one family that I can trace to Germany and see what I can find about where the came from, where they landed in America, and when they came. If I can find that, then researching in those German Church records should be a lot easier and will help confirm their German connection.

We have some great classes coming up after this one: September is Cemeteries and Newspapers, and October is One-Name Studies. Sign-up!

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com