Genealogy and Heritage Societies
German Studies | European Immigration | Genealogy | Heritage Societies
Association of schools dedicated to the teaching of German language and culture on all proficiency levels and for all age groups
Founded in Milwaukee in 1956, the Deutscher Sprach- und Schulverein (DSSV) or German Language and School Society of Wisconsin, Inc.’s primary goal is “to promote and stimulate interest in and understanding of the German language and culture, by means of an annual German Essay contest.”
Index page, with links to additional resources
AustriaN Newspapers Online, is a digitization initiative of the Austrian National Library making available online historical Austrian (German language) newspapers and magazines.
See also External Links for Immigration
Leading resource for family history. You can search for family name, learn about genealogy. Helpful websites and message boards
- Local referral list for genealogical research, translation and transcription (Madison, Wisconsin)
German Genealogy
The main source for genealogy in the German-speaking areas of the world. An effort to translate the pages into English can be viewed here.
Compgen.de. In German! Germany’s largest genealogy society. This website provides information about German genealogical societies, and LDS centers; sample letters in English and German for writing to church and state archives; and a section “FAQ”, Frequently Asked Questions, with tips about avenues of research, writing to archives in Germany and volunteer translation service
Extensive list of links
Available in both English and German, links to Internet resources and databases for German genealogy; gives addresses for German military, church and state archives
This home page provides a “Genealogy ToolKit of WebTools” including search engines, newsgroups, telephone and e-mail directories; a surname database with immigrant information; a “Map Room” with over 50 maps of Central and Eastern Europe.
Geogen stands for “geographical genealogy” which means location based ancestor research. On this website you can create maps which show the distribution of surnames in Germany. Significant concentrations can point to a local root of the family or the family name.
Very detailed Central European maps by Gottlob Daniel Reymann (b. 1759, d. 1837. Covers most of East and West Germany and Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Poland, northeast France, parts of Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Czechoslovakia, and former Baltic states. 1:200,000 scale. Donated by Martin Johnson.
Links to German Royal and Nobility Genealogy Data; index to royal and noble family lines
This site includes online German emigration databases, passenger lists from 1820 to the 1940s and searchable death indexes, as well as a directory to German genealogy on the web
Links to online Hamburg indexes and digitized images, and sites with offline research tips. Includes a guide to help read the German language passenger lists.
Archive, FAQs, history, societies
- Harburg Project (near Nördlingen in Bavaria)
Jewish genealogical research based on tax records, burial lists, personal files, and other vital records portrays the lives of Jewish families that once had lived in the historic County of Öttingen [Oettingen], Bavaria from 1674 until 1936. Site includes family sheets, ancestral charts, Lebensbilder, and cemetary maps and documentation of grave monuments in Harburg, Mönchsdeggingen, Öttingen, Schopfloch, and Wallerstein. Also includes research of 19th-century Jewish immigration from Southern Germany to North America, especially to New York and New Orleans.
A Canadian nonprofit group devoted to the study of those people with German ancestry (most often of the Lutheran, Baptist, or Moravian Brethren faiths) who lived in present-day Poland and northwestern Ukraine, with special emphasis on those who lived in the pre-WW I province of Volhynia and in the pre-WW I region of central and eastern modern Poland known as Russian Poland or Congress Poland. Seeks to create databases of every known genealogical record for those families while they lived in the lands noted above, combined with databases of maps and village lists; ship passenger lists; member supplied pedigree charts;l history books; and more. Much of the site is free, but a portion of the site is only available to members.
Serves as a gateway to allow the 1 million Americans of Swiss descent seeking to trace their ancestral roots and those with Swiss affinity to discover and communicate with people in Switzerland. The site also showcases the best in Swiss innovation, culture, history, education, and business.
Wisconsin Genealogy
Includes Wisconsin county pages in map or table form; Wisconsin surname page; archives; Wisconsin links
Includes cemetery records, census information, family histories, immigration information (Passenger Lists/Naturalization), newspapers, vital records (birth, marriage, death), local histories, land records (maps/atlases, deeds), military information, church records, court records (civil, criminal, divorce, probate, state/county/local), and manuscripts (family, business, association papers)
Online digital book from the State Historical Library compiled in 1886 from original archival records
This website provides an on-line newsletter, publications, village census information and research help for people interested in the history of Germans from Russia
Bukovina: From 1775 to 1918, the easternmost crown land of the Austrian Empire; now divided between Romania and Ukraine. Information about history, emigration, links
Part of the German GenWiki site. In German. Page with links to historical information, associations and societies, genealogical and historical records, gazetteers and maps, bibliographies, archives and libraries
Promote, research, develop, and maintain German-Bohemian culture and heritage
- German Society of Pennsylvania
Since its founding in 1764, The German Society of Pennsylvania has served Philadelphia’s German community. It houses the Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library, a research library, holding more than 50,000 volumes
Information about the Society, newsletter, database, information and resources, links to other resources
Information about the Society
Information about the Society
The library gives access to documents about Russian Germans both in Russia and in the U.S.; and links to other sites related to German-Russian research.
The Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America (OGSA) is a non-profit, all-volunteer member-supported organization committed to helping members find family connections and better understand the lives of their Ostfriesen ancestors. The Ostfriesland area is located in the northwest corner of Germany, bordered by the Netherlands and the North Sea, and is now part of the Niedersachsen, or Lower Saxony, state of Germany.
This organization has an online Ancestor Register with immigration information, an ever-growing library catalog; and a query index.
Devoted to the study of the Pennsylvania German people, their culture, and dialect
MKI page by Alan Furchtenicht with links to archives in Germany and Poland, genealogy societies, and other organizations. Some pages are in German or Polish.
German Pomeranian Newsletter
Searches the Die Vorfahren full name or place name indices of the quarterly publication Die Pommerschen Leute.
German GenWiki page intended to assist in the research of ancestors from the former Sudetenland (German settlement area in Bohemia/Moravia/Austrian Silesia/Czechoslovakia/Czech Republik). In German.
Wisconsin Heritage Societies, Local Groups, etc.
The official Web site of the annual German Fest in Milwaukee, WI
Founded in 1852, the Madison Männerchor is the oldest German singing organization in Wisconsin, and the second oldest in the United States. Their goal is the perpetuation of choral music (both German and American), German culture, and Gemütlichkeit.
Preserves the language and heritage of its member’s ancestors who immigrated primarily from the Prussian Provinces of Pomerania, West and East Prussia, and Posen as well as Mecklenburg (not a province of Prussia); seeks to record the rich history of the settlers; and to be a resource for genealogy research.
Home page of the Pommeranian Society of Freistadt
Founded in Chicago in 1927, the society Ipromotes the study of the Swiss in America, Swiss-American relations, and Swiss immigration to the United States.