Hi Maureen, Thanks for all your advice. Even though I have been pursuing my family history for over 40 years I still have lots to learn about researching my Germanic roots. The focus of most of my past research has been directed to my Swedish roots and there was a lot to learn there in terms of resources and language. Fortunately I was able to learn enough Swedish to interpret the exhaustive Swedish Church Record archives which turned out to be a gold mine. I also received invaluable help from the Sweden-Listers. The Prussia-Roots listers have been immensely helpful in providing direction and I am hopeful that I will be able to have as much success with my German heritage as I had with my Swedish ancestors. Thanks again, JB ----- Original Message ----- > Message: 6 > Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2009 17:17:23 EDT > JB - I just hope you will take the time to learn about genealogy and the > language and names and cultures and history before hunting all over the > place > on your computer for a particular family name. Everything is not on line > (yet) and much of what is there is not accurate - so it will help you to > know what is and what isn't so you can connect to your own line and not > someone else's. You have probably figured out this is not an instant > science > (I've been doing it for 30 years), so patience helps, and proof is > mandatory. There are a dozen or so books (those archaic things) which > will help > you enormously, as will joining a genealogical group including European > resources wherever it may be, preferably one close enough to go to - plus > one > where your people settled in the US if that's a different place. Someone > said you must find your European village in the US (or the Americas) and > that > is correct. If you would like a list of those books, let me know and > I'll > be glad to tell you. There are a gazillion places to look, just to name > a few, besides churches, the courthouse, cemeteries, (including pet > cemeteries) the English and German language newspapers, land records, tax > and > voting records, biographies of many kinds, the fraternal organizations > and > Turnvereins, the professional directories, schools and universities > (yearbooks > and special collections), city directories, local historical societies, > neighborhood newspapers; NARA, Library of Congress, public libraries, > prisons, > orphanages (not just for orphans), workhouses, photo albums; and get > Thode's Ger-Eng Genealogical Dictionary unless you are fluent in German, > French, > Latin, obsolete words and abbreviations - that has 90% of what you will > need. There are many places to send queries - and they do work. There > are > lots of knowledgeable people people on this message board - and there are > many, many message boards. You can look in the archives for each > ne - > and work your way through _www.Cyndislist.com_ (http://www.Cyndislist.com) > if you haven't already. There are exhaustive how-to's on > _www.familysearch.org_ (http://www.familysearch.org) under the help > menu. Everybody has > to go through that learning curve, and it is fascinating, because you > will > learn about yourself in the process, so I hope you will enjoy your ride! > > Maureen Schoenky