With the exception of a few Ancestry records and those found in FamilySearch, there haven’t been many online resources for those researching family in Germany.

There are two up-and-coming, growing websites of which you should be aware if you have German ancestors.

The first is Genealogynet wiki, which describes itself as the German genealogy internet portal:

Choose: German or English Language Text

Notice first that there is an option at the top of the home page to view in English or German, so reading won’t be an issue if you don’t speak German.

Clicking on the link to the home page brings you to the GenWiki:

GenWiki

As you can see, there are a variety of options, including a place to log-in.

Website Options

A log-in account is free, but is only needed if you want to add your own genealogical information in their database.

I’m always drawn to the databases to see why type of information can be found:

Portal Databases

The first choice is Ancestors Database. The second choice is Metasearch, which I decided to try first.

Metasearch Page

The database names are all in German, but there is a spot at the top to enter both a surname and a place name. I entered “Stoppelbein,” which is know is the original version of “Stufflebean” and it is an uncommon surname even today in Germany.

A good sized list appeared:

Stoppelbeins

There are plenty of Stoppelbeins for me to look into.

One downside to this website is that it appears not all of its pages have a translate button. I tried Regional Research, but text only appeared in German. Google Translate should help get around this issue. Be sure to take some time to delve more deeply into the resources on this website.

GenealogyNet wiki looks like a great resource for anyone with German roots.

The second website is Archion, a subscription site based in Germany:

Archion Prices by Month or Longer

I’m not quite sure what “natural persons” means in terms of subscribing, but there is a separate pricing schedule for professional researchers. I guess a natural person would be someone researching their own family lines.

Like Genealogy dot net, there is a tab to switch from German to English. It’s located in the top right corner of the home screen and says DE, (Deutsch, or German). Clicking gives the option to switch to English.

Archion is a collaborative effort among Protestant churches (only Protestant) to digitize their church books. It is an on-going project and NOT ALL TOWNS have records online yet.

Archion Collection

I have one straggling collateral ancestor who lived in Dusseldorf, but I don’t see the city listed in any of the collections. I don’t have a subscription, so haven’t been able to check for indexed records. I assume they are similar to Swedish records – page images available, but not yet indexed.

Check BROWSE to see if your town of interest is included:

Check for your towns before subscribing!

German genealogical records are finally entering the digital world! I think I might be able to make some headway on a few of my husband’s German lines that have had me stymied for a while!