DISCLAIMER – I have received several complimentary items, including Genealogy at a Glance: German Genealogy Research, Updated Edition by Ernest Thode, published in 2020, to review. These perks do not influence my opinions of the publications in any way!
Having said that, I do believe that the Genealogical Publishing Company, which has been in business for many decades, has a long standing reputation for producing quality work.
Today’s guide is the third of four of my product reviews.
Unlike my previous reviews, in which I said I had no experience researching Jewish or Polish records, my husband does have German ancestry. However, I’ve only dabbled in German records because his ancestors were in the American colonies by the mid 1700s.
Being somewhat more familiar with German records, I was curious to see how this guide was organized.
First, there is the familiar:
CONTENTS
Quick Facts
German Emigration
Emigration Waves
Passenger Lists
Unlocking German Family History
German Places
Surnames
Given Names
Dates
German Record Sources
Vital Records
German Center for Genealogy
Berlin Document Center
Village Heritage Books and Histories
Military Archives
Censuses
References
Other Online Resources
This At a Glance guide is in the same format as the other guides – 4 pages with hard lamination, which makes it very easy to preserve and tote around to libraries.
I have to say that I’m impressed with the amount of historical information and research tips that are contained in just four pages – with everything from early religious immigrants to the American colonies to documenting victims of Nazi persecution.
I’ve used a number of the listed resources through the years and Thode’s choices are excellent.
The only suggestion I would make is to mention Archion.de. Although it is a subscription website, it is the biggest game in town for searching online German church records. (Yes, FamilySearch has early German church registers. However, to view the images, one either needs an LDS account or has to be physically present in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library to be able to pull the microfilms to read. I know this from personal experience!)
Once again, as with the earlier reviews, I highly recommend Genealogy at a Glance: German Genealogy Research, Updated Edition by Ernest Thode for beginning and intermediate German genealogy researchers.
It can be ordered online for $9.95 from the Genealogical Publishing Company.