It can be so simple sometimes. For days you search for certain people, dates or places and you just can’t find anything about them or can’t prove anything in writing. And then a photo falls into your hands and on the back suddenly reveals the solution to the riddle. Many of our ancestors left notes …
Make them happy! Family is a treasure full of stories, pictures and data. There is so much that we know. But also much that we don’t know. And most of the time, not everyone in the family is aware of where they came from or what there is to discover. That’s why family celebrations are …
In the past, families were not uncommonly very large. That is, it may well be that your relatives had many family members. And, of course, that they knew many family members! An old uncle? The sister of the grandmother? A cousin? And they are still alive? That’s fantastic! Then you should definitely talk to them, …
… lead you in the wrong direction. I have already spoken about complicated, long or frequent place names. However, what is also very important in genealogy is the correct spelling of a place. So there are several times the place Haag, but also a place with the name Haage. Or also the place Schönberg and …
German place names can also be a nightmare. Not only are they often hard to read, but they are also really long. Especially in documents with old German script, this can be very challenging. But they can also cause difficulties in modern script. Here are two particularly nice examples: Heiligenstedtenerkamp (according to Wikipedia the longest …
A wrong first name in German has often led to one or the other researcher adding a wrong person to his family tree. This has the consequence that suddenly a whole part of the family in reality does not belong to the family at all. Always pay attention whether the first name stands in the …
The best example of a spelling nightmare is probably one of the most common last names in Germany: Meier or Maier? Or Mayer, Meyer, Mair, Meir, Mayr, Meyr. Or whatever. It gets even more difficult if there are additional variations in another language as well: e.g. in English: Myer, Myers. One should always pay close …
Sometimes turning the page is exactly what research needs. I was at a dead end and didn’t know how to proceed. The famous brick wall. So I took a step back and thought of another way to reach my goal. I took out all the documents again and searched them (offline and online). I came …
Names can really make it hard. Not only in Germany, but all over the world. Only in the last century, however, there is a greater variety in first names. This means that, for example, names from other countries are increasingly appearing in Germany as well. This was not always so. In the past, people fell …
Lots of thanks to the Albertaner, a German Canadian newspaper in Canada. They published my article in their March issue. You can find the article here (it is in German): http://www.albertaner.ca Scroll down to “aktuelle Ausgabe” (-> page 5) You can also follow me on Instagram: @svengrewelfamily Facebook: Sven Grewel Family Research & Genealogy
