{"id":4810,"date":"2013-09-27T18:05:20","date_gmt":"2013-09-27T18:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=4810"},"modified":"2025-01-27T06:50:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T11:50:38","slug":"german-american-newspapers-for-genealogy-at-genealogybank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/german-american-newspapers-for-genealogy-at-genealogybank.html","title":{"rendered":"German American Newspapers for Genealogy at GenealogyBank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Mary Harrell-Sesniak provides search tips to help you find your German ancestors in GenealogyBank\u2019s online collection of German American newspapers. Mary is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background.
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German Genealogy Research Tips\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

America has long been a prized destination for immigrants. In the case of our German American ancestors (known as Deutschamerikaner), many arrived during the early years of the British colonies\u2014with evidence dating to the 17th Century.<\/p>\n

This long history of German immigrants in America can be researched in the many German American newspapers<\/a>, or \u201cDeutsch-Amerikanische Zeitungen,\u201c found in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Early German American immigrants were especially drawn to New York and Pennsylvania, with families typically settling among those of their same origins. Later there were westward migrations, most notably in Midwestern areas such as Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and northern Kentucky. In many of these areas, you can still find strong German influences on the culture, customs and food. In Cincinnati for example, where I attended elementary school, I remember that the cafeteria often served sausage and sauerkraut\u2014a dish we no longer encountered when our family moved south.<\/p>\n

Immigrant community names are often reminiscent of their homelands, as demonstrated in this 1732 estate notice from the American Weekly Mercury<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be Sold by Richard Martin Executor of William Harmon of Upper-Dublin, in the County of Philadelphia, deceas\u2019d…a considerable Quantity of clear\u2019d Land and good Meadowing in Dublin-Township; and One Hundred and Ten Acres of Land near Germantown…\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"estate<\/a>
American Weekly Mercury (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 30 March-6 April 1732, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This estate notice was published in the same year that Founding Father Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) published the first German-language newspaper in America, the Philadelphische Zeitung<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Although Franklin\u2019s newspaper didn\u2019t last even a year, publishers recognized the need to communicate with the German-speaking population. So it is common to see bilingual papers with the placement of foreign language articles and advertisements side-by-side with those printed in English.<\/p>\n

\"collage<\/a>
Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 3 March 1742, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the above example from the Pennsylvania Gazette<\/em> we see a German-language notice regarding an Evangelical Conference; followed by an English-language estate notice for Joseph Woollen, late of Germantown Township; and an English-language ad for the The Pocket Almanack<\/em>. Note the reference in the last ad to Poor Richard\u2019s Almanack<\/em>, another of Benjamin Franklin\u2019s publications, which appeared from 1732-1758.<\/p>\n

There was such a desire to publish newspapers in German that in 1775, one of the Committees of Correspondence resolved that their notice should \u201cbe published both in the English and German news-papers,\u201d as reported at the end of the following article.<\/p>\n

\"notice<\/a>
Pennsylvania Evening Post (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 10 June 1775, page 242<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their concern was that the British Ministry was \u201cfully determined and bent upon the total extinction and utter destruction of American liberty.\u201d These Committees<\/a>, as noted in a Wikipedia article, were an integral part of the colonists\u2019 resistance to British rule, providing coordinated efforts to distribute information for their safety.<\/p>\n

When it comes to <\/span>researching German ancestry<\/span>, there is clearly<\/span>\u00a0a lot of good family history information in German American newspapers\u2014so how does one begin one\u2019s search for German ancestors in historical newspapers?<\/p>\n

How to Search & Read German-Language American Newspapers<\/strong><\/p>\n

It helps if you are fluent in German, but if not, don\u2019t despair\u2014try the following strategies.<\/p>\n

Familiarize yourself with common Germanic words found in ancestral birth, marriage and death notices. Numerous lists can be found on the Web, but here are some commonly-used terms:<\/p>\n