Researching Family Tree, advice on how to find out if ancestors came from Germany

[Mcullumswoman]

Hi

Long time lurker here and I am always massively impressed by the collective knowledge of this forum so thought I would ask for some advice.

My Dad recently had a conversation with a friend of my uncle (who passed last year) and during the conversation it was mentioned by my uncle had said we had grandparents that emigrated from Germany to the UK

Unfortunately it wasn't an in depth conversation so the friend couldn't really pass on too much information, and we don't have any other family we can check with.

I am looking for advice on the best way to find out if this is true and if so how is there any way I could find out more, particularly what part of Germany.

I have tried the online ancestory sites but I have very little information to start with I only managed to track up to my grandfather.

I would very much appreciate any advice on how to research this side of my family tree.

Have you obtained a copy of your grandfather’s birth certificate, for example? That would state his parents’ names and places of birth.

Online ancestry sites are fun and CAN be useful, but are often full of errors where people have got over-enthusiastic in making connections.

There is a genealogy forum on here which is full of people with loads of knowledge. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/genealogy

Few points to get you started. Starting point is always what you know. Get your grandfather's birth certificate and work back from there. If he was born in England or Wales it will name the father, if he was born in Scotland it will name both mother and father.

Look for them on documents such as the 1939 register or 1921 census - impossible to advise in more detail as you don't say when your grandfather was born. Agree with what @WittyMotherhoodRelatedPun says about many Ancestry trees being rubbish.

20th century research in Germany is very very hard. Lots of records destroyed in the War, much stricter privacy laws than we have here, two Wars resulting in country being divided and borders redrawn multiple times, records (where they exist) all over the place, little digitised. Also a general lack of interest among Germans in family history over the last 100-125 years.

Lots more available from the 19th century, mainly of interest to North Americans who have German or central European roots.

Good advice given. You can do free searches on FreeBMD if you have any names for grandparents.

Thank you, that's really good advice.

I haven't got a copy of the birth certificate so I will start there and have a good read of the Genealogy board.

I have considered the sites where they offer to conduct a search on your behalf for a fee.

Does anyone have any experience with these?

Could you do one of the DNA tests? I know there’s an element of speculation in them but mine was able to correctly predict down to the Parish of where I came from and there’s a fair amount of admixture in our population.

I have considered the sites where they offer to conduct a search on your behalf for a fee.

I am a professional genealogist. I would think you are better off contacting someone who specialises in German research or at least can speak German. (not me!!) The main bodies in the UK are RQG (register of qualified genealogists) and AGRA (association of genealogists and researchers in archives). You can expect to pay £20+ per hour at least for research and extra for any hard copy certificates. A good genealogist will quote for free.

Oh really, that's fascinating. Do you mind sharing which one you used? A friend did one and it came back with almost every European country listed.

Thank you that's I really helpful. Even having a ball park figure per hour is useful. I couldn't find much about possible costs, I know its impossible to say without knowing how much research is needed.
I'm very much at the beginning of my journey so I'm expecting a considerable amount of time would be needed, it doesn't help I only have very limited information. I intend to order a copy of my grandfather's birth certificate a a starting point.

Another option a lot of people take is to start off themselves and then get the professionals involved when they get stuck. There are lots of facebook groups who will be happy to help.

I was told some ridiculous hearsay about my ancestors by my mum and various aunts but some stuff was spot on. You say German ancestry but I'm just wondering if they could have been German Jews? Just a thought. I found ancestry.com to be the best as they have more users so more DNA in the database & my DNA more or less matched what I'd suspected via genealogy apart from a few oddities. Be prepared for some possible shocks and surprises. Yes, do what research you can yourself until you hit a brick wall, sometimes Ancestry do free or cheap trials for family tree research.

I used 23&Me

Would always advise Ancestry for a DNA test - biggest database and you can upload your results to other sites.

As others have said Ancestry DNA test is your best and possibly only hope. But you will be absolutely amazed at the contrast between the quantity of online information in the Anglophone world compared to Germany. Expect the phone book, at most, for Germany.

@Mcullumswoman, sorry, I just want to clarify your original post in case I have misunderstood. Are you saying that it was possibly your father's parents or his grandparents that came to UK? And do you know, or can you work out, roughly which decade they would have been born?

Sorry for not replying sooner qork has been really busy this week.

Thank all for the comments so far they've been really helpful. I did have a subscription for ancestory.com but couldn't get any further than my grandfather and i can't remember the detail I kind of gave up a bit disappointed.

I'm hoping to get a copy of my grandfathers birth certificate this afternoon, or at least his exact year I have the day and month but he died when my dad was quite young.

@LittleBowSheep - it's my grandfather's grandparents I believe.

@CherryRipe1 - I hadn't really thought too much about what I might find but I would love some shocks and surprises. I think predominantly I am hoping for find out a location and any other information would be fantastic.

@MCOut - thank you for the reccomdation I will have a look at their prices.