Maps and Atlases. Geography!
Germany was not always Germany as we know it today. When many of our ancestors immigrated to the new world, they often listed their homeland as Bremen, or Westphalia, or Hesse, or Mecklenburg – in other words, the principalities and city-states that later became a part of Germany. Or didn’t. Many German-speaking areas are no longer in Germany.
These resources may help in your research of your German heritage.
These resources may help in your research of your German heritage.
- Meyer’s Gazetteer. This site lets you search on the village or city name and will provide both ancient and modern maps of the area.
- Family Search Research Wiki.
- Bing Maps.
- Google Maps.
- Google Earth. (requires a program download)
- Kartenmeister. For areas primarily in Poland, east of the Oder and Neisse Rivers. This is useful for researching East and West Prussia, Pomeranian, Posen, Memel, Brandenburg, and Silesia. It includes old maps from these regions.
- Provincial books
- RVGS
- German census records by region, by Roger Minart.