German Tools for Genealogy Research

Please suggest tools to be added here that are not found elsewhere on the site.

Descriptions of old German occupations

As part of the research wiki at FamilySearch.org, this is a resource for those with ancestors from Germany that describe the nature of various occupations. Also review Understanding Occupations in German Research

Old German professions, occupations, and illnesses

Originally in German, this is the English translation that can be helpful when reading German documents. It is quite extensive. You never know when you need to learn what it means when you read that your ancestor was an Barfuesser.

German Genealogical Word List

As part of the research wiki at FamilySearch.org, this is an extensive and thorough German word resource for those with ancestors from Germany.

Germanolgy Unlocked

This site may be useful to anyone with German ancestors and you want to either help with translating German records or learning to do so yourself. There are translation services for those who want help and two courses for those who want jump in and try it themselves (one on learning enough German to understand what they read and another one on learning how to read the not-so-easy script that some of the records are penned in). There are also free webinars that introduce you to the topics encountered in the courses as well as books to also help support your efforts. I can attest that this is worth your while if you have German ancestors and want to work on the other side of the pond.

Germanic Genealogy Society (GGS)

This is an English-based website and society that "aims to assist descendants of German immigrants find and understand their ancestors. To reach this goal, GGS offers educational webinars, meetings and conferences, study groups, a library collection, a monthly E-News, and our GGS Journal which features research of members and the knowledge of professional genealogists." It was founded in MN in 1979 and it is based there. I have attended one of their annual meetings and found it helpful.

Upstalsboom Society

This is an German-based website and society that focuses on the same goals of the international Find a Grave website but whose focus is on the Ostfriesland region of Germany (NW part of Germany east of the Groningen and Friesland provinces of the Netherlands). If you want to search (suchen) for names, use this page, keeping in mind that Vorname is first name and Nachname is last name and Ort is place. At the top header, clicking on "Friedhöfe" shows the cemeteries in Ostfriesland in their database while clicking on "Über" gives an overview of the society including contact information and statistics (# of photos=79826 and so on), including the top 100 last names in the cemeteries (topped by Janssen with 4692 entries).

Resources for German Genealogy on the Internet

It says Research Information for Americans of German Descent. It looks like is being kept up.