Many of you know that I am from St. Louis, Missouri – a city to which many German immigrants emigrated in the 19th century. Because of its heavy German population, two libraries – The St. Louis Public Library and the St. Louis County Library – have amazing German genealogy collections. And you can request information from many items in their collections from anywhere in the world.
Over Christmas, I had the opportunity to do a private tour of the St. Louis Public Library’s German Genealogy Collection with its manager, Preston Petermeier. And let me tell you, I was extremely impressed. Today, I wanted to share with you what the St. Louis Public Library can offer you and your genealogy research, no matter where you live.
Please note: While some books say “in-library use only”, you can contact the St. Louis Public Library staff and they may be able to do look-ups for you. They told me they get many great requests and are happy to help!
Emigration, Immigration, & Passenger Lists
If you’ve ever struggled to answer the question, “Where in Germany did my ancestor actually come from?”, the below resources are for you. One very popular resource mentioned here is the “Germans to America Series”. These books include the arrival lists of German immigrants to the United States. Each book shows a chronological listing of each ship’s passenger lists, with an alphabetical list of the passengers on each ship. The books are divided by year, and are very helpful for German researchers.
Books Available:
Germans to America and Germans to America, Series II (multi-volume) – by Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby
Smith, Clifford Neal – Regional Emigrant Series – Dozens of volumes covering Baden,
Württemberg, Hesse-Hanau, Palatinate, Saxony, Pomerania, Westphalia, Eifel,
Oldenburg, and other regions.
Reconstructed Passenger Lists (Hamburg & Bremen): Indexed reconstructions for years
where official lists are missing – Clifford Neal Smith
German Immigrant Servant Contracts Registered at the Port of Philadelphia, 1817–1831
– Farley Ward Grubb
Military-related migration titles such as Hessians in the Revolution and Mercenaries from
Hessen-Hanau
Place-Name Indexes, Gazetteers & Atlases
Once you have a place name, it’s helpful to learn more about the town itself. Understanding the administrative jurisdictions in which your ancestor’s hometown was located, for example, could be a big boost for locating your German records. Some great books at the St. Louis Public Library include:
Minert, Roger P. – German Place Name Indexes (multi-volume series), including
covering Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Palatinate, Rhineland, Saxony, Brandenburg,
Hesse-Nassau, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, East & West Prussia, and Silesia
Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs (classic gazetteer) – by
Raymond S. Wright
Understanding Meyers Orts (modern guide) – by Fay Dearden
Atlas for Germanic Genealogy – by Ernest Thode
Historical atlases of the German Empire
Church Records & Religious Community Sources
As we frequently discuss, church records are the number one source for finding your German ancestor’s life details. After all, it was the churches who kept track of their members births, marriages, deaths, and more, dating all the way back to the 1500s!
Types of materials available at the library:
- Lutheran, Reformed, Catholic, Evangelical, Mennonite, Amish, and Moravian church records
- Baptisms, marriages, burials, confirmations, and communicant lists
Representative titles:
The Magic of German Church Records: Finding the Key to your Ancestor’s Past – by Katherine Schober
German Immigrants in American Church Records (multi-volume series) – by Roger P. Minert (See more information on this series here)
Map Guide to German Parish Registers – by Kevan M. Hansen
Palatine Church Visitations, 1609 – by Hermann Friedrich Macco
Pennsylvania German Church Records (multi-volume) – by Pennsylvania German Society
Individual parish histories such as Trinity Lutheran (Missouri), St. Peter’s Evangelical (St. Louis), and Zion–St. Michael’s (Philadelphia)
Language, Handwriting & Research Methodology Guides
We all know that the German handwriting can be difficult! SLPL therefvore has a number of guides available for you, including my book, Tips and Tricks of Deciphering German Handwriting. That was exciting for me to see when I was there!
Key resources:
Deciphering the Church Records of Germany – by Beverly Boehl
How to Read German Church Records Without Knowing Much German – by Arta F. Johnson
Tips and Tricks of Deciphering German Handwriting – by Katherine Schober
Beginner’s Guide to Germanic Genealogy – by Lois Hemmeter Edwards
Researching in Germany – by Roger P. Minert
Heraldry, Nobility & Compiled European Genealogies
If you are lucky enough to have nobility in your family tree (lucky since you can usually trace these lines back further than us farming folk!), SLPL has a very helpful collection:
Johann Siebmachers Wappen-Buch (multi-volume heraldic reference)
Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels
Deutsches Geschlechterbuch (Genealogical Handbook of Bourgeois Families)
Gothaisches Genealogisches Handbuch
I’ve personally translated nobility documents, and they are amazing. Some even go back to the 1200s or beyond!
Access the Books: To view a PDF of all book information mentioned in this article – with clickable links to each of the books mentioned – see here. Thank you to SLPL for providing us with this PDF!
And thank you very much to Preston Petermeier, Manager of Genealogy at St. Louis Public Library, for the great tour and for all this wonderful information for our Germanology Unlocked Community!
Let us know what books you are looking forward to using – or already have used – in the comments! We want to hear about your experience!