This is sometimes easy, sometimes quite difficult, and sometimes
     impossible.  This is the general order of resources to be used in
     finding the German origin of German-American families:

     o  Narratives from older relatives
     o  Previous family research, notes, etc., if available
     o  Family documents or mementos from the old country
     o  US census (1920 and earlier) - can learn immigration and/or
            naturalization year
     o  IGI, for uncommon names, if the birth or marriage date is
            known, or if two names in combination are known
     o  Passenger ship records, both arrival lists and embarkation
        lists, and indexes like _Germans to America_
     o  Naturalization records - usually held at the county level
            in the US
     o  Obituaries, especially in German-language newspapers
     o  American church records
     o  County histories/genealogies
     o  Local historical/genealogical societies
     o  Local fraternal and other ethnic or cultural organizations
     o  Tombstones or cemetery records
     o  German state emigration records and indexes, including
            citizenship release papers, passports, estate and debt
            settlement papers, property sales, departure taxes,
            expulsion papers, and records for transportation of minors
     o  US Social Security records, for individuals living after 1935
            Note that the Social Security Death Index is only a start.
     o  Probate records
     o  US Civil War pension or other military records, if appropriate
     o  Ahnenstammkartei (ASTAKA)
     o  Individuals in Germany with the same name, but only if the
            name is very unusual or if you know approximately where
            your ancestor came from
     o  Neighbors in America, because sometimes unrelated families
            emigrated together
     o  Contemporary newspapers, which often printed passenger lists
            and emigrant correspondence

     Search these sources not only for the German immigrant, but also
     his or her spouses, descendants, and other relatives.  There is
     an excellent and concise list of resources for German-American
     immigration research available on the German genealogy server at
       <http://www.genealogy.net/misc/emig/>
     The FHL also offers a good research outline entitled
     _Tracing Immigrant Origins_, available at your local FHC or online.