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, 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.

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