In Search of Your German Roots - A Complete Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors in the Germanic Areas of Europe. Fifth Edition; by Angus Baxter; Published 2015; xiii + 125 pp; Soft Cover; ISBN: 9780806320113; Item # GPC398D

This edition of In Search of Your German Roots is designed to help you trace your German ancestry, not only in Germany but in all the German-speaking areas of Europe, from the Baltic to the Crimea, from the Czech Republic to Belgium. It shows you how to conduct your research from your own home--at your computer, using a variety of online resources—and also points you to the most useful repositories of records abroad.

When the first edition of this book was published in 1987, searching for German ancestors was a more cumbersome and likely more expensive proposition. A lot of legwork was required in order to pinpoint what records were available in Germany and where they were housed, letters had to be written and fees paid, followed up by weeks of waiting for responses. Today, all of the major archives and many of the smaller ones, as well as church parishes, have websites containing contact information and information on their holdings; many have put digitized images of their records online. Correspondence can usually now be handled more quickly and less expensively via e-mail. An ever increasing number of searchable databases with information relevant to German ancestor-hunters—passenger lists, vital records, censuses, cemetery records, surname directories, etc.—has greatly improved opportunities for research.

The fifth edition of the book highlights all of the recent developments--new facilities, new websites, newly available records--that have made German family history research immeasurably easier. Completely revised and updated, this edition of In Search of Your German Roots is now the most current and comprehensive guide to German roots available.

Comments on Previous Editions

• "In Search of Your German Roots is a comprehensive guide. . . . It bears repeating that it is designed to trace your German ancestry in all the German-speaking areas of Europe, from the Baltic to the Crimea, from Czechoslovakia to Belgium. And it is designed so that you seldom have to leave your home, for like all books by Angus Baxter it shows you how to conduct your research by correspondence; how to work in your own home, at your own pace, using the resources of libraries and archives or the records of church and state."
-- Germanic Genealogist, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1996
• "The book contains numerous lists: lists of churches, dates and lists of time periods for people who migrated to Russia, state, city, and parish archives (Protestant and Catholic), and in addition to the associations in North America, Mr. Baxter has provided a list of genealogical societies in Europe. . . . In Search of Your German Roots will most definitely provide you with a very comprehensive guide to locating your German ancestor. It is an orderly description and you need to use it in an orderly manner to gain the greatest benefit."
-- German Genealogical Society of America (Jan/Feb 1996)
• "This edition is an update of the original edition published in 1985, and it therefore includes details of changes brought about by the reunification of Germany. It contains German addresses with the new five-digit postal code and covers changes in local government, the locations of record offices, and record-keeping practices. Baxter's work is recommended for public library collections as well as genealogy collections in academic libraries."
-- American Reference Books Annual, 1995