In Part 4 we tackle the most daunting part of having a German ancestor and that is understanding their German language records. Many English-speaking researchers feel intimidated at this stage, but please don’t! I only understand the most basic words but have been able to follow the paper trail of many Germans through their American records back into Germany. We are lucky to live in a time where there are many accessible strategies for finding...

Are you one of the 44.2 million Americans with a German ancestor, but sense that researching them is more out of reach than others in your family tree? Researching our German can seem daunting because of the language hurdle, but also because the whole concept of “German” is complex. People from central Europe had particularly complicated histories compared to those with more fixed national identities such as the English. Perhaps living on an island has...