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Advice
to New Genealogist Searching Overseas
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| Where to Begin |
| It is crucial to recognize that your research efforts should always begin with sources in the country where the immigrant settled, such as the United States or Canada. This is because for the vast majority of immigrants, it is these records, in their new country, which will eventually yield the name of their ancestral home. And, as we have discussed, there is a wealth of information in the country where your ancestor settled. However, at some point in your research into the origins of an immigrant ancestor, you might finally run out of American sources to search or you might be seeking an immigrant for whom no American record seems to provide the key information you need. |
 Helpful
Hints |
| Know a lot of information about the immigrant and his or her family in order to effectively use foreign sources. Search Nationwide Records, a few foreign countries kept nationwide records. Where available and indexed, these records are an excellent tool that may identify your immigrant, even if the record itself does not focus on emigrants. For example, British countries have excellent national records, many of which are being indexed. You must, however, have enough identifying information to recognize the immigrant. Most such records were kept by the government, so in some modern countries, such as Germany or Italy, it is essential to know what former, smaller, country the immigrant came from, at the time of departure. Even distinguishing between Prussia and Bavaria may help when seeking such records. Of course, if the modern country did not exist in its current form when your immigrant left, then there will likely not be nationwide records for that time period under modern boundaries. Search Departure Records One thing is certain, your immigrant did leave their home country, that is what this aspect of research is all about. When they left, records were generally created, and many have survived. Remember, when they left, they were referred to as emigrants (those who leave a country). It is only in the new country that they are called immigrants. |
| Surname
Books |
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Several kinds of books exist for most European countries that can help you localize the areas where a surname is most prevalent. For some countries, surname books name the towns where certain family names originated. However, your ancestor's immediate family may have moved from the ancestral home years or generations before emigrating. Two particularly useful surname books are available for Switzerland and the Netherlands:
Emil and Clothilde Meier's Familiennamenbuch Der Schwiez (3rd Ed. Zürich,
Switzerland: Polygraphischer Verlag, 1989) Dr. P. J. Meertens' Nederlands Repertorium van Familienamen (Assen, Netherlands: Van Gorcum & Comp. N.V., 1963), with one per province, identifies the towns where certain surnames were most common. |
