Great grandparents from Prussia Germany

+8 votes
315 views
Grandparents came over and 1800ssomething have no there from Prussia Germany how can I find out more
in The Tree House by Dawn Irwin G2G Crew (520 points)
retagged by Ellen Smith
Can someone add the  German_Roots  tag?

The more information you can provide the higher your chances of finding something. Especially with Prussia, it underwent drastic changes in size during the 19th century:

The brown area is Prussia in 1807.

Prussia in 1866.

Also, keep in mind that the area that in 1871 became Germany had a higher population than the USA until just about then.

2 Answers

+6 votes
Post the info you have to your tree & we'll help you get started researching them.
by Doug Lockwood G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
+4 votes
Start with finding your great grandparents in as many U.S. censuses as you can.  They may describe the location in various ways that may be of some help.  But most importantly, some of them will help you narrow in on when your parents immigrated.

Once you have a better idea of when your great grandparents immigrated and where they lived shortly after immigrating, try to find your great grandfather's immigration records, especially his declaration of intent.  These documents often give a better clue as to where a male immigrant was born and when he arrived, sometimes even giving a specific date.  There are rarely immigration records for females as they became citizens when their husbands did at that time.

Having narrowed in on when your great grandparents arrived, look for them in the ship passenger lists.  You want to look at the actual images rather than just the indexes.  Often the actual passenger list will give both the port they departed from and also the town of their last residence before immigrating.

Especially for your great grandmother, another important source would be her marriage records if your great grandparents were married after coming to the U.S.  Those records often list where the parties were born as well as their parents' names.
by Mary Jensen G2G6 Pilot (131k points)

Related questions

+4 votes
1 answer
+2 votes
2 answers
+20 votes
6 answers
+9 votes
1 answer
206 views asked May 12, 2022 in Genealogy Help by Anonymous Earnest G2G Crew (400 points)
+5 votes
2 answers
612 views asked Dec 29, 2020 in Genealogy Help by Jan Kowalski G2G Rookie (280 points)

WikiTree  ~  About  ~  Help Help  ~  Search Person Search  ~  Surname:

disclaimer - terms - copyright

...