Until about 1845 German emigrants generally chose Antwerp, Rotterdam, or Le Havre as ports of departure.  By the middle of the nineteenth century, entrepreneurs in the north German ports of Bremen and Hamburg realized they could increase their income dramatically by filling ships with emigrants bound for America and other destinations.
The Hamburg Passenger Lists that [...]

While doing some research yesterday someone pointed out this poem located in the preface to a U.S. Census Book. It was found in the newspaper The Portis Patriot, printed in Portis, Kansas, 20 April 1882. I got a giggle out of it and thought you might as well.
The Puzzled Census-Taker
by John G. Saxe
“Got any boys?” the [...]

Some forty-two million Americans identified themselves as descendants of German immigrants in the 2000 United States Census.  Second place, with about thirty-two million descendants, went to Ireland.  From the founding of Germantown in 1683 to today, millions of Germans have come to America.  How did they travel here and what kind of paper trail did [...]

Yes, there’s more we’d like to add to Family Tree Magazine’s recently released annual list of “101 Best Websites” for 2010, Check these out:
“Best Sites for African-American Roots”
The growing interest in, and availability of records, for African-American research deserves more than the seven sites noted in the magazine. As helpful and important as they are, [...]

In a recent email exchange with a prospective client, she asked the following question:
“Please can you explain why it costs so much as I have provided you with the exact index number for the one specific record? Number 838308.00; I was hoping you would charge me 50 dollars for the one record. Also I’m not [...]

I have been working on a Puerto Rican research problem and came to a point where we needed records from the National Archives in San Juan. We did everything we could to work with the archives in getting them to search the records, but they were not accomodating and would not carry out research requests. [...]

As one of ProGenealogists’s senior genealogists, I specialize in European research. In November 2009, I will be traveling in France, Germany, and Poland. I am available to undertake research for ProGenealogists clients during this time. That includes archival research in repositories of these countries, onsite research in cemeteries and churches, home site research, and interviewing [...]