Do you have ancestors who immigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany during the 17th and 18th centuries? If so, you are part of a large number of people across the United States who do. My four-generation project for accreditation centered on my husband’s Pennsylvania German ancestors, and I recently took a SLIG course about researching Pennsylvania German ancestors. I’m excited to be sharing some of the knowledge I have gained in a blog series about Pennsylvania Germans for Family Locket. I teamed up with my colleague Heidi Mathis and it has been really fun to work together on this project.
Heidi started the series by introducing the history of our Pennsylvania German ancestors. Where did they come from? What were the push and pull factors that brought them here? One of their biggest motivations was the availability of land in Pennsylvania. Political conditions and inheritance laws made it difficult to subsist in their home country, and the promise of new opportunities was appealing. However, the journey to America was not an easy one. I wrote about what the journey might have been like and what records might have been created in the process.
Because our ancestors lived in Pennsylvania, they were Pennsylvanians as well as Germans. Even though they retained their unique identity and culture, they lived within the framework of Pennsylvania and were governed by Pennsylvania laws and statutes. After establishing a few basics about Pennsylvania research in general and Pennsylvania German research in particular, I provided an in-depth look at three record types that are essential to Pennsylvania German research: land, probate, and church records.
I am wrapping up my portion of the series this week with a post on several additional record types that will help you research your Pennsylvania German ancestors. I have included information unique to Pennsylvania Germans within each of these record types. Heidi will round out the series next week by talking about using DNA evidence to research your Pennsylvania German ancestors.
If you have ties to Pennsylvania Germans, this series will provide you with a lot of avenues to explore! I’ve provided the links to each post in our series below. I will add links to the last posts in the series as they are published over the next couple of weeks:
Part 1: Pennsylvania Germans: The History Behind Their Focus on Land and Community
Part 2: Pennsylvania Germans: Journey to a New Land
Part 3: Pennsylvania Germans: Guiding Principles for Research
Part 4: Pennsylvania Germans: The Land Acquisition Process in Colonial Pennsylvania
Part 5: Pennsylvania Germans: Subsequent Land Transactions
Part 6: Pennsylvania Germans: Probate Records
Part 7: Pennsylvania Germans: Church Records
Part 8: Pennsylvania Germans: Additional Record Types
Part 9: Pennsylvania Germans: DNA
