Despite their reputation for being rooted to their localities, Germans do have a history of migration within their own country, especially after the onset of industrialization in the mid-19th century. In this presentation, we will explore the various patterns of internal migration, and offer guidance on how to navigate these movements to aid in your search for ancestors.
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It was an absolute pleasure to listen to Ursula’s presentation. Ursula opened so many avenues for inquiry for me, as a descendent of a man whose father was a postillion from Celle near Hannover, and who migrated from Prussia as a 21 year old via England to Australia in 1863. Ursula’s tips and hints are like a breath of fresh air to anyone seeking detailed information about the collection of city states and localities that comprised Germany prior to unification in 1871. Congratulations, Ursula. This was the best presentation of the many so far offered to we researchers during the current sessions. Thank you for your extensive and authoritative recommendations. Your incidental comments during the presentation were fascinating, and provided essential context to the dot points in the slides.
Concise, informative, well-organized.
escelent for me. -for my My Pommern ancestors are from Kreis Stolp, so I now know more about their Manor system/. WW1 & Polish politics
I’ve never heard any of this information before and it has increased my knowledge so much! I have an ancestor who was a goldsmith, an ancestor who was living with another family and probably working as a servant and another ancestor who was a fisherman. The years that might have been reason for immigrating to the US make more sense, I have an extremely old photo of a farm family in Mecklenberg I’ve been curious about and simply understanding the various “countries” prior to being “Germany” added insight.
Lots of information. I need to download the handout for this and study it as 5 of my great-grandparents came from Germany or were direct descendents of those who arrived in the 19th century. I have the regions for most but not the town.
This was a superior presentation, well organized, and very interesting to anyone who has German ancestry. Would love to hear more about celebrations and feast days in German Laender today and long ago too.
Excellent as always!!
This was very a interesting webinar. My maternal grandfathers’ family moved from Silesia to a German colony in Russia (Ukraine today) in 1870 and I am trying to find out more. However, the reasons for the move then likely were the same as was discussed in this talk: Very poor farmers looking for a better life. Of course, their choice of countries proved to be a bad one when Stalin came to power. Only two of the 14 children (my grandfather and great-uncle) emigrated to the United States.