Von: brucenoe@cybercable.tm.fr (Bruce NOE)
  Datum: 30.09.98, 23:21:25
Betreff: Finding the Origin of an Ancestor from Baden

FINDING THE ORIGIN OF AN ANCESTOR FROM BADEN

There have been many questions posted on this list from Americans
regarding how to determine the location in Baden where an immigrant
ancestor came from. Very briefly, the best sources are:

1. naturalization papers, stored at county clerk's offices
2. obituaries
3. U.S. census listings (1850-1920)
4. Ship passenger list compilations
5. Latter Day Saints IGI file
6. German telephone directory
7. Baden State Archive in Karlsruhe, Germany

There are many Internet sites, which give details on items 1-5. There is
an excellent review of the two largest ship passenger list compilations
"Germans to America; Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports" and
"German Immigrants; Lists of Passengers Bound from Bremen to New York"
at this site:

http://www.genealogy.com/gene/www/emig/gta-revu.html

However, it seems that many researchers will not be so lucky as to find
the exact location in these sources.


GERMAN TELEPHONE DIRECTORY

If you have an immigrant ancestor with a comparatively unusual name, you
may be able to narrow the search by checking the German electronic
telephone directory. The directory referenced below allows a "wild card"
search, so that you can enter the surname and then a postal code (PLZ).
The postal codes for Baden are 68xxx through 79xxx (note: this range
also includes some areas outside of Baden). Therefore you can do a
global search for Baden quite quickly, by making three searches, using
the postal code fields:
    68*
    69*
    7*
The German telephone directory is at:

http://www.teleinfo.de/abfragen/bin/neuabfrage.pl

Unfortunately, it only has a German language interface. After you enter
the surname in the field labeled "Name", and the postal code in the
field labeled "PLZ", click on "Anfrage starten". The directory will then
indicate how many addresses it found. To see the actual names and
addresses, click once more on "Angrage starten" without changing any of
the input fields. You will then get the detailed list.


BADEN STATE ARCHIVES IN KARLSRUHE, GERMANY

The Archives in Karlsruhe offers a wealth of information, if you have
the time and expertise to research it. To be successful, you will need a
good knowledge of German, some practice reading the old German script,
time to spend in Karlsruhe, and a lot of patience. If you are short on
any of the above, you are probably better off hiring a professional
researcher.

I have translated the Archives bulletin regarding genealogical
inquiries, and I will post it in a separate message.

I hope this helps a lot of you who are still searching for your
immigrant ancestor's origin.

Bruce Noé
Strasbourg, France