French Germany? France is French and Germany is German, as a general rule, so how could you have French Germany? Well, borders can be flu

The first U.S. president born in the United States (so after the country’s founding) didn’t even speak English as his first language.

The whole month of October is German American month. But wait! October 6 in particular is German-American Day. So many have contributed.

The largest emigration ports from Germany to the New World were the Hanseatic cities Bremen and Hamburg, Germany’s leading ports even today.

At various times, there were dozens of imperial cities, from towns of a few thousand people to some of the largest cities.

Kaffeeklatsch, a very gemütlich, cozy gathering. It translates as ‘coffee chit-chat’

I love scouring old newspapers. I hit the jackpot with Joseph Billman from Erie - German-born and Civil War veteran.

English, Dutch and German are all related languages - the languages diverged - you can see it in how the same original words now differ.-

The main Celtic traditions for genealogy are the Irish, the Scottish and the Welsh. Complicating matters, Irish settlers brought Gaelic from

Why do some family names end in -son and some in -sen?

We’d talked about how much the German dialects vary, looking at dialect forms of the Lord’s Prayer. Let’s compare High German and Dutch.

In honor of Mozart's birthday on January 27th, we look to a curious Mozart connection or two crossing the Atlantic.

Are German dialects really more extreme than American dialects? Are they ever! The Old World dialects in general are far, far more extreme t

Sewing, in addition to laundry, used to be a responsibility that almost every woman had. And yet it can be tough to get insights into this p

It’s 1893. Chicago. Full of ambitious people eager to make their mark. Twenty-five year old Alois, trained in decorative carpentry and paint

The tribes that coalesced into Germans spoke 'the people’s/ popular language’ as opposed to Latin

Not long ago, a friend asked me why we say Germany when the Germans use the word Deutschland. The words aren't even related! Good quest

In honor of his son's third birthday, Wagner wrote an Idyll. Learn the story behind its first performance.

German and English both mostly use h the same, as that puff of air at the start of a word: hello/hallo, here/hier, horn But what’s that h do

Figuring out the day of the week that something happened can be important in genealogy. Here are a couple approaches.