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Records and Resources for Germans in Hamilton County
German Immigration to Hamilton County
Mass immigration began in the 1830s, but the biggest wave of German immigration to Cincinnati occurred in the 1880s. In 1890, 57 percent of the total population of nearly three hundred thousand was either born in Germany or had German parents. Further waves of German immigration took place in the 1930s (particularly German Jewish immigrants) and after World War II. At the turn of the twenty-first century, approximately half of Cincinnati's population was of German descent.
A blog post, German Genealogy Resources on 16 October 2018 by the HCGS Director-at-Large Kathleen Reed, has links to online research sources for German ancestry.
Many Cincinnati Germans came from Northwest Germany around the city of Osnabrück. This map and list gives details on cities, towns and villages in that area that will help you using German online databases Matricula and Archion.
Events
The Germania Society of Cincinnati is dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating German Heritage in the Greater Cincinnati region, and to uphold the customs and traditions of Germany. Visit their website to get information on events they have throughout the year.
“German Genealogy Books Available for Use”
Records of Germans in Hamilton County
Cemeteries
The cemeteries listed below are predominantly German. (See our Cemeteries page for more information about Hamilton County cemeteries.)
- Baltimore Pike Cemetery Burial Records, 1853-2010 (originally German Protestant), Vol. 22 of Hamilton County Burial Records
- Calvary Cemetery, Vol. 12 of Hamilton County Burial Records
- First German Protestant Cemetery (Avondale) and Martini United Church of Christ Records, Vol. 13 of Hamilton County Burial Records
- Funerals, 1854-1936, Conducted from Martini United Church of Christ; digitized on FamilySearch
- Old St. Joseph, St. Mary, St. John Cemeteries, microfilm at PLCH; the Cincinnati Catholic Cemetery Society's online database is incomplete, includes Baltimore Pike Cemetery (German Protestant)
- Old St. Joseph German Cemetery, 1845-1879, Vol. 19 of Hamilton County Burial Records
- St. John German Cemetery, 1849-1879, Vol. 20 of Hamilton County Burial Records
- Vine Street Hill Cemetery (German Evangelical Protestant Cemetery), 1852-1977, Vol. 3 of Hamilton County Burial Records; microfilm at PLCH
- Walnut Hills Cemetery (Protestant), 1842-1971, Vol. 16 of Hamilton County Burial Records; book has more information than the Walnut Hills Cemetery online database; microfilm at PLCH
Veterans buried in Hamilton County who served in wars prior to World War I have memorial pages on Find A Grave which may have a photo of their headstone.
Churches and Synagogues
The records of German churches were kept in the German language for many years and can be a rich source of information, sometimes including birthplaces. Religious Records and Religious Institutions have information on indexes and access to religious records, including Catholic records. The Jewish Interest Group has information on Jewish records. Protestant records are being digitized on FamilySearch. See the HCGS Shop for information about available books. Additional information can be found in the links below:
Deutsche Pionier-Verein von Cincinnati
(large German society founded in 1868 and existed until March 1961)
- Kenny Burck and Deb Cyprych, “Birthplaces of Deutsche Pionier Verein Members,” based on the membership records of 4,695 men, 1868-1950; Tracer 22:3–28:4 (2001-2007)
- Der Deutsche Pionier (journal), 1869-1887: all issues in PLCH Digital Library, HathiTrust, Google Books (search by title and year), and the University of Oldenburg’s Research Center, German Emigrants to the USA which indexes the issues
- Vorstandsbericht des Verwaltungsjahres des deutschen Pionier Verein von Cincinnati (successor to Der Deutsche Pionier), 1888-1938: all issues in PLCH Digital Library, selected issues in HathiTrust and Google Books (search by title and year)
- Der Deutsche Pionier and Vorstandsbericht obituaries are indexed in the PLCH Local History Index card file in the Genealogy & Local History Department, digitized in PLCH Digital Library
Indexes
- Descriptive book of the 9th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Cincinnati Central Turner Society membership lists
- Every-name index to three Cincinnati histories in German:
Newspapers
- German-American Newspapers and Periodicals 1732-1955 by Arndt and Olson lists 174 Cincinnati German newspapers in existence in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
- Over 92,000 death notices in four German newspapers before 1920 (* indicates birthplace shown), indexes by Jeffrey Herbert, microfilm at PLCH: Freie Presse 1874-1920 (to 1964 at PLCH), Volksblatt 1846-1918, Volksfreund 1850-1908, Zeitung 1887-1901
- Other German newspapers on microfilm at PLCH: Anzeiger, 1880-1901; Die Deborah, 1855-1902 (Jewish, also at Hebrew Union College), Haus und Herd, 1873-1918 (German Methodist); Protestantische Zeitblätter, 1853-1865 (United Lutheran and Reformed); Wahrheitsfreund, 1837-1907 (Catholic); Westliche Blätter, 1865-1918
- Free scans of death notices in newspapers held by PLCH
- Christliche Apologete, 1838-1941, German Methodist, at CHLA; Jeffrey Herbert, Index of Death Notices Appearing in Der Christliche Apologete, 1839-1899; online index
Orphanages
The German General Protestant Orphan Home was founded in 1849.
- CHLA’s finding aid lists the names of children in several types of records. The names are also indexed in the 2011 issues of The Tracer.
- Christine S. Engels and Ursula Umberg, “German General Protestant Orphan Home Records, 1849-1973,” Tracer 32:1 (February 2011)
The St. Aloysius Orphan Asylum, a German Catholic orphanage, was founded in 1837. Until 1917 only children who spoke German were admitted.
- CHLA’s finding aid lists the names of children in orphan files, guardianships, and estates.
- Deb Cyprych, “New Finding Aid with Indexes for St. Aloysius Orphanage Records,” Tracer 38:3 (September 2017)
Tracer Articles
The Tracer Article Index has two subject indexes for The Tracer, 1979-2018, with numerous articles about Germans and German records.
Videos for HCGS Members
(members must be logged in to access videos)
- “Researching Your German Ancestors Using German Newspapers,” parts 1 and 2, Jeff Herbert (2014)
- “What's New in German Research,” Jeff Herbert (2018)
Societies and Collections
The LDS Family History Center in Norwood has a large collection of German and German-American microfilms and books. A keyword search for “German” in its inventory reveals 1,602 microfilms stored there that have “German” in the title. Other searches can be made in the inventory.
Since 1895, the League has served as the central German-American umbrella association in Greater Cincinnati. The museum, operated by the League in a German log house in West Fork Park, is the repository of the historical artifacts and records of local German-Americans and has a collection of German-American materials including family histories, emigration indexes, church records, and other books and manuscripts.
The German-Americana Collection is one of the nation's largest collections of books, pamphlets, documents, journals, newspapers and manuscripts pertaining to German-American history, literature and culture. The Collection is located in the Blegen Library in the Archives and Rare Books Library of the University of Cincinnati.
The German Interest Group of the Hamilton County Genealogical Society is a founding member of this partnership, created in 2014 to facilitate German genealogy research globally as the internationally recognized federation of more than one hundred German genealogy organizations.
page modified: May 2024
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