Gail Blankenau is a nationally known German genealogy speaker. She has spoken at 2 International German Genealogy Conferences.

 

It has been estimated that in 1800, about 62% of German workers were engaged in agriculture. But in the Germanic states, there were different social scales and terms for farmers with farms of various sizes and pursuits. We will explore the social hierarchies to which your farm ancestors belonged and discuss terminology that can help you understand their farming experience.

 

Kim Ashford is a past president of Germanic Genealogy Society (MN) and is one of the founders and a past board member of the International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP). Kim Ashford is a professional genealogist who recently moved to Texas, though she was born and raised in Minnesota. She has a degree in Family History from Brigham Young University.

 

 

Gail Blankenau is a nationally known German genealogy speaker. She has spoken at 2 International German Genealogy Conferences.

 

As genealogists, we often focus first on surnames in our research. Yet, it does not take long to encounter same-name candidates for our family trees. Furthermore, many Germans had multiple given names—and may not use their first given name, instead use another one as a “Rufname” which means "name one goes by". Adding to the mix are nicknames and name variants. Gail Blankenau will explore these naming problems and how you can navigate them to ensure you are indeed, barking up the right tree!