Expert: Michael Troy - 6/12/2009

Question
Hi,
I am having a problem finding an ancestor and am hoping you can give me an idea where to start. His name was Peter Litschert and he fought in the Prussia War, he was German. He defected and came to America as a stow-away so there are no records of his journey. No one know anything about his military time, but he ended up in Cincinnati and Winchester Indiana, where the Litschert name is easy to trace. Can you suggest somewhere I can go to find out his ancestry prior to his coming to the US? Thank you for any help you can give me :-)

Answer
German records can be difficult.  There are no national sources like the US census.  Of the records that did exist, many have been destroyed in subsequent wars.  Further even where records do exist, they are often not computerized and are of course in German (which makes it difficult if you are like me and cannot speak German).  

Since he came as a stow-away, there are not going to be records of his travel and city or origin.  If you can determine his city of origin, and know his religion, you can often find church records in the home town related to baptism, etc.  But as I said, this can be quite difficult.

Good Luck!
- Mike