How do I find out the history of my family from the 1500's?

Question

I am trying to find the history of my husband's family from around the 1500's. I was interested to find out if they held any titles of nobility or royalty. We went to a renaissance faire recently and it sparked our interested in finding out more about his family history. All we know is that they were not peasants. The last name is Ostendorf. It is german.

Answer 1

Do the usual research. Here are some ideas to help you:

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

A google search indicates Ostendorfs are from:

Ostendorf family originating from Westerkappeln Germany.  

Good luck!

Answer 2

You definitely need to start with your husband, his parents, his grandparents, and keep working backwards.

Here's a genealogy forum for the surname Ostendorf, you might get a head start reading the queries and responses on it - - and consider posting a query of your own!

http://genforum.genealogy.com/ostendorf/

Best of luck!

Answer 3

You need a starting point:  where did they live, where in Germany, etc.  Contact hometown newspapers, obits are  a wealth of info.

Answer 4

the immediate thing to understand is that standard process is to START WITH NOW, and work back. Shortcuts will mess you up.. PLEASE, don't go that way.

Genealogy doesn't work by surname, it works by individuals. For example.. there can be more than one Ostendorf family in Germany, and without research, you have no way to know which is actually yours.  If done correctly.. you often can find church records, so forth, in their original village/ town.

http://rwguide.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

This is an excellent guide for starting.. I also suggest www.cyndislist.com is EXCELLENT for showing you what kind of resources are out there.

Using valid records.. you should be able to work from now to your immigrant ancestor, and OFTEN can find such things as naturalization, even ship records.