Tree Runs Cold?

Question

I'm trying to trace my family tree as far back as I can. So far I've traced it back to mid-1800's Germany and unfortunatly my search may have to end there. When it comes to a family member named Franz Lamczyk (born about 1838) I cannot find ANY records of this birth or the names of his parents! Does anyone know of a way I could find this man's hard to find parents? I've already tried most geneaolgy sites to no avail.

Answer 1

I Googled his name and found it in Polish records:  http://feefhs.org/kana/ff/ff-2.html

Here is a link to the Poland Genweb:  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~polwgw...  Hope this helps.

Answer 2

*****There are several ways and they all take a little work, and patience!  The first is to find Church records (if they are in existence) and go through them, one by one.  Start with the last known place you found the family.  Look for a similar name, and keep that just in case you do not find the actual name.  The films are available from the FHL in SLC.  Your local FHC can order them for you.  It is a tedious procedure but can yield some gold if you keep at it.  

I did just that with Dutch records and went back 4 generations with my husband's family.  No, I don't understand the language, but I was able to pick out the names.  The categories are usually broken down into Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths.  Keep a German to English dictionary handy and there are several different guides that have the terms used in the early Church Records and examples of scripts.  

Some good websites that would help you do this are:

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/R...

http://www.iee.et.tu-dresden.de/cgi-bin/...

http://www.genealoger.com/ger_german_lan...

Hope this helps, but have patience.  It may take a long time, but perseverance pays off in the long run!